Therapy
Stress and Burnout Counseling
That is burnout, and telling you to take a bath is not a treatment for it.
What burnout actually looks like
— Exhaustion that a weekend, or a week off, no longer touches
— Cynicism and detachment — particularly about work you used to care about
— A sense of ineffectiveness, that nothing you do makes any difference
— Physical symptoms — headaches, gut trouble, getting every bug going round, jaw and shoulder tension
— Waking at 4am with your mind already going
— Irritability at home, and guilt about it
— Drinking a bit more than you were, or scrolling until 1am to get some time that belongs to you
— Dread on Sunday afternoons
Who this tends to affect here
In a region with two large hospital systems, a substantial education sector, shift-based industrial and port work, long winters and long commutes, burnout is not a niche problem. We regularly see:
— Nurses, physicians, paramedics and other healthcare staff
— Teachers, school support staff and social workers
— Shift workers, and people whose sleep is permanently out of phase
— People caring for an ageing parent while raising children and working full time
— Small business owners and self-employed people with no separation between work and life
— New parents
What therapy does that a holiday does not
A holiday interrupts the load. Therapy works on the reason the load is unsustainable — which is usually some combination of external demand and internal rules. The internal rules are the part you can actually change: the belief that saying no makes you unreliable, that rest has to be earned, that other people's needs automatically outrank your own, that if you slow down it will all fall apart.
In practice this means CBT for those beliefs and the behaviours that follow from them, DBT skills for the emotional regulation piece, practical work on boundaries and recovery, and honest conversation about the things that will not change and what that means for you. Where the stress has tipped over into anxiety or depression, we treat those directly. Where it is specifically about your job, our work and career counseling page may be a better fit.
Appointments that fit around work
The people who most need this are usually the least able to take a Tuesday afternoon off. We are open 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday and Saturday mornings until 2pm, and everything is available by video — which for a lot of clients means a session in a parked car between shifts rather than no session at all.
FAQ
Common questions
Is burnout a real diagnosis?
The World Health Organization classifies burnout as an occupational phenomenon rather than a medical condition. That distinction matters for paperwork and very little for treatment — the exhaustion, detachment and ineffectiveness respond well to therapy either way.
What if I cannot change my job?
Many people cannot, at least not soon. Therapy still helps, because a substantial part of what makes chronic stress unbearable is how you are relating to it, what you have stopped doing to protect yourself, and what you believe you are allowed to need.
Will you just tell me to do yoga?
No. Those things have their place but they are not a treatment for burnout, and being handed a self-care checklist when you are already overloaded tends to make things worse.
You can usually be seen this week
Depending on availability we offer same-day or next-day appointments. There is no long waitlist and no referral required for most plans.