Workplace Bullying

What's happening to you at work is real, even if no one else has named it.

Bullying at work is often subtle enough to deny and persistent enough to wear you down. You don't need it to look dramatic, or to have already reported it, for it to warrant proper support.

Workplace bullying takes your confidence first. Slowly, then all at once, you start doubting judgement you used to trust without question — was that comment really about you, are you overreacting, should you just be tougher.

It takes your sense of safety at work. A meeting invite, an email subject line, or the sound of a particular door opening can set off a physical response before you've even processed what's happening. Your body starts keeping score long before your mind catches up.

You've probably tried managing it yourself: staying professional, documenting things quietly, telling yourself it will blow over or that raising it will make things worse. Sometimes that's the right call for now. It's rarely the same as it not affecting you.

Being told to "just ignore it" or "rise above it" hasn't worked, because bullying isn't a communication misunderstanding you can reason your way out of. It's a pattern aimed at you, and it needs to be named as such before it can be worked through.

We get it, and we know how to help you rebuild what it's been quietly taking.

What it is

Workplace bullying is repeated, targeted behaviour intended to undermine, intimidate, or exclude someone at work. It can be overt — shouting, humiliation, public criticism — or covert: exclusion from decisions, unfair scrutiny, being quietly undermined in ways that are hard to point to directly. Both are damaging, and covert bullying is often harder to name, which can make it harder to get support for.

Its psychological effects build cumulatively. By the time someone seeks support, they've often been managing it for months, sometimes considerably longer, and the toll on confidence and day-to-day functioning has usually outpaced how "serious" the situation looks on paper.

This work sits alongside, not instead of, any formal process you're considering or already pursuing through HR. It's about your own wellbeing and clarity, independent of how, or whether, the organisational side gets resolved.

With the right support, both the immediate distress and the longer-term dent to your confidence are genuinely workable — even while the situation at work is still ongoing.

How this differs from something similar

It can be hard to know whether what you're experiencing is bullying or simply a difficult, demanding manager. This distinction matters, because the support and the response often differ.

• Pattern — Workplace Bullying: Repeated and targeted at you specifically, regardless of your performance Difficult but Fair Management: Applied consistently to the team, tied to genuine performance or standards

• Feedback — Workplace Bullying: Personal, humiliating, or delivered to undermine you Difficult but Fair Management: Direct and sometimes uncomfortable, but focused on the work

• Effect on you — Workplace Bullying: Erodes your confidence and sense of safety over time Difficult but Fair Management: May be frustrating or demanding, but doesn't leave you feeling unsafe

• Pattern over time — Workplace Bullying: Continues or escalates regardless of your response Difficult but Fair Management: Tends to ease once expectations are met or clarified

Causes & risk factors

Bullying is rarely about anything you did. It tends to take root where power imbalances go unchallenged, particularly from a manager or someone more senior, and where the wider workplace culture tolerates or quietly normalises the behaviour rather than addressing it. Being high-performing or visible can, unfairly, make you more likely to be targeted rather than less. A lack of clear, accessible ways to report what's happening leaves people managing it alone for far longer than they should have to. And previous experiences — an earlier difficult workplace, or an upbringing where you learned to doubt your own perception — can make it harder to trust your read on what's happening now.

What this means in practice: this isn't happening because you're too sensitive, or because you're doing something to invite it. It's a pattern of behaviour directed at you, and naming it clearly is often the first step toward it losing some of its grip.

Our treatment approach

A BACP-registered therapist gives you a confidential space to process what's happening at work and rebuild the confidence it's chipped away at, separate from any HR or formal process you're also navigating. Using an ACT-informed approach, we work on managing the anxiety and self-doubt bullying creates so it stops controlling your decisions, while staying connected to your own judgement and values throughout.

Why ACT for this

• It helps you separate your own self-worth from the narrative bullying tries to impose on you

• It builds your capacity to make clear-headed decisions about the situation, rather than reacting from anxiety or exhaustion

• It supports you in staying connected to your own judgement even while your confidence in it has been undermined

What this looks like in sessions

• A confidential space to describe what's happening without needing to justify or minimise it

• Working through the anxiety and hypervigilance that build up around specific people or situations at work

• Rebuilding trust in your own judgement and perception

• Thinking clearly through your options, whether that's raising it formally, moving teams, or something else

• Processing the impact on your confidence and wellbeing, independent of how any formal process unfolds

“The confidence bullying takes doesn't come back just because the situation ends. It has to be rebuilt deliberately." — Clinical Lead, Eunoia Health”

What to expect: your first six weeks

• Week 0 — Initial call to talk through what's happening and what support you need right now

• Week 1-2 — Building a confidential space to process the situation and its impact on you

• Week 2-3 — Working with the anxiety, hypervigilance, and self-doubt that have built up

• Week 3-4 — Rebuilding trust in your own judgement and perception

• Week 4-5 — Thinking through your options clearly, at your own pace

• Week 6 — Reviewing progress and agreeing on ongoing support if the situation is still live

 A free 15-minute call is a private way to talk this through and decide what support you need.