Skip to main content

The enigmatic truth about bullying at work

Went to a riveting beyond riveting beyond riveting seminar at Birkbeck on bullying at work. Psychoanalytic approaches to bullying-galore. Unitary self? Pah! Which means if you think you do only what you mean to do, and for reasons that you are fully conscious of, you are rather in the dark.

One academic likened looking at bullying to looking at the sun - you can't do it directly. Another said trying to eradicate bullying is like eradicate love.

Anyway, I've got my first commission for a feature on this work looking at how bullies often emerge because they are vulnerable, the relationship between bullies and victims, and how work coaches can reduce, remove and even prevent these unfortunate dynamics in the first place.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Mental health and technology

Recently I did some work for a fascinating organisation,  Ieso Digital Health , which provides online CBT to people with common mental illnesses like depression, anxiety, OCD and phobia. The company is an example of how private companies can add value to the health system. It is doing something genuinely innovative, and meeting a pressing human need. Without Ieso, waiting lists for talking therapies would only get longer. And what about people for whom face-to-face talking therapy is unsuitable - anyone who is immobile, in full time work or just shy? They would lose the chance to benefit from the discretion and accessibility of online therapy. If Ieso did not exist, you would have to invent it. I don't want a privatised NHS, but it's difficult to argue against providers like this entering the market. For more on Ieso Digital Health's approach to healing minds, read this article by their clinical lead, Sarah Bateup, on Huffington Post.

Irwin Turbitt

I'm currently editing some pieces by Irwin Turbitt, a former assistant chief commissioner of the Northern Ireland Police Service, now an academic. He was behind the transformation of the Drumcree Parades from riots to peace.  His articles contain a lot of theory, but they pack a tremendous narrative punch. This is applied research at its most exciting. It's a real privilege to work on it. Also I have discovered through this work that there is something called the Kafka Brigade - an action research team aimed at tackling bureaucratic dysfunction. LOL!