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Therapy Sessions in Port Coquitlam

Therapy for Stress & Burnout

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THERAPISTS SPECIALIZING IN THIS AREA:
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Shay

Carrie

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Zahra

Suki

Symptoms of Stress & Burnout

Physical

Constant headaches, muscle tension, stomach problems, getting sick often, or feeling exhausted even after sleep.

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Emotional

Feeling overwhelmed, irritable, anxious, or like you just don't care anymore.

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Behavioural

Procrastinating, avoiding responsibilities, isolating from friends and family, or using food/alcohol to cope.

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Cognitive

Difficulties with memory, concentration, and decision-making, as well as feeling foggy.

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Are You So Exhausted That Even Resting Doesn't Help Anymore?

You're tired. Not just sleepy tired. Tired in a way that a good night's sleep doesn't fix. Tired in a way that's been building for so long you can't remember the last time you felt okay.

You keep going because you have to. Because people are counting on you. Because stopping feels impossible when the list never gets shorter. You push through the headaches, the brain fog, the mornings where getting out of bed takes everything you have. You tell yourself you just need to get through this week, this month, this season. And then the next one starts and nothing changes.

You might still be functioning. Showing up to work. Taking care of your family. Keeping the plates spinning. But you're running on fumes and everyone can probably see it except you don't have the energy to do anything about it.

Burnout doesn't happen overnight. It builds slowly, usually in people who care a lot, work hard, and have a really hard time asking for help or saying no. The things that used to feel meaningful start feeling heavy. The things that used to energize you stop working. You find yourself snapping at people you love over nothing, then feeling terrible about it. You scroll your phone for an hour because your brain can't hold a thought long enough to do anything else.

And underneath all of it is this quiet, exhausting pressure to just keep going. To push through. To not let people down.

That pressure is part of what got you here. And it's not something you can rest your way out of on your own.

Read More: Combating Workplace Burnout: Effective Therapy Tools for a Balanced Life

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You Don't Have to Keep Running on Empty.

Stress and burnout aren't the same thing, and that distinction matters.

Stress is temporary. It has a source, it peaks, and it comes down when the pressure eases. Burnout is what happens when you've been under stress for so long, without enough recovery, that your system stops being able to bounce back. It's not about one hard week. It's the accumulation of months or years of giving more than you've been getting back.

A lot of women who end up burned out got there because they're really good at pushing through. They're the ones who say yes when they mean no. Who take on more because they feel guilty asking others to carry it. Who rest but can't actually switch off. Who have been running at 110% for so long that anything less feels like failure.

Telling someone who's burned out to take a vacation or practice self-care is like telling someone with a broken leg to go for a walk. It misses what's actually going on. Burnout isn't fixed by doing less for a week. It requires understanding what's been driving the cycle and actually changing it.

This Doesn't Have to Be Your Normal Anymore.

We've worked with people who came in completely empty and left with a different relationship to themselves and their limits. Not because we told them to slow down. Because they finally understood what was driving them, and started making different choices from that place.

At Serenity Counselling, we don't give you a list of self-care tips. We help you figure out why you got here, what's been keeping you stuck, and what a sustainable version of your life could actually look like.

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What to Expect in Stress and Burnout Therapy Sessions at Serenity Counselling

At Serenity Counselling in Port Coquitlam, your first session is a conversation. We want to understand what your days actually look like, what's been piling up, and how long you've been running at this pace. You don't need to have a breakdown to deserve support. You just need to show up.

From there, we work on two levels. On the surface, we build practical tools for managing what's in front of you right now. How to set limits without guilt. How to recognize when you're heading toward empty before you get there. How to actually rest instead of just stopping.

Underneath that, we look at what's been fuelling the burnout. For a lot of people, stress and burnout are connected to deeper patterns around worth, boundaries, and what they believe they owe other people. Understanding those patterns is what creates lasting change instead of just a temporary recovery before the next crash.

