Bullied, Shamed, Misunderstood: The Hidden Power of Lived Experience at Work

Have you ever been stereotyped and labelled? Called names like the "working wounded" because at work you show emotion or talk about past harms?

It hurts. It is designed to hurt: to keep you down, disempowered and isolated. It is a tactic of power and control. Work place hegemony at its finest.

But here's the thing: one in two of us experience a life changing mental well-being challenge. Yet, not one out of every two of our colleagues, the other half, stero type and label us as working wounded.

Does this mean then that some working wounded protect themselves with bullying tactic shame shields (Brown, 2007)? They deflect their own pain by torching others?

Good people don't do that. Good people support each other.  Good people own their own pain and openly name it rather than shame it.

Bad things happen to good people. Good people purposely use the affects of those bad things to help others. Help others, not torch others.

People who purposely do this are working warriors never the working wounded. The Lived Experience Leadership discipline (Byrne) has clearly provided a path of change with the use of peer workers and Lived Experience Educators. They have led the way toward an inclusive and emotionally intelligent workforce. It's up to us to recognise the tacit knowledge base of lived experience and use it rather than abuse it.

I've written a self-help book about this. It's based on my PhD research into psychoeducation and bibliotherapy.  I'm shortly pitching to a publisher. If you are one out of every two workers in the mental health field who have experienced a mental well-being challenge this book is for you. This book is influenced and data driven by 18 people like you.

If you’ve lived through your own mental well-being challenges and want practical, research-based support, this upcoming book is for you and the people you work with. Leave your email and I’ll send you updates, sneak peeks, and the release date as soon as it’s locked in.

References

Brown, B. (2007). I thought it was just me: women reclaiming power and courage in a culture of shame. New York, Gotham.

Byrne, L. (n.d.) Dr Louise Byrne Consulting. 
https://www.drlouisebyrneconsulting.com/