When the Therapist Needs to Pause Too: Stress, Burnout, and Practising What I Teach
If you’ve noticed I’ve been a little quieter online recently, I wanted to be open about why.
Over the past couple of months, I’ve been navigating something many people experience, regardless of profession, background or lifestyle: stress and burnout.
As someone who spends their working life helping others manage anxiety, overwhelm, self-criticism and emotional exhaustion, it would be easy to feel pressure to always appear balanced and unaffected.
But the reality is much more human.
Therapists are not immune to stress. Business owners are not immune to burnout. Professionals, parents, carers, high achievers — none of us are exempt from the impact of prolonged pressure.
Stress and burnout do not discriminate.
And I think it’s important to talk about that honestly.
Burnout Can Happen to Anyone
Burnout often develops gradually.
For many people, it doesn’t begin with a dramatic collapse. Instead, it can look like:
Feeling emotionally drained
Increased irritability
Difficulty switching off
Reduced motivation
Physical and mental exhaustion
Finding even small tasks overwhelming
Becoming more self-critical
For me, it became clear that I needed to step back, reassess, and prioritise my own wellbeing more intentionally.
This wasn’t a failure. It wasn’t weakness. And it certainly wasn’t hypocrisy.
It was a reminder that being human means recognising when your own resources are depleted.
Knowing CBT Doesn’t Make You Immune — But It Does Give You Tools
One of the misconceptions about therapy or psychological knowledge is that understanding mental health somehow protects you from experiencing difficulty yourself.
It doesn’t.
CBT skills don’t eliminate stress, but they can make an enormous difference in how we respond to it.
During this period, I found myself returning to many of the same evidence-based strategies I support clients with every day:
Recognising unhelpful thought patterns
Challenging perfectionism and unrealistic expectations
Monitoring avoidance behaviours
Re-establishing healthier routines
Improving boundaries
Allowing recovery without guilt
Responding with greater self-compassion
These tools helped me step out of the cycle of overdrive and begin recovering more sustainably.
Not instantly. Not perfectly. But effectively.
High Functioning Doesn’t Always Mean Healthy
One of the biggest challenges with burnout is that it can often hide behind competence.
Many people continue working, supporting others, meeting deadlines and appearing “fine” long after their internal resources have become depleted.
This is something I see often in my work:
People who are:
Successful
Reliable
High achieving
Caring
Hardworking
…but privately struggling with anxiety, overwhelm, emotional fatigue or chronic stress.
Burnout can affect anyone.
And often, the people most vulnerable to it are those who are used to pushing through.
Recovery Often Starts With Awareness
For me, recovery involved practising what I encourage in therapy:
Slowing down
Recognising that constant productivity is not the same as wellbeing.
Reassessing expectations
Letting go of unnecessary pressure and perfectionism.
Using CBT strategically
Identifying the beliefs and behaviours that were maintaining stress.
Prioritising sustainable coping
Creating healthier routines rather than short-term fixes.
Accepting support
Remembering that resilience is not about doing everything alone.
This process reinforced something I regularly share with clients:
Mental wellbeing isn’t about never struggling. It’s about recognising when you are, understanding why, and responding effectively.
Why I’m Sharing This
I believe therapy should be grounded in both professional expertise and genuine humanity.
Being honest about experiencing stress and burnout does not diminish my work — if anything, it strengthens my understanding of what many clients face.
It also highlights an important truth:
No matter who you are, what your role is, or how capable you may seem, stress can build up.
What matters is how you respond.
How Therapy Can Help With Burnout and Stress
If you’re currently feeling overwhelmed, emotionally exhausted, or stuck in patterns of overthinking and pressure, therapy can help you:
Understand what is driving your stress
Identify unhelpful behavioural and cognitive cycles
Reduce burnout risk
Improve emotional resilience
Strengthen boundaries
Develop practical coping strategies
Rebuild a healthier relationship with yourself
My approach is structured, collaborative and practical — designed to help you not only understand your difficulties, but actively work through them.
A Final Thought
Burnout is not a personal failing. Stress is not weakness. Needing to pause does not mean you are incapable.
Sometimes, the most important thing we can do is recognise when something needs to change and give ourselves permission to respond differently.
I’m grateful to be feeling more grounded again — and this experience has only reinforced my belief in the value of the tools I use both personally and professionally.
If you’re struggling with stress, anxiety, burnout or emotional overwhelm, you don’t have to navigate it alone.
👉 You can book an online therapy session with me here: https://www.bradshawcbt.com/appointments
Together, we can work towards understanding what’s keeping you stuck and building healthier, more sustainable ways forward.
Sometimes even the people supporting others need to reset. The important part is knowing that recovery is possible — and support matters.
