How do you reclaim your confidence after dealing with a toxic workplace? It’s a question that’s top of mind for many professionals who seek jobs that protect their mental and emotional health.

While toxic workplaces seem to be on the rise, workers have become less tolerant of poor management and office drama. In fact, a recent study conducted by MIT’s Sloan School of Management found that a toxic workplace culture is the number-one reason people leave their jobs.

As an executive coach, I’ve witnessed countless intelligent, capable professionals struggle to regain their confidence after such an experience. They carry hyper-vigilance and reactivity into their next role, which affects their performance and happiness.

Take Joy, for example. She was three months into her new role as a project coordinator at an IT company. Overall, her first 90 days had been a success. Despite these results, she told me, “I feel like I’m carrying baggage from my last role. My old boss would always twist my words. I could never bring up hard topics without him going off on me.”

Joy’s past toxic workplace experience had clearly scarred her. And she’s not alone. Workplace trauma is a very real if under-discussed issue. Any number of damaging behaviors can cause it, from verbal harassment or social isolation to racism and job........

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