Austin is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Omnipsi Consulting where he has worked with various international clients in the delivering of leadership assessments, executive coaching, training and outplacement services. He is a UK Chartered Scientist and Psychologist, and a Hong Kong Registered Psychologist.

 

Austin has a Bachelors in Psychology with Socio-Legal Studies, a Masters in International and Commercial Law, a Postgraduate Diploma in Law and a Masters in Psychology of Work. He is currently pursuing a PhD with Birkbeck, Univeristy of London, looking at the use of Acceptance Commitment Therapy as a coping strategy in workplace bullying.

 

The presentation topic will touch on workplace bullying and how individuals might be able to help themselves in such a situation. Many researches have looked at the antecedents of such acts in the workplace and the impact towards both organizations and individuals. However, organizations still do not regard such phenomenon as an issue that can cause reduced productivity, high attrition and absenteeism.

 

Therefore, individuals are left to fend for themselves through ways of : retaliation, resistance or avoidance through sickness or absenteeism. While these methods might reduce the act of and exposure to workplace bullying, they do not eliminate the emotional strains, stress, demotivation, and self-deprecation that come with it. How then do we help individuals get out from the vicious cycle of these emotional entanglements?

 

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy might just be the solution as it focuses on six interactive processes: defusion, acceptance, contact with present, self as context, values and committed actions, to help individuals become psychological flexible. Thus, this will help individuals to deal with negative thoughts that emerge from the bullying and subsequently the bullying itself effectively.