How to Cope Emotionally With Mistreatment at Work

August 12, 2022 Nellie Rodriguez Career, Inspiration, Life 1

If you’ve experienced discrimination, harassment, any other type of mistreatment at work or even retaliation for whistleblowing, you’ll know that the emotional impact can be severe.

Coping with these kinds of issues in your workplace can cause stress and anxiety throughout and even long-lasting trauma after things have been resolved. If you’ve been mistreated in your place of work, here are some things you can do to cope.

File A Complaint

First of all, it’s crucial for your safety and peace of mind that the problem is dealt with professionally and legally.

File a formal complaint to your employer so that an investigation can take place and the problem can be addressed. If there is a lack of action within the department, you might need to consider escalating the issue by getting in touch with a labour attorney.

Talk It Out

Talking through things is a great way to help you move on from a bad experience such as being mistreated, harassed or abused at work. However, try to avoid venting or getting emotional with your employer or colleagues.

Instead, keep things neutral and professional at the office and turn to close friends and family when you need to vent and talk through your feelings. This is an important part of processing negative experiences.

Decompress

Especially while you’re going through the issue or after filing a complaint at work, you might feel incredibly stressed and anxious – this is normal and expected and you don’t need to be hard on yourself.

During this time, it’s important to step away, take some time off work if you can, and just relax. Resting, and even grieving, will be important for you to be able to heal emotionally. Intense emotional pressure can also be damaging to your physical health so make sure to manage your stress.

While you’re decompressing, you can also take time to think through what you want your next move to be. Employees who have been abused often choose to seek alternative employment even after a resolution has been reached.

Spend Time Doing What You Love

You could try to take your mind off things by spending some time doing what makes you happy – exercising, cooking, watching a favourite movie, reading, or any other hobby you enjoy.

If nothing comes to mind, try out a new hobby. This will give you something to focus on. Creative hobbies can be extremely therapeutic during stressful times, so this can help take your mind off the problem and give you something productive to focus on instead.

Seek Out Help

If you find that you’re really struggling to come to terms with your mistreatment, even after the issue has been resolved, you might want to seek out professional help.

Going to therapy can help you process the events, understand your own emotions and move past what happened. There’s no shame in needing a little mental boost – therapy has incredibly mental health benefits that can make moving on much easier.

About Nellie Rodriguez 5 Articles

Nellie Rodriguez was a renowned American nutritionist author in the mid-20th century. She championed for better health through nutrition, and this is evident in some of her works. Her first textbook on nutrition was in 1942. This was later followed by some of her best-selling books for consumers that sold more than ten million copies.