about the authors
Dr. C. Richard Spates, Ph.D
Dr. C. Richard Spates, Ph.D., is a distinguished clinical psychologist, researcher, and professor emeritus at Western Michigan University. With a career spanning over four decades, Dr. Spates has made significant contributions to the field of clinical psychology, particularly in the areas of anxiety disorders, trauma, and empirically supported treatments.
After earning his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1976, Dr. Spates began his career in public mental health administration, serving in various leadership roles for the Michigan Department of Mental Health. In 1987, he joined the faculty of Western Michigan University, where he served as a Professor of Psychology and Director of Clinical Training for 20 years. During his tenure, he played a crucial role in the APA accreditation of WMU’s doctoral program in clinical psychology, and served as Chair of the Department of Psychology.
Dr. C. Richard Spates, Ph.D., is a distinguished clinical psychologist, researcher, and professor emeritus at Western Michigan University. With a career spanning over four decades, Dr. Spates has made significant contributions to the field of clinical psychology, particularly in the areas of anxiety disorders, trauma, and empirically supported treatments.
After earning his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1976, Dr. Spates began his career in public mental health administration, serving in various leadership roles for the Michigan Department of Mental Health. In 1987, he joined the faculty of Western Michigan University, where he served as a Professor of Psychology and Director of Clinical Training for 20 years. During his tenure, he played a crucial role in the APA accreditation of WMU’s doctoral program in clinical psychology, and served as Chair of the Department of Psychology.
Dr. Spates’s research has focused primarily on anxiety disorders, trauma, and empirically supported treatments. He has conducted extensive research on Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and cognitive-behavioral treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other anxiety disorders. His work has also explored the use of technology in delivering psychological interventions, such as web-based treatments for depression and computerized exposure therapy for PTSD.
As an educator, Dr. Spates has mentored over 30 doctoral students in clinical psychology, many of whom have gone on to successful careers in academia, research, and clinical practice. He has taught a wide range of graduate and undergraduate courses, and has been recognized for his dedication to teaching and mentorship.
Throughout his career, Dr. Spates has engaged in numerous international collaborations and professional activities, particularly in Asian countries such as Japan and China. He has held visiting professorships and research fellowships at institutions in Australia, Japan, and the United States, and has presented his research at conferences and workshops around the world.
Dr. Spates’s contributions to the field have been recognized with numerous awards and honors, including being named Psychologist of the Year by the West Michigan Psychological Association and receiving a Special Tribute from the Michigan Legislature and Governor in 2016. He is a Diplomate of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress.
Dr karis l. callaway, ph.d
Dr. Callaway began working with Canadian Armed Forces members in 2009 and Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers in 2012, prior to entering a Master of Arts in Psychology program in 2013. Throughout her graduate studies, she maintained her interest in traumatic stress and moral injury in these populations, and continued to refine her understanding. Dr. Callaway was privileged with an opportunity to train at Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre in the Washington, DC, where she honed her clinical expertise in delivering evidence-based PTSD treatments. Shortly after in 2016, she was hired as a psychodiagnostic assessment trainer for Johns Hopkins University and went on a life-impacting assignment to train Ukrainian psychologists and psychiatrists in assessing for psychological trauma reactions in service members recently returned home from fighting in Crimea.
In 2018, Dr. Callaway returned home to Canada and began her pre-doctoral residency. The most impactful aspect of her residency was the learning that occurred in her supervised clinical work of serving Indigenous Canadians, many of whom continued to be deeply afflicted by intergenerational trauma, colonization and racism. This hands-on learning helped Dr. Callaway develop a better personal, clinical and cultural awareness of herself and others. In 2019, she began fulltime employment as a Clinical Psychologist and Assistant Professor at the Operational Stress Injury Clinic in Winnipeg and the College of Medicine at the University of Manitoba. In this position, she regularly began to try to help military members and police officers reconcile moral injury, as well as addressed PTSD, depression and substance misuse. She was also able to develop a niche in working with Indigenous veterans. Since 2021, Dr. Callaway has worked as a Clinical Psychologist at the Operational Stress Injury Clinic in Ottawa and Nunavut, Canada, and presently maintains a part-time private practice specializing in the assessment and treatment of moral injury and PTSD for first responder and national security populations. She also acts as a research consultant for the Research Group of Mental Health in the Mexican Army and Air Force in the Department of the Military at the Central Hospital of Mexico.
Thus far in her career, Dr. Callaway has been fortunate to write a number of peer-reviewed publications including a book chapter on moral injury and its impact on military members and veterans. As well, she has capitalized on invitations to offer various professional and conference presentations on topics including moral injury, PTSD, substance use, and mental health in healthcare workers and security personnel. These opportunities included a presentation on moral suffering to a provincial geriatric physician consultation group at the height of COVID-19 in 2020, and a keynote address to the Psychology in the Military section at the 2021 Canadian Psychological Association’s annual national conference. Furthermore, in 2022 Dr. Callaway served as a subject matter expert on evidence-based PTSD treatments for the Canadian Psychological Association’s opinion statement to the Senate of the Government of Canada’s Subcommittee for Veterans Affairs. And in 2023, she had the pleasure of speaking on the unique needs of female military and federal law enforcement veterans to Members of Parliament on the Committee for Veterans Affairs in the Government of Canada’s House of Commons.
Along with her clinical and academic work, Dr. Callaway maintains professional association memberships in a variety of national and international organizations such as the College of Psychologists of Ontario, the Canadian Psychological Association (Extremism and Terrorism section, Psychology in the Military section), the American Psychological Association (Psychologists in Public Service, Military Psychology) as well as the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies.
Dr. Callaway is truly grateful for each professional stepping-stone she has been afforded and the remarkable people she has been fortunate to encounter thus far in her career. She would like to acknowledge that it has been a most enjoyable experience to strengthen her expertise by contributing to this book with Dr. Spates. And she sincerely thanks you, the reader, for your interest in expanding your knowledge on the topic of moral injury. Her hope is that her and Dr. Spates’ combined efforts will result in an increased understanding of, and compassion for, those who are in need.
