Burnout & Chronic Stress
You're still getting through the days. Everything that has to get done is getting done. And somewhere underneath it, you've stopped being able to feel much about any of it.
Maybe you're tired in a way that sleep doesn't fix. Maybe you're snapping at the people you love over things that don't matter. Maybe you've noticed you can't switch off, or that switching off has become the only part of the day you look forward to.
Most people who come to me about burnout have been running on empty for a long time before they pick up the phone.
What's actually happening
Your nervous system has a setting for pressure. Alert, focused, ready for whatever's coming. It's useful for a deadline or an emergency, and it was only ever meant to be temporary.
When it stays switched on for months or years, it stops being something you notice and becomes your baseline. That's why you can't relax on holiday. Why the tiredness is still there after a good night's sleep. And why "just take some time off" hasn't worked.
You can't rest your way out of a nervous system that has forgotten how to come down.
Why it's so hard to stop
For most of the people I see, the workload is only part of it. Underneath there's usually a long habit of being the reliable one. The person who absorbs things. Who holds it together. Who says yes because saying no costs more than being tired does.
That habit almost always started well before the current job or the current season of life. And it's usually the thing that has to shift before the exhaustion does.
What we'd do
We start with the immediate pressure and getting some ground back under your feet. Sleep, capacity, and whatever is most urgent in your week.
Then we look at what's holding the pattern in place. Where the "I'll just handle it" came from, what you believe would happen if you stopped, and what it would take to run your life at a pace you can actually sustain.
Where there's something older sitting underneath it, and there often is, I use EMDR to work at that level. Understanding a pattern and being able to change it are two different things, and EMDR reaches the second one.
What changes
People tend to notice the small things first. Sleeping properly. Not bracing when the phone rings. Being able to sit still without needing to be doing something.
Then the bigger ones. Saying no without three days of guilt afterwards. Having something left at the end of the day. Feeling like yourself again rather than like the person who gets everything done.
Starting
The first session is a working session. We'll start on what's happening now, and I want you leaving that first hour with something you can use.
I see clients in person in Joondalup and by video anywhere in Australia. Medicare rebates are available with a mental health treatment plan from your GP.
Call me on 0410 461 588 and we'll talk about where you're at.