Online Serving Washington, DC
Burnout is especially common in high-pressure professional environments like Washington, DC.
Many of the clients I work with are in fields like consulting, law, healthcare, policy, tech, and leadership roles where expectations are extremely high and the pace rarely slows down.
It’s easy to feel like everyone around you is accomplished, busy, and constantly achieving more.
Clients often say things like:
“I can’t slow down.”
“Everyone here is doing so well—I have to keep up.”
“If I lose this job or fall behind, everything could fall apart.”
In a culture where success and productivity are highly valued, it can start to feel like your worth is tied to how well you perform.
Therapy can help you step outside of that pressure and rebuild a healthier relationship with work—and with yourself.
Therapy for Burnout
Burnout isn’t just about workload. It’s about what your work has come to mean about you.
For many people, burnout isn’t simply about working long hours.
It’s about what work has come to represent.
Many of the women I work with have learned—often without realizing it—that their worth is connected to how well they perform. Being productive, competent, and successful becomes a way of proving they’re good enough.
So the pressure grows…You want your colleagues and leadership to see you as capable. You want your clients to trust you. You want to be respected for your work.
Many clients also struggle with imposter syndrome. They compare themselves to others and feel like they have to constantly prove their worth.
People-pleasing often shows up in professional environments too—wanting bosses, coworkers, and clients to like them and approve of them.
Over time, this creates an enormous amount of internal pressure to perform, prove, and perfect.
And that pressure eventually becomes exhausting.
Burnout doesn’t just look like hard work. It sounds like:
“People can probably tell I’m not cut out for this”
“Everyone else sounds more professional than I do in meetings”
“If I mess this up, people will think badly of me”
“If I set limits, I won’t get promoted”
At the end of the day, I want you to know:
Burnout rarely comes out of nowhere. For many high-performing women, there are long-standing patterns around perfectionism, responsibility, and feeling like acceptance has to be earned through achievement.
The burnout cycle high-performing professionals get stuck in
Burnout often develops in a cycle that is surprisingly hard to step out of.
A part of you believes that if you just work harder—if you stay on top of everything and keep performing—you’ll stay safe. Safe from criticism. Safe from failure. Safe from losing your job.
So you push yourself. You check emails late at night. You replay conversations with coworkers. You take on more responsibility than you really have capacity for.
And internally, it can sound like this:
“I have to do it myself.”
“I need to stay connected in case something happens.”
“If I don’t check my email, something could go wrong.”
The difficult part is that these behaviors often get rewarded. Your boss notices your dedication. You perform well. You may receive praise, promotions, or new opportunities.
But the very behaviors that earn recognition—working nonstop, pushing through exhaustion, constantly thinking about work—are also the ones slowly creating burnout.
Eventually, your body and nervous system start saying: I can’t keep doing this.
That’s when burnout shows up as emotional exhaustion, anxiety, or feeling overwhelmed even by everyday tasks.
And many people respond by thinking: “Something must be wrong with me.”
So they try to push themselves even harder.
What therapy for burnout actually focuses on:
Burnout therapy isn’t about teaching you how to work more efficiently.
It’s about understanding the patterns that are driving the exhaustion in the first place.
In therapy, we begin exploring the beliefs and internal pressures that push you to overwork or feel responsible for everything.
Many clients start noticing how these patterns show up in their thoughts, emotions, and even their body.
We also look at where some of these patterns began. For many people, early experiences taught them that being accepted or valued meant working hard, achieving more, or being perfect.
Once those patterns become clearer, something important begins to happen.
Instead of automatically reacting to those pressures, you start noticing them.
Therapy also helps you learn to tolerate the discomfort that comes from doing things differently—like not answering every email immediately, not constantly proving yourself, or allowing yourself to rest.
Over time, clients begin reconnecting with their values and what actually matters in their life.
Instead of living to work, many people begin shifting toward working to live.
What begins to change when burnout starts to heal
As burnout starts to heal, many clients notice subtle but meaningful changes.
Work stress doesn’t feel as overwhelming as it once did. Challenges at work feel less personal. The pressure to be perfect begins to loosen.
Many people also find they are no longer people-pleasing in the same way they once did.
Instead, they start prioritizing things that matter to them—like their family, their wellbeing, and their own time.
Clients often say things like:
“I didn’t realize how much anxiety about work was ruling my life.”
“I feel like I have more space in my life now.”
“Work is important, but it’s not my whole life anymore.”
One client once shared that she realized things were changing when something stressful happened at work and she didn’t spiral the way she normally would have.
She noticed she was calmer and able to keep perspective instead of taking everything personally.
Those moments can be powerful reminders that burnout doesn’t have to define your life.
Burnout Therapist for Washington, DC Professionals
Many of the women who reach out to me are used to being the ones who handle everything.
They’re capable, responsible, and used to pushing through challenges on their own. So when burnout starts showing up, it can feel confusing or even a little embarrassing.
Many clients tell me they’ve thought:
“I shouldn’t need therapy for this.”
“I should be able to figure this out myself.”
In our work together, we start by slowing things down and understanding what has been driving the pressure you’ve been carrying.
Together we begin exploring those patterns with curiosity rather than judgment.
Over time, many clients begin to feel more grounded and less reactive. They start recognizing the internal pressures that once felt automatic and begin making choices that align more with their values and the life they actually want to live.
My goal in therapy is for you to feel understood, supported, and not alone in what you’re going through—while also gently helping you move toward a life that feels more sustainable.
Start your burnout recovery journey today
Let’s do this together.
FAQs
What are therapy sessions like?
Individual sessions are 50 minutes long. During our first few sessions, we will get to know the goals you would like to work on in therapy. We will then get to know all of the parts of your “inner system.” We will explore these parts and their positive intentions for you and how we can help the parts do their jobs less anxiously and reactively.
How long do I need to be in therapy?
How long a client needs to be in therapy is very unique and dependent on the client. Some clients come to therapy for a short period of time, and other clients still want to work on their goals and choose to stay for a longer period of time. Most clients come weekly or every other week for therapy sessions.
How do I know if therapy will work for me?
If you are struggling with anxiety and are overwhelmed, talking to a professional can be useful in helping you gain insight and clarity. Scheduling a consultation call with me would be the best way to see if we are a good fit!
How do we get started?
In order to get started, you can schedule a consultation call, you can also contact me here directly if you have any questions. Once we have our initial consultation call and deem we are a good fit to work together, we will then schedule your initial appointment.