Burnout

I have both lived and professional experience with burnout, as well as invisible chronic illness. Much of my work in supporting you in your recovery from burnout centers around developing self-acceptance and self-compassion, sustainable self-care, boundary setting, and conscious engagement with self, others, and the world.

As a licensed clinical therapist, I help people who are struggling with work-life balance and other career-related issues. I especially enjoy working with neurodivergent entrepreneurs, creatives, and other professionals who feel stuck or frustrated by how their brains function. Please reach out if are trying to create a better work-life balance, navigate a career change, find greater personal or professional fulfillment, or recover from burnout.

Burnout isn’t an individual problem. It’s created by a culture that holds impossible standards of perpetual earning and producing but doesn’t remember what we are supposed to be earning and producing for. Passionate people can easily find themselves sucked in by systems that use their drive and enthusiasm at the expense of their own wellbeing. I help people examine and dismantle the cultural drivers of burnout.

Stress and burnout is at an all-time high. Together we'll help you recalibrate your inner compass so you can move towards a life that honors what's most important to you. I'll help you develop strategies and skills to manage your stress and burnout so you can feel like yourself again. We'll clarify your core values so you can be more intentional about how your invest your time and energy. You'll also gain stills so you can feel more grounded and whole.

I work with first responders, active duty military, veterans, and their families. We can work to build a tool chest of coping skills to increase your resiliency and improve your overall quality of life.

Once we enter adulthood, we are continually preparing for the next stage of life. This leads to a change in values and dip in life satisfaction. Happiness isn't tied to our external circumstances, yet we still find ourselves striving to meet some unmeetable goal. This leads us to be frustrated achievers who feel guilty or experience malaise despite good jobs, good families, and stable income. Acceptance, commitment, and action to change can help us escape the happiness trap.

Burnout happens when you've reached a state of complete exhaustion, mentally, emotionally, or physically. It's accompanied by a lack of drive or motivation, and when it's really bad - feelings of depression and hopelessness. Burnout is hard to muscle your way through since the reason it's finally arrived at your doorstep is because you HAVE been muscling your way through. It's just that it isn't working anymore.

I'll help you figure out how to be resentful about work again, leave the stress of the job at the office, and be present with your partner so you can finally start to enjoy your life.

Burnout, like everything else, shows up differently for different people. This can look like irritability, overwhelm, emotional exhaustion, and reduced interest or motivation. Or maybe you’re just tired of the status quo and are ready to shake things up, both in your career and your personal life. If you’ve come to therapy to reduce burnout, we’ll get to know how that looks for you and build on your existing strengths (yes, you have them!) to move through the ‘stuckness’ burnout can bring on.

It's like your brain has stopped working. You have so much to do, but sometimes it just switches off and you realize you’ve been staring at your computer screen for 20 minutes. You’re constantly exhausted, and can’t understand how everyone else is keeping all these balls in the air! What’s wrong with me? Is it ADHD? Burnout? Maybe just existential dread? You’re not alone; Capitalism is a harsh mistress. I can’t fix the world, but I can help you learn how to cope, and how to recharge your brain!

Many of my clients through the years have been overworked, overcommitted and felt undervalued at their places of employment. I have successfully helped many men and women in their quest for a more fulfilling career path. I have also addressed caregiver burnout; this is a huge concern as many are taking care of loved ones.

Burnout is the perfect storm of inner needs and external demands, resulting in anxiety and depression. In 2013 I began supporting others in their quest to reignite the creativity and resilience that burnout scorched, and I’d love to help you shine brightly again too. See www.meganvanmeter.com for more info and hope to light your way. You don’t have to go through burnout alone in the dark; I’m here to help you create a better outcome.

Usually we choose our jobs because we enjoy something about it. Burnout takes that joy, and dulls it, until we lose our passion and drive, and just feel drained and exhausted. It's a slow process, that leaves us suddenly realizing we have to change something, but left unsure what happened and what to change. When we work on burnout through therapy, we explore what's causing this feeling, and how we can create changes in meaningful and long-term ways.

If you struggle with burnout, you may experience feelings such as exhaustion, detached emotions, hopelessness, and disengagement. Additionally you may feel an emotional toll, depression, and a loss of motivation. These feelings are not normal for you and your tolerance for them is gone.

I'm particularly adept at supporting health care workers like doctors, nurses, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and students of health professions. Other professions I support when people are feeling burnout include code monkeys and tech workers, other therapists and professional helpers, teachers, and social or environmental justice workers.

Ever feel like everything is just too much? Not getting as much done as you used to? Nothing feels worth it anymore? You may be experiencing burnout. Recognizing what's happening is a critical first step, and then working on balancing work and life--and giving yourself permission to do that--is important. We'll also work on boundary setting and other workplace skills, as well as taking time for yourself: and therapy is that first step.

Caregiver stress/burnout is a topic I am passionate to work with. Having experience of what is like to be a caregiver, I recognize the challenges many people in that role can have. How easy it is to say "It's fine" when really, you just want a break. I work with caregivers on how to establish a more balanced role within realistic expectations. Always tailored around what is feasible for you.

I have helped numerous clients find peace again in their lives after experiencing burnout and compassion fatigue. By finding methods of working through these issues such as mindfulness practices, self-compassion and various other methods of identifying self-care plans, and identifying work-life balance, I can help you get your life back on track again and rediscover a whole new quality to life!

Sacrificing your own needs for others, for too long, can put you on the road to burnout. This is especially prevalent for visionaries, leaders, big-hearted helpers, and social services workers. These roles require self-care and boundaries that can feel selfish and often get neglected. Learn to put parameters around your help, manage vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue, AND stay in alignment with your values to decrease your risk for burnout. Take care of yourself - so you can help others.

Although it can be difficult to choose to focus on yourself, activists, campaign, and front line relief workers report commonly experiencing frustration, anger, and burnout. As you grow and discover your understanding of the world and your passion for improving it, you may have reached a point where you run out of steam. I am here to offer you a safe space to process your story, discuss your anger, and grieve the losses.