Difficult People · Hypnosis session
How to Deal With a Bully at Work When It Follows You Home
Sunday afternoon, and your stomach has already gone to work. You check the inbox you promised to leave alone and replay Friday’s meeting line by line. Here is what counts as bullying in Australian law, where to take it, free steps for the strain, and a recording to relax and rehearse them.
Before the price: who it is, and whether you are safeSome situations need a different door from this page.
- At work, and it keeps happening: the Fair Work Commission can order bullying to stop, though not compensation. Your state’s work health and safety regulator, a union or HR can also act.
- Pushed, grabbed or threatened: contact the police, as Beyond Blue advises. In danger, call 000.
- Not work at all: if a partner, ex or family member frightens, controls, monitors, isolates or hurts you, that is abuse, not a difficult person, and this site does not sell a recording for it. 1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732, or text 0458 737 732, 24/7. In NSW, coercive control of a current or former intimate partner has been a crime since 1 July 2024.
- Low for weeks or dreading every day: your GP, or your workplace’s Employee Assistance Program. Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636.
- Thoughts of not wanting to be here: Lifeline, 13 11 14, any hour.
“I’d choose this for the evenings when work follows you home, while the record and the report do the practical work. It gives you twenty-six quiet minutes to settle and rehearse. It can’t stop anyone bullying you, and the refund lasts ninety days.”
Cope with Bullying
US$18.95one-off · no subscription · about A$27
I earn a commission if you buy through this page. It doesn’t change what you pay, and it doesn’t decide what I recommend.
Ninety days to change your mind, nothing to justify. Checkout opens on hypnosisdownloads.com in a new tab; priced in US dollars, and some cards add a foreign-transaction fee.
Which of these happened this week?
- Their name in your inbox, and your stomach dropped before you opened it
- Sunday evening spent rehearsing what you’ll say in Monday’s meeting
- A correction delivered in front of the team that could have been a quiet word
- The meeting invite that somehow never reached you, again
- Your camera off, or your door shut, so fewer people can see your face
Two or more, week after week, and this page is for you. If the person is at home, not at work, start with the box above.
What is in the Cope with Bullying session?
A single guided session of twenty-six and a half minutes, narrated by Mark Tyrrell, for repeat listening. The publisher pitches it at the stress of being bullied at work, and its page urges you to get outside help, legal advice included. Here its job is narrower: a quiet, regular time to settle and to rehearse the plain sentence in step three below.
The largest recent review of hypnosis for pain (Yim and Derbyshire, 2026) compared how it was delivered and found no meaningful difference between a live clinician, a recording and self-hypnosis. That research was on pain, not on bullying at work, but it’s the best evidence there is that a recording isn’t a second-rate version of sitting in a room with someone.
There’s no sample, so the 90-day refund covers the risk. You stay aware and can stop it at any point. Not in the car.
What qualifies as bullying in the workplace?
Under section 789FD of the Fair Work Act, a worker is bullied at work when a person or a group repeatedly behaves unreasonably towards them and that behaviour creates a risk to health and safety. The same section says reasonable management action, carried out in a reasonable manner, is not bullying.
The Fair Work Ombudsman’s examples are ordinary: aggression, teasing or practical jokes, leaving someone out of work events, unreasonable demands. Some bullying is indirect, says Safe Work Australia: “It can be subtle, so it’s not always easy to spot.”
A manager can still act on poor performance, take disciplinary action and direct how the work is done. And “Disagreeing is not bullying.” One blow-up doesn’t meet the definition either, though it’s worth writing down.
Cope with BullyingUS$18.95 · instant download · full refund within 90 days if it isn’t right.
Opens the publisher’s checkout in a new tab. Or keep reading — the free techniques below cost nothing.
Why does it follow you home?
Because it’s hard to clock off from something that feels like a threat. A 2012 meta-analysis by Nielsen and Einarsen, covering 66 samples and 77,721 people, linked being bullied at work with mental and physical health problems, symptoms of post-traumatic stress and burnout, and its long-term data suggest bullying feeds mental health problems over time.
From the inside it’s less tidy: the email reread four times before sending, the remark replayed at 3am, weekends that end at Saturday lunchtime.
The link also runs the other way: people already struggling were more likely to report bullying later. That isn’t blame. It’s a reason to see your GP early.
In Safe Work Australia’s 2014-15 national survey, 9.7% of workers reported being bullied in the previous six months by the international definition, 9.4% by the Australian one: about one in ten.
What to do when you feel targeted at work?
Start a record today, before you decide anything else. Then find your workplace’s bullying policy and tell someone with a role in it: a manager, HR, a health and safety representative or your union. The Fair Work Commission’s advice is to try the workplace first, if it is safe to. Meanwhile, look after the strain.
Four free steps: two practical, two for you.
- Write it down the same day
Date, time, place, what was said or done, and who else was there, which is Beyond Blue’s guidance almost exactly. Facts, not adjectives, and include the small things. One incident is a bad day; twelve dated entries show the kind of repeated behaviour section 789FD asks about.
