When the work that once felt meaningful now feels like survival.
Burnout is often treated like a personal failure. More often, it’s what happens when too much has been asked of you for too long.
Online therapy for burnout in Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia, and those working internationally.
When pushing through is no longer working.
People rely on you.
You solve problems.
You show up, even when things are difficult.
But lately, something has shifted.
Burnout doesn’t always look dramatic at first.
It can look like:
Crying in a bathroom stall between meetings
Getting your first poor performance review after years of strong work
Being so exhausted by the end of the week that you can’t get out of bed on the weekend
Losing the sense of empathy you once had—and noticing more cynicism, numbness, or detachment instead
Struggling to make decisions that used to feel straightforward
Feeling like you’re hurting yourself trying to make a difference—and no longer sure it’s working
You may be telling yourself:
I’m just exhausted.
I should be able to handle this.
Other people have it worse.
I just need to get more organized.
If I find the right system, I can fix this.
But over time, something deeper starts to break down.
Your performance may slip.
Your focus may be harder to sustain.
Work begins to take up more and more space—because it has to, or because it’s the only place you still feel somewhat in control.
And outside of work:
You have less energy for your relationships
You feel distant, preoccupied, or unavailable
You’re not showing up in the ways you want to—as a partner, a parent, a friend
But perhaps the hardest part is what happens internally.
Burnout can start to break down your soul.
Over time, this takes a toll.
You may find yourself thinking:
What is wrong with me?
Why can’t I handle this?
Have I lost something I won’t get back?
For many of the people we work with, this is unfamiliar territory.
You are used to being the one others turn to.
You are used to solving complex problems.
You are used to figuring things out.And now you’re facing something you can’t think your way out of.
You can’t organize your way out of it.
You can’t push through it.That can feel disorienting.
And deeply shameful.Sometimes it shows up in thoughts you don’t say out loud:
I wish something would happen so I could just stop for a while.
I don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this.
There is a way forward that doesn’t require destroying yourself to keep going.
In our work together, we focus on helping you:
Reclaim a sense of choice and agency
So you can see where you have options—and begin making intentional decisions about what needs to change
Create space for real rest and recovery
So your body and mind have a chance to recover from the level of strain you’ve been carrying
Understand what’s actually driving the burnout
So you can stop guessing—and start addressing the specific factors that are depleting you
Make targeted, realistic changes
Whether that means reducing demands, shifting how you engage with your work, strengthening support, or reevaluating what’s sustainable
Clarify your values and what matters most to you
So your decisions—whether you stay, shift roles, or leave—feel grounded and aligned rather than reactive
Reconnect with a sense of hope and possibility
So your life doesn’t feel like something you’re just getting through
We don’t assume the solution is to leave your job.
For many people, that’s not realistic—and not what they actually want.
Our goal is to help you find a way to continue doing meaningful work without it demanding more than you can afford to give.
Work with a therapist who understands burnout
Donnica Wingett, LICSW
Works with individuals coping with chronic workplace stress and burnout while reconnecting with meaning and sustainability.
Raven Ellis, LCPC
Supports professionals facing exhaustion, overwhelm, and burnout in mission-driven or high-demand roles.
What becomes possible when burnout stops burning everything down.
Feeling less exhausted and more able to recover
Feeling less trapped and more aware of the choices available to you
Reconnecting with energy, interest, and parts of yourself that have shrunk away
Feeling less defined by shame, self-blame, or the belief that you should be able to just suck it up
Engaging with work in a way that doesn’t ask for everything
Creating clearer limits around how much work or responsibility gets to take from your life
Being more present in your relationships and more available for the people and parts of life that matter to you
Enjoying things again—not because everything is fixed, but because you have more of yourself back
You do not have to keep burning through yourself to keep everything going.
Therapy can help you understand what’s fueling the burnout—and find a way forward that doesn’t require constant depletion.
FAQS ABOUT BURNOUT
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Burnout is more than just being tired or overworked.
It often feels like a combination of exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced capacity—especially in areas of life or work that once felt meaningful or manageable.
For some people, burnout looks like:
feeling emotionally flat, numb, or detached
losing patience or empathy more quickly than usual
struggling to focus or make decisions
dreading work or feeling like you can’t recover from it
feeling like no matter how hard you work, it’s never enough or never really makes a difference
Burnout can also affect your life outside of work. You may feel less present in your relationships, less interested in things you used to enjoy, or less like yourself than you’re used to feeling.
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Stress usually feels like too much for right now.
Burnout tends to feel like too much for too long—to the point that your usual ways of coping, recovering, or pushing through are no longer working.
You might be dealing with burnout if:
rest doesn’t seem to help much
you feel emotionally depleted or detached
your performance, focus, or motivation are starting to slip
you feel trapped, resentful, or increasingly cynical
work or responsibility is taking up more and more of your mental and emotional life
Burnout is not always dramatic. Sometimes it shows up as a sense that you are no longer functioning, feeling, or relating the way you used to.
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Yes.
Therapy can help you understand what is driving the burnout, what has been depleted, and what needs to change.
That may include:
identifying the patterns or pressures keeping you stuck
understanding how larger systems are contributing to the problem
clarifying what is and is not yours to carry
rebuilding capacity for rest, boundaries, and recovery
making thoughtful decisions about your work, responsibilities, and next steps
Burnout is often framed as an individual problem. In reality, it is often shaped by both personal patterns and external demands.
Therapy can help you make sense of both.
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Not necessarily.
For some people, leaving a role or making a significant change may ultimately be part of recovery. But for many others, burnout work is about figuring out how to stay in the work without continuing to be consumed by it.
That may involve:
setting clearer limits
reducing or redistributing demands where possible
reconnecting with values and purpose
changing how you relate to work, responsibility, or over-functioning
making more intentional choices about what is sustainable
The goal is not to force one outcome.
The goal is to help you recover enough clarity, agency, and energy to decide what actually makes sense for you.