Stop the Suffering: An EAP Approach to End Workplace Bullying

Abstract

Back in 1980, I boarded a ferry headed to the Great North, my MSW diploma in hand. Signing on as the first full-time clinician at the initial external EAP in Alaska, I eagerly anticipated helping employees with their problems. Unfortunately, I discovered that I was helpless to address their work-related suffering caused by bullying. This experience led me on a lifelong professional quest to understand why bosses would treat their employees badly, and why most employers did nothing about their bullying bosses - managers that I prefer to call "abrasive leaders."