- Find the policy, then tell one person with a job to do about it
Read the bullying policy, then raise it with a manager (if they aren’t the problem), HR, a health and safety representative or a union. Ignoring it or avoiding the person “does not always work”, in Beyond Blue’s words.
- Rehearse one plain sentence, out loud
“Please don’t speak to me like that in front of the team. If there’s a problem with my work, I’d like to hear it privately.” Say it to the mirror until it bores you; use it only where it’s safe. In a 2023 meta-analysis of nine studies and 804 people, assertive-communication training was followed by more speaking up (a standardised difference of 0.58). They were nurses raising patient-safety concerns, so it’s a useful skill, not a proven answer to a bully.
- Give your body a daily stretch off duty
Twenty minutes a day that pulls your attention away from work: a walk, slow breathing, a guided relaxation. A 2023 Cochrane review of healthcare workers found this kind of attention-away approach may reduce stress symptoms in the short term, on low-certainty evidence. It won’t stop the bullying; it leaves you something for steps one and two.
Steps three and four are where the recording fits. It’s a good place to practise them, on the bad days as well as the good ones.
Can the Fair Work Commission stop workplace bullying?
It can order it to stop, if it is satisfied you have been bullied and there is a risk it will continue. It cannot order compensation, discipline anyone or end someone’s employment. In most cases, the Commission says, the parties resolve it without a hearing.
Coverage depends on the kind of employer, so use the Commission’s eligibility check, and ask about free legal advice through its Workplace Advice Service.
If you’re not covered, the Fair Work Ombudsman points to your state or territory’s work safety regulator. Since the model WHS Regulations were amended in 2022, employers in most of Australia have had an explicit duty to manage psychosocial hazards, bullying included. I’m a hypnotherapist, not a lawyer: this is where to start asking, not legal advice.
Cope with Bullying
US$18.95About A$27 · one-off, no subscription.
- 26 minutes 31 seconds, narrated by Mark Tyrrell of Uncommon Knowledge
- Instant MP3 download, yours to keep
- No sample exists for this title, so the refund window is your safety net
- For evenings and weekends, alongside the record and the report
Opens the publisher’s secure checkout · no account needed
The publisher reports 352 purchases of Cope with Bullying.
Their own figure: purchases, not outcomes.
What has and hasn’t been studied?
Plenty on bullying itself, and nothing on hypnosis for it. A PubMed search on 25 September 2026 pairing hypnosis or hypnotherapy with bullying, mobbing or harassment returned one record, a 1993 paper about misconduct by hypnotherapists. There is no controlled trial of hypnosis for coping with bullying at work.
The nearest evidence is on everyday stress. In a German trial of 95 adults (Fisch and colleagues, 2020), five two-hour group hypnosis sessions plus home recordings lowered self-rated stress more than a booklet. The comparison group got no matching attention, the recordings weren’t tested alone, nobody was being bullied, and the authors teach hypnosis. A 2017 review of nine trials said the effect of hypnosis on stress “remains still unclear”.
Where a person comes inDreading work for weeks? Beyond Blue suggests your Employee Assistance Program, or a GP if you have none. A GP can refer you to a psychologist under Medicare’s Better Access, and practising the hard sentence with someone who plays the other part is rehearsal no recording gives.
Who is this session wrong for?
Anyone the box at the top describes, first. Beyond that, it’s the wrong purchase whenever what you need is someone else taking action, because a recording can’t take any. Each line points to what fits better.
- It’s a partner, ex or family member. That’s 1800RESPECT, on 1800 737 732.
- You’ve been pushed, grabbed or threatened. That’s the police.
- You want the bullying stopped. That’s your employer, the Commission, your regulator or your union.
- You want it to change how they behave. It’s for you, not them.
- You’ve felt low for weeks, or stopped sleeping. Your GP first.
- You’ve had thoughts of not wanting to be here. Ring Lifeline on 13 11 14 tonight.
If none of those is you, and you want a regular time to switch off and rehearse, it’s a reasonable thing to try.
Free and confidential, open now. Tap to call.
Common questions about bullying at work
How do you deal with being bullied at work?
Keep a dated record, read your workplace’s bullying policy, and raise it with a manager, HR, a health and safety representative or your union. If it continues, the Fair Work Commission can order it to stop, and your state’s work health and safety regulator can act. See your GP if you’re struggling.
What are some examples of bullying in the workplace?
The Fair Work Ombudsman lists behaving aggressively, teasing or practical jokes, pressuring someone to behave inappropriately, excluding someone from work events, and unreasonable demands. In Safe Work Australia’s 2014-15 survey, being sworn at or yelled at (37%) was the most common harassment, then being humiliated in front of others (24%).
How do you outsmart a workplace bully?
You don’t need to, and in my view trying keeps you playing their game instead of building your case. What counts later is dull: dated notes, the policy, a report to someone with a duty to act, then the Commission or your regulator. Stay factual, and speak up only where it’s safe.
