Recognising COVID-19-related trauma in the workplace

As organisations continue to adapt in the aftermath of pandemic lockdowns, this positive psychology coach emphasised the importance of acknowledging employee trauma caused by COVID-19.

Michelle Falzon joined The HR Leader on a recent podcast episode to discuss why reflecting on mental stress induced by the pandemic is crucial for healthily overcoming trauma.

The founder of Positive Wellbeing Education had 16 years’ experience in school teaching before transitioning her skills as an educator from the classroom into workplaces.

As society continues to witness the pandemic’s consequences, popular terms such as “post-COVID” are being used to signify the end of this period altogether. Ms Falzon resisted such phrases and instead pushed for reflection on how COVID-19 continues to impact workplaces.

She identified three groups of employees based upon ‘post-traumatic growth’ research:

People who are aware enough to ‘identify their varying degrees of trauma’ resulting from the last two years.

Those who have thrived from these significant workplace changes.

Employees who are pretending that they are in a healthy state and pushing through their challenges as a ‘survival mechanism’.

“It’s important to be present and to reflect upon where you were pre-COVID-19, what COVID-19 created for you, for your vision, for your business model, for your staff, for yourself and where you are now,” she reiterated.

Recognising the challenges you faced during this time is crucial, instead of refusing to face them.

“When people give themselves permission to acknowledge their struggles, that catapults them through the process of recognition to become proactive in their next steps.”

She added: “What a lot of individuals have lost is the ability to step out of the negative bias momentarily and focus on the positive, healthy and conducive elements which allow us to thrive, flourish and be happy.”

Ms Falzon explained that the ‘science of happiness’ is what her coaching work is all about. By “stripping back the elements of reality”, you can ask yourself: what do I need to fuel my happiness?

The coach noted two key steps towards strengthening resilience to manage future challenges:

Recognition

“The realities that exist around post-traumatic growth are very real. And trauma is a very strong word. It’s a negative emotion that comes from even just saying the word trauma. But trauma is subjective and it should be approached with no judgement and an unbiased ability to embrace [it], regardless of the size of trauma.”

She continued: “Growth can come from that exposure to a trauma of any kind, providing we give ourselves the permission to recognise it.”

“How do we support each other in identifying what strengths still remain?” Ms Falzon asked.

Acceptance

“It’s okay to struggle, because in our challenges lay our greatest lessons. That’s where we grow, that’s where we can level up and take that next step towards what our missions are.”

“Growth doesn’t happen in being stagnant, growth happens in a challenge,” she said, and emphasised the importance of sharing positive dialogue with one another.

The transcript of this podcast episode, when quoted above, was slightly edited for publishing purposes. The full conversation with Michelle Falzon is below.

Note from the editor: if you’re currently experiencing any of the issues we’ve discussed in this podcast and would like to reach out for help, you may wish to contact Lifeline: www.lifeline.org.au