Moral Injury

Moral Injury – Summary

This reflective educational animation explores the concept of moral injury within the social work profession—a deep emotional and psychological wound caused when practitioners are forced to act in ways that contradict their personal and professional values.

The script is built around the metaphor of a river journey: a smooth, purposeful flow representing a fulfilling career, disrupted by dams, pollutants, and rapids symbolising the systemic pressures and ethical compromises that can cause moral injury.

Key themes include:

  • What moral injury is, how it differs from general ethical stress or burnout, and why it’s increasingly relevant in today’s social care climate

  • First-hand reflections from social workers, including deeply emotional recollections from the pandemic era

  • The difference between “ethical distress” (internalised struggle) and “moral injury” (externally imposed conflict)

  • The personal and systemic impacts—from shame and guilt to policy-level responsibilities

  • Six evidence-based ways to mitigate harm, including reflective supervision, team support, and workplace culture

The script calls on both individual practitioners and senior leaders to take moral injury seriously—not just as a personal issue but as a systemic one requiring structural change and empathetic leadership.

It closes with a hopeful message: while social workers face rough seas, with compassion and reflection they can still chart a purposeful course—helping others, and themselves, stay afloat.

Our Approach

Commissioned by Cyngor Gwynedd Council, this animation was created as a reflective training resource for social workers, exploring the concept of moral injury. The film builds on a rich script written and presented by Siobhan Maclean, using water as a central metaphor for the emotional and ethical journey of the profession.

Our goal was to support the power of the script—without overwhelming it—using visual storytelling that gently illustrates rather than distracts.

To reflect the core metaphor of the script—a river journey disrupted by obstacles like dams, rapids and pollution—we created a stylised world with hand-crafted, illustrative textures. Wooden trees, paper-like water, and tactile models evoke a sense of calm and simplicity, contrasting with the emotional depth of the narrative. This contrast was intentional, giving the audience space to reflect.

The water—central to the film’s narrative—was especially important. While realistic fluid simulation was considered, we took a more creative, efficient approach inspired by video game workflows, allowing us to achieve a believable sense of movement and energy without the heavy computational demands of full physics-based simulation. This solution maintained visual integrity while staying within a modest production budget.

Animation was kept deliberately slow and measured, allowing metaphors like the sinking dinghy or diver beneath the surface to resonate without distraction. The illustrative style also helped visualise abstract concepts like emotional overwhelm and systemic pressure without resorting to literal interpretation.

Every element was crafted in Blender, with a painterly post-process to retain warmth and texture throughout creating in Adobe After Effects. We worked closely with the scriptwriter to ensure sensitive quotes were treated respectfully and that the voiceover always led the rhythm of the piece.

Credits

  • Written and Presented by: Siobhan Maclean

  • Directed & Animated by: Ramon Marett

  • Produced by: Dafydd Paul (Cyngor Gwynedd Council)

  • Quotes used with consent

  • References displayed on screen where cited

Sound Effects – Freesound Attribution:

  • River_03.wav by MarcMatthewsMusic — link — License: CC0

  • RIVER gurgling in forest.wav by nicoproson — link — License: CC0

  • VOC_231213-2354_FR_Flush_in_plastic_pipe by kevp888 — link — License: CC BY 4.0

  • River_rapid_Camp_Blommaberg_1.wav by alexkandrell — link — License: CC BY 3.0

  • River_Rapid_Vinstrommen_4.wav by alexkandrell — link — License: CC BY 3.0

  • The North Sea 3.mp3 by Charel Sytze — link — License: CC BY 3.0

  • distant_storm_05.wav by matucha — link — License: CC BY 4.0

  • 160717 HSN fishing boat passing by.WAV by Bluesy1905 — link — License: CC BY 3.0

  • 2. waves, close recording, beach, portugal.WAV by VMan533 — link — License: CC0

  • waves_hit_shore_barcelona_.wav by mmiron — link — License: CC BY 4.0

0
prev
next