Moral injury can leave lasting scars that go beyond psychological distress, challenging one’s sense of meaning, identity, and connection. While commonly associated with high-risk professions, moral injury can also emerge through personal experiences of loss, helplessness, or perceived failure to protect others. Drawing on lived experience of profound grief following the death of his newborn son, Benn explores how such moral and emotional pain can erode one’s sense of worth, purpose and belonging, and importantly, how recovery is possible.
Through this experience, Benn developed RISE (Recognise, Invite, Separate, Engage), a practical framework designed to help individuals and teams acknowledge emotional strain, maintain healthy boundaries, and rebuild connection after morally or emotionally injurious events. Delivered through keynotes and interactive workshops, Benn uses models like RISE to provide actionable guidance for leaders and team members alike, focusing on recovery through self-awareness, relational support, and sustainable coping practices.
This presentation highlights how lived experience can inform recovery frameworks that complement clinical or research-based approaches. It offers practical insights for professionals and organisations seeking to support their people beyond symptom management, fostering spaces of understanding, compassion, and shared resilience.
By reframing recovery from moral injury as both a personal and collective process, Benn invites workplaces and communities to recognise the moral dimensions of care, connection, and courage, and to empower individuals to rediscover meaning after profound loss.