PTSD in the workplace, and the Sh*t Employers Get Wrong | With Lisa Irving
When someone develops PTSD at work, being told to “be stronger” is not support.
Lisa Irving helps workers understand and recover from trauma while also teaching employers how their response can either help or harm.
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This episode includes discussion of PTSD, workplace trauma, assault, sexual harassment, bullying, dissociation and other distressing experiences. If anything in this conversation raises something for you, Lifeline (13 11 14), Suicide Call Back Service (1300 659 467) and the National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline (1800 250 015) are available for support.
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In this episode, you'll hear:
👉 What workplace PTSD can actually look like beyond the stereotypes. Lisa explains how trauma can develop in jobs like nursing, teaching, corrections, firefighting, disability support and mining, often after assaults, accidents, harassment or repeated exposure to distressing events.
👉 Why your body can react before your mind even understands what’s happening. Paris shares how certain smells, sounds and situations can trigger intense physical reactions, while Lisa explains the fight, flight and freeze responses that can show up with PTSD.
👉 How employers can accidentally make PTSD worse. Lisa talks about workers being ghosted, isolated or made to feel weak after putting in a claim, and why simple human communication can make such a difference.
👉 What EMDR is and why it’s used in trauma therapy. Lisa breaks down how EMDR works, why it can feel strange at first and how techniques like bilateral stimulation and the Flash Technique can help people process traumatic memories.
👉 Why PTSD can flare up even when the current stress has nothing to do with the original trauma. Lisa explains how unrelated stress can reactivate old trauma responses and why understanding those patterns can help people make sense of what they’re experiencing.
The conversation
What workplace PTSD can actually look like
Lisa explains that PTSD at work is not limited to one type of job or one dramatic event. She sees people from corrections, nursing, teaching, firefighting, disability support and mining, with trauma linked to assaults, serious accidents, sexual harassment, bullying and repeated exposure to distressing situations.
She also talks about how cumulative exposure can build over time, especially in frontline roles, until one final incident becomes the tipping point.
Why the body can react before the mind catches up
Lisa breaks down the fight, flight and freeze response and explains how trauma can affect memory, physical sensation and a person’s sense of safety. In some cases, people may dissociate, lose pieces of the memory or feel numb during and after what happened.
Paris also shares how PTSD has shown up in her own life, where a smell, sound or other reminder can trigger sweating, shaking, nausea or difficulty breathing before she has consciously recognised what is happening.
Why unrelated stress can bring old trauma back to the surface
Lisa explains that PTSD can flare even when the current stress has nothing obvious to do with the original trauma. She describes it as the mind recognising stress and pulling up some of the most stressful experiences it already knows.
She shares the example of a former client whose symptoms resurfaced around university exams, not because the exams resembled the original workplace trauma, but because the added stress seemed to reactivate the same system.
What employers can get badly wrong after workplace trauma
One of the biggest problems Lisa sees is employers withdrawing communication. She describes workers being “ghosted”, isolated from colleagues or left feeling like the workplace no longer knows what to do with them after a psychological injury or workers compensation claim.
The other damaging response is the message that someone should simply be stronger. Even comments that may sound harmless can leave a person feeling weak, difficult or responsible for their symptoms instead of supported through them.
How EMDR can help people process trauma
Lisa explains how EMDR uses bilateral stimulation while the person holds aspects of a traumatic memory in mind. She describes it as demanding work rather than a quick fix, but says she has seen it make a significant difference for people living with PTSD.
She also talks about the Flash Technique, which allows someone to briefly “flick” into a traumatic memory while staying connected to something positive, making trauma processing more tolerable for some people who find standard EMDR too intense.
Why understanding the pattern can change the way someone responds
Lisa talks about “trauma logic”, where the brain takes what happened in the past and begins applying that same danger template to the present. A sound, proximity to another person or something seemingly small can make the nervous system respond as if the original threat is happening again.
Part of the work is learning to recognise that difference: this reminds me of what happened before, but it is not necessarily happening now. That awareness can then make grounding and other coping strategies easier to use.
How therapy dogs became part of Lisa’s practice
Lisa also shares how dogs gradually became part of the therapy room after she noticed how naturally clients connected with them. She says people often talk to the dogs, pat them or simply find comfort in having them nearby.
For Lisa, part of their value is how non-judgemental and accepting they are. She recalls moments where Millie has instinctively moved towards an upset client, offering quiet physical comfort when words were not necessarily what they needed.
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Lisa says one of the most damaging responses she sees is employers withdrawing communication after someone experiences a psychological injury or makes a workers compensation claim. Workers may feel ghosted, isolated from colleagues or treated as though they should simply “be stronger”. For Lisa, staying connected and responding like a human being can make a meaningful difference.
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Lisa explains that the nervous system can respond to the feeling of stress itself. Someone may be dealing with an unrelated pressure, like exams or work demands, and find that old trauma symptoms suddenly become stronger. She describes it as the mind recognising stress and bringing previous high-stress experiences back to the surface.
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Yes. PTSD can develop after experiencing or witnessing traumatic events involving serious injury, violence, sexual assault or threats to life or safety. Healthdirect also notes that people working in jobs involving repeated exposure to trauma, such as firefighters and paramedics, can be at greater risk. Workplace incidents involving violence, serious accidents or other traumatic events can therefore contribute to PTSD.
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PTSD can involve intrusive memories or flashbacks, nightmares, avoiding reminders of what happened, feeling emotionally numb or detached, difficulty concentrating, sleep problems and feeling constantly alert for danger. Physical reactions to reminders can also include sweating, a racing heartbeat, difficulty breathing or panic. Symptoms vary between people and may appear soon after the trauma or months later.
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Yes. Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing, or EMDR, is a recognised psychological treatment for PTSD. Healthdirect lists EMDR alongside trauma-focused CBT, prolonged exposure and cognitive processing therapy, while the World Health Organization includes EMDR among the psychological interventions that should be considered for adults with PTSD. Treatment should be tailored to the individual with a qualified mental health professional.
About Lisa Irving
Lisa Irving is a Perth-based clinical psychologist and founder of Revive Health and Happiness in East Perth. With decades of experience in injury management and workers compensation, she supports adults with PTSD and workplace psychological injuries, using approaches including EMDR. She also offers online workplace PTSD training for employers and injury management professionals.
Lisa founded Virtuosa, an AI-assisted report-writing platform that helps Australian psychologists save time preparing complex reports.
👉 Explore the links above for her psychology services, workplace courses and report-writing platform.
RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Revive Health & Happiness — Lisa’s East Perth psychology practice, offering psychological services, trauma support and workplace PTSD training.
Virtuosa AI — Lisa’s AI-assisted report-writing platform designed for Australian psychologists working with complex clinical reports.
