Doug Truppe Forum: Bullying in the Workplace, A Masterclass in Survival - Part 1

Please join us as we address various issues and mental health challenges on a weekly basis creating a forum for communication and solutions with experts in advertising and mental health. In this week’s part 1 of 2 series , “Bullying in the Workplace, A Masterclass in Survival,”  Doug Truppe and Gabriel Most, LCSW RN  explore the dynamics and challenges Bullying can create in the context of employment and career goals. Please join us as we explore what Bullying in the workplace is and how to spot it. Stay tuned for part 2 next week when we review the psychological ramifications of bullying and how to transcend it.

Bullying in the Workplace

1. What Is Workplace Bullying?

 Workplace bullying refers to repeated and unreasonable actions or behaviors by an individual or group directed toward an employee or employees. These actions are intended to intimidate, degrade, humiliate, or undermine, creating a risk to the health and safety of the targeted person.

2.  Power Dynamics

 Bullying often involves an imbalance of power, such as a manager or supervisor targeting a subordinate. However, it can also occur between colleagues at the same level, or even from subordinates toward managers (known as upward bullying).

Power can be based on job title, seniority, social influence, or control of resources or information.

 Examples of Workplace Bullying

 1. Watch for These Signs  

Insulting or making derogatory comments

Excluding someone from meetings or activities.

Sabotaging someone’s work

Spreading false information or rumors

 Excessive monitoring/micromanaging

 Placing unreasonable demands Withholding important information or credit persistent, unfair criticism.

 2. Consequences for the Bullied Victim

Increased stress and anxiety

Decreased self-esteem and confidence

Decline in job performance and satisfaction physical and mental health issues (e.g., depression, absenteeism)

 3. Ramifications for the Bully 

Potential disciplinary action or job loss

Damage to reputation and professional relationship

Legal consequences in severe cases

 4. Impact on Work Culture

Decreased team morale and trust

 Higher employee turnover 

Reduced productivity

Creation of a toxic or hostile work environment

 Share your story: What has been your experience with workplace bullying? How was it addressed in your work environment, and what actions did you take? What did you learn from this experience? Join us next week for Part 2 of our series, 'Bullying in the Workplace: A Masterclass in Survival,' as we explore this issue further.

 Gabriel Most, LCSW RN,  www.GMostTherapy.com

 Contact me to share your stories: hello@dougtruppe.com

Doug Truppe Forum: Work Burnout: The Hidden Epidemic in Today’s Workforce

Please join us as we address various issues and mental health challenges on a weekly basis creating a forum for communication and solutions with experts in advertising and mental health. In this week’s topic, “Work Burnout: The Hidden Epidemic in Today’s Workforce,” Doug Truppe and Gabriel Most, LCSW RN  explore the dynamics and challenges Burnout can create in the context of employment and career achievement.  

Work burnout is a state of mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion that happens when prolonged stress at your job leaves you feeling drained, cynical, and unproductive. It’s more than just a bad week; it’s a chronic sense of being overwhelmed, disconnected from your work, and unable to meet constant demands.

In American society today, burnout is a widespread phenomenon.

Signs and Symptoms of Employee Burnout

1. Physical Symptoms

Chronic fatigue, exhaustion and other somatic disturbances like headaches, muscle pains and sleep disturbances.

2. Emotional Symptoms

Feeling detached, cynical about work.  Mood swings and increased irritability.  Feelings of self-doubt, failure and  preoccupation with “Imposter Syndrome.”

3. Behavioral Symptoms

Decreased productivity and motivation.  Withdrawing from responsibilities or colleagues. Procrastination or taking longer to get tasks done.

Causes of Work Burnout

 1. Work-Related Factors

Excessive workload and long hours.  Lack of control over work tasks and unclear job expectations.

 2. Organizational Causes

Poor management or lack of support. Dysfunctional workplace dynamics  and lack of recognition and financial compensation for actual  hours logged.

How to Manage Work Burnout

1. Self-Care Strategies

Prioritize regular breaks and rest. Maintain healthy sleep, nutrition, and exercise habits. Practice relaxation techniques (e.g., meditation, deep breathing)

2. Workplace Strategies

 Set clear boundaries between work and personal life. Delegate tasks when possible. Communicate openly with supervisors about workload when tasks become unmanageable.

3. Seek Support

Reach out to colleagues, friends, or mental health professionals. Consider counseling or employee assistance programs. 