For clients whose burnout is connected to trauma, difficult experiences at work, or long-term caregiving stress, our team is trained in EMDR and Brainspotting. These approaches can help your nervous system process what's been keeping it stuck in high alert, so rest becomes something your body can actually access again.

We offer in-person stress and burnout counselling sessions in Port Coquitlam at Serenity Counselling, and virtual therapy across British Columbia.

Read More: Workplace Burnout or Something Deeper?

Are You Ready to Move Past These Symptoms?

Healing from stress is possible, and you don’t have to do it alone. At Serenity Counselling, we provide a safe, supportive space to process your experiences and reclaim your life.

Book a free consultation

LOOKING FOR MORE ANSWERS?

Frequently Asked Questions

  • You can tell if you're stressed versus burned out by looking at how empty you feel inside. When you're stressed, you still care about things but feel overwhelmed trying to manage everything. But if you're burned out, you've moved past caring - you feel emotionally numb, disconnected from work or activities you used to enjoy, and like you're just going through the motions. Burnout feels like your phone battery is permanently stuck at 2% no matter how much you try to recharge.

  • The difference between normal work stress and needing therapy is how much that stress has taken over your whole life. Normal work stress stays mostly at work and gets better on weekends or vacations. But when you need therapy for work stress, it's probably affecting your sleep, relationships, and how you feel about yourself. If you're dreading Monday mornings every single week, snapping at people you love, or feeling like you're failing even when you're doing your best, that's when stress therapy can really help.

  • Absolutely! Stress therapy can definitely help you learn to say no without feeling guilty. When you can't say no without feeling guilty, it's usually because you think your worth depends on being helpful to everyone all the time. But learning to say no in stress therapy is actually about protecting your energy so you can show up better for the things that really matter. We'll practice what boundaries look like and help you get comfortable disappointing people sometimes, because saying yes to everything means saying no to your own well-being.

  • Yes, it's completely normal for stress to make you feel sick or exhausted all the time, your body isn't designed to handle constant pressure. When stress makes you feel sick, it's because your nervous system is stuck in "emergency mode," pumping out stress hormones that can cause headaches, stomach problems, muscle tension, or feeling tired even after sleeping. In stress therapy, we'll work on helping your body learn that it's safe to relax and give you tools to calm your nervous system down.

  • If you're too busy or stressed to even do therapy, that's actually a sign that you may really need it, when you feel too busy for help, that's usually when stress has completely taken over. I get that adding one more thing feels impossible when you're already overwhelmed. But here's the thing about being too busy for stress therapy: we'll work with your schedule and energy levels. Even 1 session every couple weeks can give you tools to manage everything else better. Sometimes slowing down for therapy is exactly what you need to stop feeling like you're drowning.

  • Yes, stress therapy can absolutely help you stop feeling like you have to be perfect all the time. When you feel like you have to be perfect, it's usually because you learned somewhere along the way that your worth depends on never making mistakes. But that perfectionism is probably what's burning you out in the first place. In stress therapy, we'll explore where that pressure comes from and help you get comfortable with being "good enough" instead of perfect. Learning that you don't have to be perfect all the time is actually one of the most freeing parts of therapy.

  • EMDR for stress can bring up work-related memories, but it's designed to help them feel less triggering, not more overwhelming. When people worry "does EMDR bring up stressful memories," I understand that concern because you're already dealing with so much. During EMDR for stress, we work with experiences that might have taught you unhealthy work habits or beliefs about your worth, but we do it in a way that helps those memories lose their emotional charge. You stay in control, and most people find that EMDR helps work stress feel more manageable rather than worse.

  • Look for therapists who specialize in stress and burnout, especially if they understand young people or your cultural background. It's okay to ask questions about their experience and approach. You want someone who makes you feel heard and understood, not judged. Therapists like Zahra Lakhdhir and Suki O'Huallachain create safe spaces where you can work on feeling better without judgment.