Workplace stress & bullying
Psychological support for workplace stress and bullying
Work takes up a lot of life. When the environment becomes hostile, unfair or relentlessly demanding, it affects far more than your working hours.
Workplace bullying, exclusion, a difficult manager, ongoing conflict or sustained pressure can wear down confidence, sleep, mood and your sense of who you are at work. Many people arrive doubting whether it is bad enough to talk about. You do not need to have it all worked out first.
Saturdays: In person in BlackburnWednesdays & Thursdays: Telehealth, including after hours
What this often looks like
- Bullying, exclusion or being undermined at work
- A manager or colleague you dread interacting with
- Ongoing conflict or workplace politics
- Performance pressure and fear of making mistakes
- Dreading Monday, or Sunday night anxiety
- Replaying meetings, emails or conversations afterwards
- Loss of confidence in your own judgement
- Exhaustion, cynicism or burnout
- Difficulty switching off outside work hours
- Considering leaving, but feeling stuck about it
How therapy can help
The first task is to get clear on what is actually happening, separate from the self-doubt that builds up around it. That includes understanding the situation, your options, and what is within your influence.
From there the work is often practical: managing contact with difficult people, preparing for hard conversations, documenting and escalating where appropriate, protecting recovery time, and making decisions about staying or leaving with a clearer head.
Where confidence has taken a hit, or where the situation is bringing up older experiences of being criticised, excluded or not believed, we can look at that too.
Therapy is not about convincing you that unacceptable treatment is acceptable, or coaching you to tolerate it.
What sessions are like
Sessions run for 50 minutes. The first one or two are mainly about understanding your situation, what you have already tried and what you would like to be different.
I ask questions, share what I am noticing and usually suggest something specific to try. If something is not working, I would rather say so and change direction.
Where this overlaps with other difficulties
Workplace stress commonly affects sleep, and poor sleep makes everything harder to manage. It can also feed anxiety, low mood and physical tension. Where several things are happening at once, therapy can focus on how the patterns affect one another.
Luma Psychology provides psychological therapy. It does not provide WorkCover or medico legal assessments or reports for workplace disputes. Luma Psychology is not a crisis service; if you need urgent support, please call 000 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Common questions
- Is my situation serious enough to see a psychologist?
- You do not need to reach a particular threshold. If work is affecting your sleep, mood, confidence or life outside work, that is reason enough to talk it through.
- Do you provide reports for a workplace complaint or claim?
- No. Luma Psychology provides therapy. It does not provide medico legal or forensic assessments, reports or professional opinions for workplace disputes or legal proceedings.
- Will you tell me to quit my job?
- No. Decisions about your work are yours. I will help you think them through clearly, and I will be honest about what I am noticing.
These answers are general information only and do not replace individual medical or psychological advice.
In person appointments are available in Blackburn on Saturdays, at 213 Canterbury Road, Blackburn VIC 3130. Telehealth is available on Wednesdays and Thursdays, including after hours.
Thinking about making an appointment?
You don’t need to have everything figured out before reaching out. Tell me a little about what you’re looking for and I’ll contact you about the next step.
Want to talk first? You are welcome to to ask a couple of questions.