In this talk delivered at Hub Australia for International Women’s Day 2019, Jessica Hickman recounts her three‑and‑a‑half years of workplace bullying while working on an oil and gas FIFO project in Darwin. She describes her arrival in Australia as a young backpacker, her rapid rise as a mental‑health champion, and the creation of a culture program that earned industry awards. The narrative shifts to the arrival of an HR manager who harassed her because she was a strong, confident woman, leading to a sustained campaign of gender‑based bullying, harassment, and intimidation. Despite reporting the abuse 32 times, the toxic environment persisted, causing anxiety, PTSD, and eventual collapse in 2017. The crisis prompted a turning point: Jessica decided to stop being a victim, adopted a growth mindset, wrote a book, and founded Bullyology—a social‑impact business that educates and supports organisations against bullying. She highlights recent partnerships, international travel, and recognition from Hub Australia, emphasizing how sharing her truth has opened opportunities and empowered others.
Chapters
[MUSIC] Faces looking back at me, and also thanks for the males for coming this morning and empowering women. My background comes from oil and gas, so when I woke up this morning, I had a fear and anxiety arise, and that is a direct result of suffering 3 and a half years of workplace bullying. In 2016, I had the honor of being the International Women's Day rep in an oil and gas project in Darwin. I lived there for 3 and a half years. So while this should have been one of the highlights of my career, it was actually probably a day that will haunt me for the rest of my life. That day I stood up and I prepared an amazing speech around how I felt empowered. I had spent most of my time there championing for mental health, changed the culture, winning numerous awards. And as I stood there that day and said how I felt empowered and supported by everyone, I was actually telling a lie, and that lie haunted me. I'd become a fraud. I'd become detached from who I really was. On the outside, I was this strong female doing all of this amazing work, but my workplace bullying, my HR manager, had torn me apart mentally and physically. So International Women's Day is a really special day for me, and today I'm so grateful that I can actually speak my truth. So in 2013, I arrived in Australia as a young ambitious backpacker with the whole world ahead of me. So initially I was only going to stay 3 months and I was on a career break, but I fell in love with the people and the country. I was very lucky and grateful that I had the opportunity to start working in Darwin on an oil and gas project, which was very different to what I'd experienced in the UK. I'd been working as a youth worker for the youth service with the council and the government running youth and homeless drop-in centres. Loved it. But now there was a new mission ahead of me. Day 1 in the job, I sat in that induction and I heard the word suicide, and it was part of the industry. Men in particular killed themselves because of the FIFO life, and that shocked me and then led me and sparked something inside me where I thought, I'm going to dedicate my time on this project to work out why people are killing themselves and how I can help. So I established myself as a strong female in that industry, standing in front of big scaffolders, construction workers, a Welsh girl talking around, you know, let's open up and talk about mental health. They thought I was crazy at first, but through consistency I broke through and built an amazing culture program with help from lots of colleagues in different companies. So, standing in front of the Minister, being nominated for Exceptional Women in Resources, absolutely fantastic experience. But 6 months in, my new HR manager joined my company, and life changed. He didn't believe women should be in the workplace. I was everything that he didn't believe in: strong, confident, attractive, female. And why should I have a voice? And I was reminded daily that women should be seen, not heard. The more successful I became, the more my life became a nightmare. It would start with initial comments around my appearance, accusing me of inappropriate things. How could a woman be successful for her intelligence? She must be doing certain things with other people. The jokes started, which was passed off as humor, but that damages a person. I started to develop anxiety. I started to develop PTSD, where I was not only working with people that were suicidal every day, but also suffering my own mental health concerns where I was masking the toxic leadership. I reported the bullying over 3 and a half years to management 32 times. Due to a boys' club and a lack of consistent leadership, the bullying was allowed to not only damage me but damage so many good people that we lost. People always say to me, "Why didn't you leave?" Number one, I was frightened if I left, someone I cared about would have no mental health support from management and would end their life. Two, I was changing and disrupting a whole industry and doing some amazing work in the community and supporting families. Also, I was on a visa, so my company owned me. I was determined not to be pushed out of an organisation by a bully, let alone lose my livelihood in a country I loved, so I stayed. Unfortunately, in June 2017, even the most resilient people crumble, and I ended up in a hospital bed where I was burnt out and I collapsed. They initially thought my appendix had ruptured, but what I actually had was a major anxiety attack that crippled me. Today, that experience was the best thing that ever happened to me because it shaped who I am. I made the decision that I didn't want to be a victim of my circumstance. I'd been a bullying victim for so long. I wanted to change that and use the growth mindset where I could then write my book and found my business, Bullyology. Last year I had the amazing opportunity to partner with multiple companies, travel the US twice, and set up business in the UK. My business has been running for a year and a half, and I never set out to create a business because I knew nothing about business. All I was was a woman with a story that wanted to make change and empower other people. And when you stand in your truth and tell your story, amazing things open up for you. So yeah, I decided to, um, found my business, and I'm really grateful for HUB because I won the Flexi membership this year for being a social impact business, and I'm able to stand amongst amazing women and men who have empowered me to step up every day and break through fear and stand in my truth. So thank you so much for this opportunity. I really appreciate it.
