When Trauma Comes to Work

Most people think trauma lives in hospitals, war zones, or childhood memories.

But the truth is… It shows up to meetings.

It answers emails.

And it learns to play nice under fluorescent lights.

Trauma doesn’t clock out when we clock in.

It follows us into performance reviews, team meetings, client calls, and the silence between “how are you?” and what we’re really feeling.

How Trauma Can Show Up at Work (Without us realizing it)

Here are just some of the ways unhealed trauma can play out in the workplace:

• The high performer who never takes a break and links their worth to output.

• The people pleaser who says “yes” when they mean “no,” and feels unsafe disappointing others.

• The disengaged team member who isn’t lazy—they’re shut down from chronic overwhelm.

• The perfectionist leader who pushes until burnout because anything less feels like failure.

• The fearful-to-speak-up employee (👋 I used to resonate deeply with this one early in my career), conditioned to believe that using their voice was dangerous.

• The co-worker who micromanages everything, not to be difficult, but because control equals safety.

• The employee who avoids feedback, because their nervous system registers it as a threat.

• The high-potential new hire who’s being slowly worn down by a toxic manager or relentless bullying—but doubts their reality because they’ve learned not to trust their instincts.

• The workplace bully who lashes out, dominates, or manipulates—often operating from their own unresolved trauma response rooted in control, shame, or learned power dynamics.

Trauma doesn’t stay in the past. It seeps into how we lead, how we respond to pressure, how we give feedback—or don’t. It shapes how we collaborate, how we react to conflict, and how safe we feel when we’re asked to take up space, speak up, or slow down.

What If It’s Not Just a Work Problem? What If It’s a Nervous System Problem?

When we understand trauma as something that shows up in the body — not just the past — everything changes.

We stop asking “What’s wrong with them?”

And we start asking “What happened to them?”

We see people through the lens of regulation, not just results.

And suddenly, a whole new layer of humanity enters the conversation.

This Isn’t About Blame. It’s About Awareness.

Workplaces are made of humans.

And humans carry history.

So much of our “professional behavior” is really our survival behavior — dressed up in office clothes.

And healing at work doesn’t mean everyone needs therapy.

It means we need more understanding of how trauma manifests in communication, conflict, productivity, trust, and team dynamics.

What About You?

I’m curious—can you relate to any of this?

Have you ever felt your voice shut down in a meeting, even when you had something important to say?

Have you witnessed a colleague unravel under pressure… or felt it happen to you?

Let’s make this a more human conversation.

Drop a comment or share this post if it resonates.

We can’t heal what we keep ignoring.

And sometimes, simply seeing it is the first step to changing it.