Employee Burnout might feel like the “New Normal,” but research shows that many agencies are having challenges retaining a loyal productive workforce. What have been your experiences around work burnout and how did you address it? We’d love to hear from you.

Gabriel Most, LCSW RN , www.GMosttherapy.com

Contact me to share your stories: hello@dougtruppe.com 

Doug Truppe Forum - What Is an Addiction? Do We All Have It? - Part 2 of 2

Welcome, my name is Doug Truppe, and I am an artist representative for commercial photographers and directors in the global market. Our mission is to empower, elevate and foster a sense of community for those employed in the advertising industry. Focusing on mental health, our hope is to provide a forum and backdrop to discuss and share the challenges our industry is facing in a fast paced ever changing global economy.  Concentrating on one’s well-being with the expertise of a mental health practitioner, Gabriel Most LCSW, RN, come join us as we explore and discuss managing mental health in the advertising industry. Ultimately, we are here to provide helpful resources and offer a friendly voice in challenging times. 

 What Is an Addiction? Do We All Have It?

-Part. 2 of 2- 

Please join us as we address various issues and mental health challenges on a weekly basis creating a forum for communication and solutions with experts in advertising and mental health. In this week’s special 2 Part Series, join Doug Truppe and Gabriel Most, LCSW, RN for Part 2 of What is an Addiction? Do we all have it? Together we’ll explore what is an addiction and what one can do to manage it.

Whether We ’re All Addicted to Something Because It’s Part of the Current Human Condition or Not; the Following Is True:

Confessing to an addiction requires self-disclosure only. What others think won’t get you to change your behaviors. Change is purely optional.

Once we recognize that we have a problem we can begin to focus on the solution(s).

Here Is Just a Short List of Things One Can Do to Manage an Addictive Behavior or Relationship:

Get Help – You cannot figure this out on your own, that’s why this is an addiction. You just can’t stop.

Do some research on your addictive behavior. Use Google and AI to access information on your specific addiction. Research helpful tools like books and types of treatment and speak to experts or person of faith and find out how others are getting help. Hotlines?

What has proven effective? What has not? What type of therapy? Out-Patient, Inpatient treatment, Drug Rehab? Psychologist, LCSW, MD or go unconventional like Music or Art Therapist? Individual, Couples or Groups?

Come up with some type of plan that predetermines how you want to behave or manage triggers, cravings or bouts when they rear their ugly head and taunt you to reengage in the addictive cycle. This prepares you for the unexpected because shit happens.

Socialize & Share- Use your discretion. What, how and who you share with is vital to your success. Socializing in all its variations combats loneliness and isolation which are key components and triggers for addictive behaviors and cycles.

Create a daily Self-Care routine. We are all busy, juggling the many directions our lives take us to; however, creating a daily ritual or tradition which we customize to our own liking and time constraints ensures we are staying connected to ourselves and our feelings.

The most important relationship we will ever have is the one we have with ourself. Be kind to yourself today. Give yourself a break today. Remind yourself that you do know what is best for your life. It is your purpose to listen.

Gabriel Most LCSW, RN www.GMostTherapy.com

Contact me to share your stories: hello@dougtruppe.com 

Doug Truppe Forum- Ghosting

Mission Statement  

Welcome, my name is Doug Truppe, and I am an artist representative for commercial photographers and directors in the global market. Our mission is to empower, elevate and foster a sense of community for those employed in the advertising industry. Focusing on mental health, our hope is to provide a forum and backdrop to discuss and share the challenges our industry is facing in a fast paced ever changing global economy.  Concentrating on one’s well-being with the expertise of a mental health practitioner, Gabriel Most LCSW, RN, come join us as we explore and discuss managing mental health in the advertising industry. Ultimately, we are here to provide helpful resources and offer a friendly voice in challenging times. 

Ghosting 

Ghosting….A Complexity of Modern Relationships or Just Bad Behavior? 

Please join us as we address various issues and mental health challenges on a weekly basis creating a forum for communication and solutions with experts in advertising and mental health. In this week’s topic, “Ghosting….A Complexity of Modern Relationships or just Bad Behavior?” Doug Truppe and Gabriel Most, LCSW, RN explore the newer phenomena of “Being Ghosted. What to do and how best to manage it 

What Is Ghosting and How to Proceed Forward?

To Ghost:

When employees, employers and or colleagues SUDDENLY stop all communications without ANY notice.  

