ctober is Healthy Workplace Month. How healthy does your workplace feel?

As part of my recovery from burnout and compassion fatigue from working for a busy non-profit counselling agency, I delved into the research on workplace wellbeing, burnout and high sensitivity. In 2022, I became a Certified Compassion Fatigue Professional. Since then, I’ve had the honour of contributing my story to global publications and podcasts and presenting to local organizations and my National Association.

Burnout is not the fault of the individual.

The absence of things like appreciation, flexibility and belonging are predictors of burnout. Unrealistic workloads, unclear and inconsistent communication and any form of bullying or discrimination put people at a greater risk of burnout. Research has shown that managers have a significant impact on the mental health of employees and in extreme cases, workplace bullying has led to worker suicide.

While highly sensitive people thrive in supportive environments, we are more negatively impacted by unhealthy work environments than others and are at a greater risk of experiencing burnout.

There are things you can learn and heal in therapy to help protect against burnout at work and home.

Sometimes despite being in supportive environments, I’ve had clients who still feel overwhelmed at work and struggle to separate from the demands or pain of their job or get caught in worrying about what other people think. This is especially common among highly sensitive people who have high empathy and often fear criticism, learning from an early age to put others’ happiness first.

In therapy, I support my clients with understanding the origins of people pleasing or fawning behaviour and help them move towards embracing a separate sense of self. Together, through healing the wounds of invalidation and learning emotion regulation and boundary setting skills, clients are better able to honour their needs and care without carrying it all. I also help clients move away from perfectionism and become more comfortable with feedback and conflict. Often this can involve inner child healing using Internal Family Systems (IFS) parts work, teaching Self-Compassion practices along with self-validation and other skills from Dialectical and Behaviour Theory (DBT).

Leaving Is Not Enough. Why Therapy is Often Needed after Being in an Unhealthy or Misaligned Work Environment:

Despite the saying, “bloom where you’ve been planted,” no matter how hard you try, you can’t grow and flourish in environments lacking sunlight or water or where you are being choked out by weeds. Sometimes the best thing for your emotional and physical health is to leave.

But it’s important to seek therapy during or after leaving a job as being in an unhealthy or toxic work environment can impact your mental health and self-esteem and hinder your success in future jobs. Therapy can help you grieve not getting what you needed, process unhealthy or even traumatic experiences, externalize shame and any self-blame you may be carrying so you can gain your confidence and sense of safety back.  

It’s important to run towards rather than just away from something. In therapy, I help you connect with and embrace your authentic self and the gifts of your sensitivity. Together we open up to possibilities that align with the unique needs of your nervous system, your family, your values and passions.

Anything is Possible

I knew back-to-back therapy sessions with what felt like everyone and everything was not sustainable. My body began to show signs of burnout with increasing aches and pains and fatigue. But still I pushed on, with increasing shame. But as I continued to feel overwhelmed, unappreciated and frustrated by inconsistent and unclear communication, I began to seek out support. Now I’ve created a practice that honours my need for a slower pace with multiple breaks to walk and tend to my sensitive nervous and honours my passions for facilitation and specializing in supporting women; many of whom are highly sensitive moms and helping professionals. As I released shame from my burnout and reclaimed my strengths as a highly sensitive person, the opportunity to use all my years of experience and general knowledge by supervising psychotherapy students has found me. While, I knew for a long time, I needed to leave. None of this felt possible until I reached out for help.

If you are looking for someone who can help you identify and honour what you need at work and home to thrive, reach out. I’m at Encompass every Monday afternoon and offer free intro video or phone calls to see if we’re a fit. Book online.

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Nicole Schiener, M.Ed, RP, CCC, CCFP, CGE, HSP Knowledgeable Therapist