Adaptive information processing at work a case study

The New Zealand Health and Safety at Work Act ( recognises that every workplace must include reasonably practicable steps to protect health and prevent harm at work, including psychological harm 1 Despite the OH&S legislative requirements, many modern workplaces do not understand how to identify and manage psychosocial risks to prevent psychological har m 2 In this presentation, Kristen will demonstrate how the Adaptive Information Processing ( model was used to treat trauma within a workplace and change how the workplace viewed psychosocial risk. The case involves an employee who found a beloved co worker dead in her home, which triggered an earlier unprocessed memory for the employee. Following the AIP model, Kristen will demonstrate how the employee’s unprocessed traumatic memories led to maladaptive beliefs about responsibility, safety and control. The employee s beliefs resulted in behaviours in the workplace which ultimately led to significant disciplinary actions taken against the employe e. The disciplinary actions ultimately resulted in significant additional trauma for the employee. Kristen will explain how EMDR treatment ( enabled the employee to re process the traumatic memories and make significant changes in her life, and ( enab led the workplace to understand how to identify and prevent psychosocial risk in other situations. Kristen will argue why workplace wellbeing initiatives would benefit from being delivered in line with the AIP model.

Conference

English

Kristen Hamling

Hamling, K. (2021, November). Adaptive information processing at work a case study. Presentation at the Annual EMDRNZ Conference, Wellington, New Zealand