For many of us being Ghosted feels very personal and often fosters anxiety, uncertainty and second guessing all our actions. “Did I lose this account? What did I do or say to get Ghosted?”

Why Does It Hurt So Much?

Lack of closure  being cut off without even a word can create confusion and uncertainty. “What happened? Did I do anything wrong. Did I ask for too much?”  

Self Esteem gets called into question. If part of my self-worth and identity is surrounded around my career and you suddenly disappear without even a word,  of course I will feel rejected and inadequate.   

“I thought we were Peers/Colleagues working together creating a common bond. Making money!  Now you won’t answer my calls, texts or emails?” WTF!? 

Things to Consider….

Understanding that we cannot control if someone will or won’t communicate to us is a vital first step . However, if we can understand what we are FEELING when we are GHOSTED and WHY, we are then more apt to handle being ignored in a more professional mindset and a less personal one.  

Calling out a peer for ghosting and expressing anger disappointment or judgment over it, rarely gets you the response you are looking for, engagement. So why say something? What are your thoughts here?  

Our  own psychological awareness regarding Ghosting gives us more focus to choose more productive ways to find more work, money and opportunity.

What’s been your experience with Ghosting? How have you managed it? Please share, we’d love to hear from you. Together we can create a community of empowerment. 

Knowledge at Wharton: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: Why Workplace Ghosting Is on the Rise   

Gabriel Most LCSW, RN www.GMostTherapy.com

Contact me to share your stories: hello@dougtruppe.com 

Doug Truppe Forum- Leading Life Is a Life Worth Living

 Mission Statement

Welcome, my name is Doug Truppe, and I am an artist representative for commercial photographers and directors in the global market. Our mission is to empower, elevate and foster a sense of community for those employed in the advertising industry. Focusing on mental health, our hope is to provide a forum and backdrop to discuss and share the challenges our industry is facing in a fast-paced, ever-changing global economy.  Concentrating on one’s well-being with the expertise of a mental health practitioner, Gabriel Most LCSW, RN, come join us as we explore and discuss managing mental health in the advertising industry. Ultimately, we are here to provide helpful resources and offer a friendly voice in challenging times.

Please join us as we address various issues and mental health challenges on a weekly basis creating a forum for communication and solutions with experts in advertising and  mental health. In this week’s topic, “Five Stages of Job Loss” Doug Truppe, and Gabriel Most, LCSW, RN  explore what happens when we lose our job and go from a schedule with a paycheck and benefits to an aimless focus, no income and no health coverage.

Five Stages of Job Loss

According to Elisabeth Kubler -Ross, M.D., a psychiatrist who pioneered research around loss and grief, the following is a list of stages that we experience when we lose our job:

 1. Denial - “ I can’t believe this is happening. I have worked there for 20 years.”

 2. Anger - “After twenty years they fire me with an email and a zoom call?! This can’t be happening.”

 3. Bargaining - “Maybe if I take a 30% pay cut or work freelance without benefits, they’ll keep me on.”

 4. Depression - “Who is ever going to hire me, this is all I know, and I’ve been doing it for 15-plus years and I’m too old and making too much money.”

 5. Acceptance - “ If I can reinvent myself and pivot, I can still stay relevant and make money in this industry.”

Share your story. What has been your experience around job loss? How did you manage and then land on your feet? We’d love to hear from you.  Together we can create a community of empowerment.

Come join us as we explore the  changes in advertising  due to AI, and other technologies, managing the changing landscape.

Book by Dr. Kubler Ross-  Elizabeth Kubler-Ross M.D., David Kessler- On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss   

Gabriel Most LCSW, RN,  www.gmosttherapy.com

Contact me to share your stories: hello@dougtruppe.com

Doug Truppe - Come Shoot With Us

Doug Truppe Represents starts the year with the best in award-winning photographers and directors worldwide. Working on any platform with today’s latest emerging technologies, we transform ordinary everyday life, slow down a scene to capture those small, special moments—key to storytelling that makes a difference.

We are excited to collaborate, create and produce, always accommodating our clients’ perspectives and needs. With a nod to traditional values—Curiosity, Passion Integrity, Kindness and Truth—we work in the present as we look to the future. Build a message that intrigues and the audience will come.

Rhea Anna, Kevin Arnold, Andy Goodwin, Jim Hughes, Tom Hussey, Jared Leeds, Scott  Montgomery, Claudio Napolitano, Peter Rodger, Walter Smith

Click on Doug Truppe to View Our Work