Understanding and Treating the Targets of Workplace Bullying
Your client has been off work for two years. They still go over it every day, in detail, in order, looking for the missing piece that explains how a good work history turned into this. Every assessment so far has called it an adjustment disorder, which by its own definition should have resolved eighteen months ago.
Evelyn Field’s position is that the rumination is the clinical marker, and that most assessors are not looking for it. She points out that you do not see this pattern in the same way in other trauma presentations, and that when it appears alongside hypervigilance, paralysis, physical symptoms, a shrinking social world and a client who says they are not the same person any more, you are looking at a recognisable constellation rather than a collection of unrelated complaints. She and Dr Pat Ferris have described that pattern in the literature and called it workplace bullying trauma. It is not a diagnosis in any manual, and she is careful about that, but it changes what you assess and how you write it up.
Four hours, and it is the only course in this library built on Australian systems. WorkCover, independent medical examiners, the confusion around reasonable management action, and what medico-legal proceedings do to a client who cannot get better while they are still running. She covers assessment and formulation in detail, the three severity bands and what each one predicts about returning to work, and the stages a bullied employee moves through from the first report nobody acted on. The last part is her six-step model of relating, which is the skill set a client needs before they can go back to any workplace at all.
You’ll walk away with
- Rumination read as a clinical marker rather than a personality problem, and what it tells you about severity
- The full symptom picture she works from, across physical, psychological, cognitive, social and personality change, and the checklist she has used with clients for more than a decade
- Three severity bands, mild through to severe, and an honest account of what each one predicts about work capacity and how long recovery takes
- The stages a bullied employee moves through, starting with the report that went nowhere, which is where the injury actually begins
- A case formulation built for this presentation: assessment, symptoms over labels, the relevant factors, intervention planning and review
- Why the client’s perception carries more clinical weight than an investigation’s findings, and how to write a report that reflects that without overreaching
- How to talk with a client about whether to keep going with legal action, given that live proceedings stall therapy and can take years
- Her six-step model of relating, taught as the return-to-work skill set: regulating anger and fear, understanding without self-blame, rebuilding self-esteem, communication, blocking, and a support network
- Practical work you can do in session, including role play, video and playback for interview preparation, and drafting the difficult email or letter with a client whose thinking is still impaired
- Therapist self-protection, covering your own blind spots with this material, boundaries when a client’s social world has collapsed, and vicarious trauma in an area where burnout is common
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CPD Information For Mental Health Professionals
Enjoy complete flexibility with 100% self-paced learning you can access anytime, anywhere, and on any device. This course is included with your Tatra Training membership, along with every other course in the library.
Course Duration: 4 learning hours
Certificate and CPD hours: On completion you’ll receive a Certificate of Completion to support your CPD records. Your certificates are yours to keep.
Assessment: Complete a short quiz at the end (80% pass mark), which you can resit as many times as needed.
Revisit Anytime: Come back to the course as often as you like while your membership is active, whenever you want a refresher for practice.
CPD Eligibility: This program may be suitable for CPD for professionals such as:
- Psychologists
- Counsellors and Psychotherapists
- Social Workers
- Community Workers
- Mental Health Nurses
- General Practitioners (GPs)
- Occupational Therapists
CPD requirements vary between professional bodies, so please check with your association or credentialing body to confirm you can claim CPD hours/OPD points for this program and what evidence they require.
Course Content
Meet Your Instructor
School and workplace bullying that devastates lives and careers isn't just a behavioral problem - it's a form of psychological trauma that requires specialised therapeutic expertise. Evelyn Field has spent over 45 years developing revolutionary approaches to empowering targets of bullying, becoming Australia's leading authority on what she terms "social survival skills" and earning the nation's highest honor for her anti-bullying initiatives.
