Verbal Harassment

Living with or loving someone who struggles with alcohol use disorder is challenging enough. When verbal abuse enters the picture, it can feel like you’re walking through a minefield every single day. Here’s the thing nobody tells you: you didn’t cause this, you can’t control it, and you can’t cure it. But you can learn […]

Cop this: You’re sitting at the dinner table, and suddenly you’re copping an earful about everything you’ve done wrong since primary school. The words sting. Your chest tightens. And the worst part? It’s not the first time. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Verbal abuse from parents is more common than many people realise, […]

Quick Answer How to deal with verbal abuse from a partner: recognise the pattern for what it is, stop engaging with the insults, tell people you trust, make a safety plan and keep a private record if it is safe to do so. Verbal abuse is a form of emotional abuse, and in Australia it […]

It’s not something parents plan for. You raise your children, love them unconditionally, and hope the relationship evolves into mutual respect once they’re adults. But sometimes, things don’t pan out that way. When your adult child regularly yells at you, calls you names, or uses cruel words to manipulate you, it hurts. Deeply. The pain […]

Nobody wakes up expecting to cop an earful from a stranger, yet it happens more often than we’d like to admit. Whether it’s road rage on the M1, an angry shopper at Woollies, or someone having a proper meltdown on public transport, verbal abuse from strangers can leave you shaken, angry, or questioning what just […]

Quick Answer Knowing how to deal with verbal abuse in the workplace starts with a record. Write down every incident, check you are safe, and if it feels safe, tell the person calmly that the behaviour has to stop. Then report it to your manager, HR or a health and safety representative. If it continues, […]

Quick Answer Verbal abuse in the workplace is a repeated pattern of using words to belittle, threaten, control or humiliate someone at work. Common examples of verbal abuse at work are yelling and swearing, insults and name-calling, constant targeted criticism, threats, sarcasm disguised as jokes, gaslighting and malicious gossip. It can come from a manager, […]

Let’s face it, no one rocks up to work expecting to cop a mouthful of abuse. Yet here’s a sobering reality that might make you spill your morning flat white: Australia and New Zealand have the highest rates of workplace harassment globally, with nearly one in two workers experiencing some form of workplace harassment in […]