Stress & Burnout

Therapy for Chronic Stress & Burnout

You might be high achieving, deeply caring, incredibly capable. The kind of person others lean on. But inside, you're exhausted. Overextended. Cynical. Checked out. Maybe you're snapping at people. Or crying in carparks. Or struggling to feel anything at all.

I provide therapy for adults experiencing chronic stress and burnout for clients across Australia. Many of the people I work with are high-achieving, conscientious, and deeply responsible people who have spent years pushing through stress before their body or mind finally says “enough.”

Burnout is particularly common among people in caring professions, high-pressure workplaces, activist communities, and among neurodivergent or LGBTQIA+ people navigating additional layers of stress. Therapy offers space to slow down, reflect, and begin rebuilding in a way that feels sustainable.

Therapy can help you understand how burnout developed, address the patterns that keep it going, and rebuild a life that includes rest, boundaries, and meaning (not just productivity).

Sessions are also offered via Telehealth, which means you can access support from your own space without adding another commute or obligation to an already full plate. You can read more about how Telehealth therapy works here.

What is Burnout?

Burnout isn’t laziness. It isn’t failure. It’s your body and mind’s way of saying: “This is too much, for too long.”

Burnout might show up as:

  • Emotional exhaustion, brain fog, or physical fatigue

  • Feeling numb, cynical, or disconnected

  • Losing motivation in things that once mattered

  • Trouble sleeping or switching off

  • Increased anxiety or panic

  • Perfectionism or fear of letting others down

  • A sense that no matter what you do, it’s never enough

Burnout can be subtle at first, until it’s not. And if you're neurodivergent, queer, trans, or someone who’s grown up with high expectations and no room to rest? It can hit even harder.

How Therapy Helps

  • Understand how burnout developed (it’s rarely just about the job)

  • Identify internalised pressures (e.g. productivity = worth)

  • Learn to set boundaries that feel both possible and protective

  • Restore connection to joy, agency, and meaning

  • Address people-pleasing, perfectionism, and guilt

  • Rebuild a nervous system that can actually rest

  • Redefine what “success” looks like on your terms

Burnout recovery is less about “resilience” and more about reclaiming yourself, without shame or hustle culture hangovers.

 FAQs

  • Stress and burnout exist on a spectrum. Stress often comes and goes depending on what's happening in your life: deadlines, transitions, conflict. Burnout tends to creep in when stress becomes chronic and relentless. Signs of burnout might include emotional exhaustion, feeling detached or numb, trouble concentrating, loss of motivation, or a sense of hopelessness, even about things you used to care about.

    If you're feeling drained all the time, or like you’re running on fumes no matter how much you rest, you may be experiencing burnout.

  • Burnout isn’t a formal diagnosis like anxiety or depression, but it’s a very real experience with emotional, physical, and cognitive effects. Many people experiencing burnout also report symptoms of anxiety, low mood, irritability, or difficulty sleeping. Therapy can help by addressing the root causes, building healthier boundaries, and reconnecting you to a sense of purpose or direction.

  • Yes. I frequently support people in helping or high-responsibility roles, including healthcare professionals, educators, social workers, carers, therapists, and self-employed folks. These roles often come with emotional labour, blurred boundaries, and a pressure to keep showing up, even when you're running on empty.

    We can talk about what makes your experience of burnout unique and how to recover in a way that honours your values and limits.

  • That’s a very real and valid concern. Therapy isn’t about telling you to quit your job or overhaul your life overnight. Instead, we’ll focus on what is within your control, like shifting the way you relate to pressure, softening perfectionism, creating small pockets of recovery, or navigating difficult workplace dynamics. Change can start with small, sustainable steps.

  • Yes. Even if burnout has been building for years, recovery is possible. Therapy can offer a space to untangle the overwhelm, process the emotional impact, and slowly reconnect with what matters to you. Many clients find that naming and validating the experience is a turning point in itself.

  • Absolutely. Burnout isn’t just about workload, it’s often about what it costs you to move through the world. If you’re constantly masking, advocating for yourself, or navigating systems that weren’t built for you, that’s exhausting. I provide inclusive support for neurodivergent, queer, trans, and BIPOC clients who are experiencing burnout from ongoing emotional labour, invisibility, or marginalisation.

  • There’s no fixed timeline. Some people come for a few sessions to regain perspective or recharge; others stay longer to explore deeper patterns like people-pleasing, overfunctioning, or self-worth tied to productivity. We’ll tailor it to your goals, your pace, and your capacity.

  • Yes, very much so. Many people experiencing burnout still look like they’re keeping everything together externally, even while they’re falling apart internally. You don’t have to wait until you’re completely depleted to reach out. You deserve support even if you're still showing up every day.

Say Hello

Got questions, doubts, or a million tabs open? You’re welcome to get in touch.

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