As a Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society and recipient of the Order of Australia Medal (OAM), Field has transformed how we understand and treat bullying trauma through her pioneering six-step social and emotional resilience model. Her bestselling books Bully Blocking and Bully Busting have been translated into five languages, while her therapeutic approach has been presented internationally across New Zealand, Belgium, Spain, USA, Vietnam, Canada, Norway, Wales, Italy, and Israel. Her unique perspective comes from having been bullied as a student, then returning to work as a psychologist at the same school - giving her unparalleled insight into both sides of the experience.
Field's expertise spans school and workplace bullying intervention, trauma therapy, social and emotional resilience building, and what she calls "Workplace Bullying Trauma" (WBT) - a specialised form of PTSD. As Chair of the Australian Association for Workplace Bullying Professionals and former convenor of the International Association of Workplace Bullying and Harassment Therapist Special Interest Group for seven years, she has established the clinical framework for treating bullying-related trauma that is now used worldwide.
What sets her training apart is lived experience combined with clinical expertise. Field doesn't just teach anti-bullying strategies - she shows practitioners how to help victims develop genuine psychological resilience while addressing the specific trauma patterns that bullying creates. Her media work (over 900 interviews) demonstrates her ability to translate complex therapeutic concepts for both professionals and the public.
For your practice, expect to gain specific assessment tools for bullying trauma, evidence-based intervention strategies for both children and adults, and frameworks for building social survival skills that prevent future victimisation. Her approach particularly benefits clinicians working with clients who have experienced workplace harassment, school bullying, or social isolation.
Quick Win: Field's "bully-blocking formula" teaches clients to immediately recognise bullying patterns and respond with specific verbal and behavioral strategies - in cases stopping harassment within days and building confidence that lasts.
Qualifications
- Postgraduate degrees, Psychology (Educational and Counselling), Melbourne University, RMIT University, La Trobe University
- Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society (FAPS)
- Licensed Counselling Psychologist, Australia
- 45+ years clinical experience
- 17 years as school-based psychologist
Authored Books
- Harry the Bully Blocker (2021, available as e-book, hardcopy, audiobook)
- Harry the Bully Blocker goes to school (children's book)
- Strategies for Surviving Bullying at Work (2011, Australian Academic Press)
- Bully Blocking at Work (2010, Australian Academic Press)
- Bully Blocking® (2007, Finch Publishing, bestseller, translated into Korean, Czechoslovakian)
- Bully Busting (1999, Finch Publishing, bestseller, translated into Italian, Croatian, Arabic)
- Social Smarts Handbook: Navigating Friendships and Challenging People (2025, Amba Press)
Awards & Recognition
- Order of Australia Medal (OAM), Australian Government, 2014 (for school and workplace bullying initiatives)
- Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society (FAPS)
- Accredited Speaking Member, National Speakers Association of Australia (past)
Teaching & Leadership Roles
- Chair, Australian Association for Workplace Bullying Professionals (AAWBP), current
- Practising Counselling Psychologist, Private Practice, Melbourne, 1982–present
- Media Spokesperson, Australian Psychological Society, current
- Professional Advisory Board Member, National Centre Against Bullying
- Board Member, Mental Health Foundation of Victoria (20 years)
Featured & Recognition
- Media Spokesperson, Australian Psychological Society (over 900 interviews in 45 years)
- Regular appearances on Australian radio, television, and print media
- International media commentary on bullying topics
- Podcast appearances including workplace bullying specialist topics
Speaking & Training
- International presentations: New Zealand, Belgium, Spain, USA, Vietnam, Canada, Norway, Copenhagen, Wales, Italy, Israel
- Workshops: Australian Psychological Society (20+ years), British Psychological Society (2017), Vietnam First Southeast Asia Regional Conference of Psychology (2017), Israel Psychological Association (2018)
- Conference presentations for over 40 years
Ready to help bullying targets develop genuine resilience and recovery? Discover how Evelyn Field's evidence-based social survival skills can transform victims into empowered individuals who attract healthy relationships and block future harassment.
Feedback & Reviews
This course includes:
- Lessons 6
- Topics 0
- Duration 4 hours
- Quizzes 1
- Language English