Workplace Investigations
Trauma-informed workplace investigations.
Whether you're strengthening your organisation's investigation capability, responding to complex workplace complaints like bullying or sexual harassment, or ensuring investigation processes align with WHS psychosocial risk obligations and Respect@Work reforms, this program equips you to conduct investigations that are safe, fair, legally defensible, and compliant with legal obligations.
Book a ConsultationCulture Plus method
Behaviour-first. Evidence-based. Built to last.
Strengthening investigation capability
Strengthening investigation capability where traditional approaches fail: causing harm and undermining defensible outcomes.
Workplace investigations are critical to organisational governance. When done well, they provide a fair, structured process for addressing complaints, protect the rights of all parties, and generate findings leaders can rely on for decisions about misconduct, organisational risk, and accountability.
Many workplace investigation frameworks were developed for legal or adversarial settings and do not fully account for trauma, psychosocial hazards, or workplace power dynamics. Here are concerns we hear from HR and investigation teams:
"We want our investigations to be robust, but we're concerned about causing harm in the process."
"How do we respond to trauma reactions without compromising procedural fairness?"
"Our investigators are experienced, but they're not always confident interpreting behaviours influenced by trauma."
Programme snapshot
What you need to know at a glance.
This highly interactive training equips investigators and organisational leaders with practical frameworks to conduct trauma-informed investigations while maintaining procedural fairness, evidentiary rigour, and legal compliance.
HR and People & Culture professionals, Employee Relations and IR specialists, internal and external investigators, legal and compliance professionals, WHS and psychosocial risk specialists, and leaders managing or escalating complaints.
Endorsed capability partner
Trusted by Australia's peak HR body.
Culture Plus Consulting is proud to design and deliver flagship DEI programmes for the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI) — Australia's peak HR professional body — supporting HR leaders and practitioners to build capability for inclusive leadership and organisational change.
Connect with us to explore how evidence-based DEI training can help your organisation build capability, strengthen culture, and deliver meaningful, measurable change.
What this training covers
What this Trauma-Informed Investigations Training covers.
Traditional investigation approaches can weaken rigour and inadvertently cause harm. This training equips investigators and organisational leaders with practical skills to embed respect, protect psychological safety, and conduct investigations that minimise harm while maintaining fairness and evidentiary rigour.
What changes after this training
Real shifts that matter.
Complainants, respondents, and witnesses experience investigations as fairer, more respectful, and less distressing. Trauma-informed approaches improve psychological safety, encouraging cooperation and participation. Investigators gain confidence to manage sensitive interviews, recognise trauma responses, and navigate emotionally complex situations while maintaining fairness and procedural integrity.
Our methodology
The Practical Capability Model
Every Culture Plus programme is built on the same evidence-based methodology. Hover any step for detail:
Your facilitator
CEO, Author and Principal Consultant
Felicity Menzies
Every Culture Plus engagement is delivered with behavioural rigour and practical relevance by Felicity Menzies — organisational psychologist, author, and specialist facilitator.
- Role
- Founder, Culture Plus Consulting
- Qualification
- Bachelor of Commerce; Bachelor of Arts (Psych) — University Medallist; Fellow, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand
- Experience
- 15+ years advising leading global and Australian private and government organisations; former senior executive in financial services and consulting
- Discipline
- Organisational psychology, behavioural science & trauma-informed practice
- Published
- A World of Difference (2016); contributor to leading business and HR publications globally
- Recognition
- LinkedIn Top Voice; commendation in NSW Parliament
From the book
Culture is the sum of behaviours leaders permit, model, and reward.A World of Difference — Felicity Menzies →
Free guide
Need to deliver trauma-informed investigations training that drives real capability change?
This guide outlines the essential conditions for effective training that builds lasting investigator capability — moving beyond awareness to practical skills that create safer, fairer, and more defensible workplace investigations.
Download the guideFrequently asked questions
Questions about trauma-informed investigation training, answered.
If you have a question we haven't covered, write to us — a real human responds within one working day.
A trauma-informed workplace investigation applies principles of safety, fairness, and respect throughout the process. It recognises how trauma affects memory, communication, and behaviour while maintaining procedural fairness and evidentiary standards.
Selected work
While you're here
Related services
Workplace Investigations
Independent, legally sound investigations led by senior organisational psychologists.
Workplace Investigations →Trauma-Informed Focus Groups
Surface lived experience safely — without re-traumatising participants or biasing findings.
Trauma-Informed Focus Groups →Culture Reviews
Independent, evidence-based reviews of workplace culture, conduct and risk.
Culture Reviews →Further reading
From the journal
Trauma-Informed Investigations: Empathy, Fairness and the Law Can Coexist
Reducing Harm in Workplace Grievance Processes
Do Your Workplace Investigations Do More Harm and Create More Legal Risk Than the Matters Being Investigated?
Build investigation capability that is safe, fair and defensible
This isn't about ticking boxes.
It's about building capability that protects your people, strengthens governance, and ensures your organisation meets people on their worst day with safety, structure, and care — without sacrificing rigour.
Discuss your investigation team's needs