Can the Fair Work Commission award compensation for bullying?
No. The Commission can make orders to stop bullying, such as requiring people to stop the behaviour, but it cannot order anyone to pay compensation, discipline anyone or end someone’s employment. It only makes an order when there is a risk the bullying will continue. For other remedies, ask your union or a lawyer.
Can hypnosis help with bullying at work?
What a recording offers is a regular, structured time to switch off from work and rehearse speaking plainly. Whether hypnosis helps people cope with bullying hasn’t been tested: a PubMed search in September 2026 found no controlled trial. The nearest is a 2020 trial on everyday stress that used group sessions as well as recordings. No recording stops the bullying itself.
What if the session does nothing for me?
Ask the publisher for a refund within 90 days, quoting your order number. They refund in full, no questions asked, one order per customer. There’s no free sample of this title, so that window is how you try it without risking the A$27 or so it costs.
Where these numbers come from
- Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), s 789FD [Internet]. AustLII; [cited 2026 Sep 25]. austlii.edu.au
- Fair Work Ombudsman. Bullying in the workplace [Internet]. [cited 2026 Sep 25]. fairwork.gov.au
- Fair Work Commission. How we help stop workplace bullying [Internet]. [cited 2026 Sep 25]. fwc.gov.au
- Fair Work Commission. The process to resolve workplace bullying [Internet]. [cited 2026 Sep 25]. fwc.gov.au
- Safe Work Australia. Bullying: overview [Internet]. [cited 2026 Sep 25]. safeworkaustralia.gov.au
- Safe Work Australia. Bullying and harassment in Australian workplaces: results from the Australian Workplace Barometer 2014-15 [Internet]. 2016 [cited 2026 Sep 25]. safeworkaustralia.gov.au
- Safe Work Australia. Psychosocial hazards [Internet]. [cited 2026 Sep 25]. safeworkaustralia.gov.au
- Beyond Blue. Workplace bullying, harassment and mental health [Internet]. [cited 2026 Sep 25]. beyondblue.org.au
- NSW Government. Coercive control and the law [Internet]. [cited 2026 Sep 25]. nsw.gov.au
- Nielsen MB, Einarsen S. Outcomes of exposure to workplace bullying: a meta-analytic review. Work Stress. 2012;26(4):309-32. doi:10.1080/02678373.2012.734709
- Chen HW, Wu JC, Kang YN, et al. Assertive communication training for nurses to speak up in cases of medical errors: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Nurse Educ Today. 2023;126:105831. doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2023.105831
- Tamminga SJ, Emal LM, Boschman JS, et al. Individual-level interventions for reducing occupational stress in healthcare workers. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2023;5(5):CD002892. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD002892.pub6
- Fisch S, Trivaković-Thiel S, Roll S, et al. Group hypnosis for stress reduction and improved stress coping: a multicenter randomized controlled trial. BMC Complement Med Ther. 2020;20(1):344. doi:10.1186/s12906-020-03129-6
- Fisch S, Brinkhaus B, Teut M. Hypnosis in patients with perceived stress: a systematic review. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2017;17(1):323. doi:10.1186/s12906-017-1806-0
- Yim TH, Derbyshire SWG. A systematic review of hypnosis for clinical pain relief. Eur J Pain. 2026;30(8):e70369. doi:10.1002/ejp.70369
- PubMed search, 25 September 2026: hypnosis or hypnotherapy terms with bullying, mobbing or harassment. One record (1993, hypnotherapist misconduct); no controlled trials.
- Running time and purchase count: the publisher’s product page, 25 September 2026.
Other pages that may fit you better
- Difficult peopleEvery session here, sorted by who the person is and what they do
- The Passive AggressiveIf it’s sniping and sulking rather than shouting, and not yet a pattern
- Dealing with the NarcissistIf every win is theirs and every mistake is somehow yours
- Assertiveness TrainingIf the sentence in step three is the part that won’t come out
Whatever you decide about the session, open a note on your phone tonight and write down the last three incidents, with dates. Every route on this page starts there.
Ernest McLeod — clinical hypnotherapist. An Adelaide practice, seeing clients across Australia by video. Fourteen years in practice.
- ICHP
- FELLOW, ASCH
- IICT MEMBER
On bullying, the record, the report and the regulator come first, because they are what the other person answers to. More →
Twenty-six minutes for the evenings, and ninety days to decide
If the practical side is under way and nobody at home frightens you, this gives switching off and rehearsing a regular place in your week.
US$18.95Instant download · 90-day refund · about A$27
Results vary from person to person, and hypnosis does not replace medical care or treatment. This is self-help audio, not legal advice or a substitute for professional care. If a partner or family member frightens or controls you: 1800RESPECT, 1800 737 732. Assaulted at work: the police. In immediate danger: 000. Lifeline: 13 11 14. Never listen while driving.