Emotional Intelligence Training for HR Teams: Why It Starts Within

We’re seeing a lot of conversation right now about the impact of the workplace on the mental health of HR professionals.

But I come at this from a very different perspective.

My view is shaped by two decades of work—over a decade as an HR professional across major brands, and the last 13+ years as a therapist, coach, and facilitator delivering emotional intelligence training to organisations.

And what I’ve learned is this:

Most of what we think we know about workplace stress and mental health… misses the mark entirely.

Where We Think Emotion Comes From

As HR professionals, we’re constantly navigating emotion—our own, our teams’, our leaders’, the entire workforce. And it’s easy to believe that our emotional state is being shaped by the world around us.

That the reason we feel anxious is because of that Board meeting.

That the reason we feel drained is because of the redundancy consultation we just co-chaired.

That the reason we can’t sleep is because of the conversation we had with the trade unions earlier.

I know—because that used to be me.

But what if I told you that the way you feel isn’t coming from those events?

That your experience isn’t being created by your external environment?

That it’s coming from somewhere else entirely?

Your Emotions Don’t Come From Outside

Here’s what’s really happening.

Your experience—moment to moment to moment—is being created from within.

It’s coming from your own inner world.

Your conditioning.
Your thought patterns.
Your nervous system.

We all move through life with a perceptual filter—what you might call your internal lens or mental map. That filter is made up of past experiences, beliefs, habits, and learned responses. And it doesn’t just exist in the neural circuitry of your brain—it lives in your autonomic nervous system.

That’s right—your body holds your conditioning.

Your nervous system becomes wired to react in certain ways, without you even realising it.

And when a challenging situation arises, your nervous system reacts not just to what’s in front of you—but to a whole backlog of stress, beliefs, and unresolved responses stored in your body.

The Illusion of Cause and Effect

When something activates us emotionally, the brain rushes to explain it.

It says: “You feel this way because of that email.”
Or: “You’re upset because of that meeting.”

But here’s what gives it away.

If the situation is really the cause of your stress—why does the feeling linger long after the meeting ends?

Why do you go home and still feel agitated?

Why are you lying in bed the next morning, still looping the same conversation in your mind?

The truth?

Because the emotion wasn’t coming from the situation.

It was coming from your internal reaction to it.

And that reaction is being shaped by your conditioning—your thought patterns and the regulation of your nervous system.

What Emotional Intelligence Training Should Really Offer

When we talk about emotional intelligence training, what are we really talking about?

Because a lot of traditional programmes stop at surface-level strategies:

• Label your emotions

• Pause before reacting

• Be more self-aware

But surface-level strategies won’t cut it when your nervous system is dysregulated.

Real emotional intelligence training helps you go deeper.

It helps you transcend the automatic, habitual responses that have been running your life—and your leadership.

It helps you raise your levels of consciousness so that you can meet your moments with clarity, not reactivity.

It helps you create space between stimulus and response—so that you lead from sovereignty, not survival.

And that’s what I teach in HR Alchemy.

It’s a two-day immersive emotional intelligence training for HR teams that integrates neuroscience, nervous system regulation, energy awareness, and deep psychological insight. It’s not about strategies—it’s about transformation.

The Invitation to Go Deeper

If you're an HR professional who’s ready to understand what’s really creating your emotional experience… if you’re ready for your HR Team to operate from a place of groundedness, presence, and energetic sovereignty then schedule your connection call now.