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The invisible wounds of military service don't just affect the service member—they ripple through the entire family system. Dr. Marg Rogers pulls back the curtain on this often-overlooked reality, sharing powerful insights from her work developing research-based resources for families affected by moral injury and service-related trauma.

Drawing from personal experience watching her uncle struggle after Vietnam, Dr. Rogers explains how moral injury manifests in family dynamics. Parents experiencing moral injury often withdraw emotionally, not from lack of love, but from feelings of unworthiness or fear of "contaminating" their children. This withdrawal leaves children confused, sometimes blaming themselves for a parent's emotional distance. "It's a bit like having a garden," she explains. "Something really terrible happens at one end of the garden, and it can't not affect the other end."

The conversation explores how military and first responder families face unique challenges that compound these difficulties—frequent relocations disrupting support networks, career sacrifices by spouses, and children navigating educational instability. Despite these profound needs, families often fall through the cracks of support systems primarily focused on the service member.

In response, Dr. Rogers and her international team have created the Child and Family Resilience Programs—a remarkable collection of free, co-created resources including bibliotherapy storybooks and educational modules. These materials help children understand what's happening in their families and provide adults with tools to support them. The feedback has been transformative: "These are families I've worked with for so long, and nothing has hit them so hard and so honestly as that book did. It's a game changer for understanding."

Whether you're a service member, family member, educator, or support professional, this conversation offers invaluable perspectives on supporting the youngest casualties of service-related trauma—the children who never signed up for these challenges but live with them every day.

Check out the Child and Family Resilience Programs website to access these free resources and see how they might support the military and first responder families in your life: https://ecdefenceprograms.com/index.php/media-releases/. For more information, Dr. Rogers can be reached at:

Email: ecdefenceprograms@une.edu.au.

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