Burnout
Burnout beyond the individual: rethinking exhaustion and care
This workshop questions the idea that burnout is a personal failure to manage stress. Participants are introduced to critical perspectives on burnout that locate it in structural conditions,precarious work, performance culture, unpaid and activist labour, and the pressure to keep producing regardless of cost. We ask: who gets to rest, whose exhaustion is taken seriously, and what does it mean when burnout becomes normal rather than exceptional?
Drawing on occupational health research, critiques of hustle culture, and lived experience, this space invites participants to map their own patterns of overextension and recovery, and to distinguish structural causes from individual coping. A short, playful ice-breaker using memes and everyday phrases ("just push through," "self-care Sunday") opens up critical thinking about how burnout gets talked about, and who that language lets off the hook.
Topics:
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Burnout as a structural condition, not a personal defect
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Precarity, flexible labour, and the erosion of recovery time
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Performance culture, students, and the pressure to always be productive
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Activism and mission-driven work: when caring for a cause consumes the carer
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Critique of individualised "self-care" as a substitute for systemic change
Methodology:
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Short Lecture: How burnout is measured and where the numbers come from (workload, autonomy, insecurity)
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Personal Mapping: Charting one's own exhaustion/recovery cycles over the past year
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Open Dialogue: Where does responsibility for burnout sit — the person, the job, the system?
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Closing Reflection: Writing/drawing prompt "What would rest look like if it weren't something I had to earn?"
Qualifications : Our psychologists have academic and clinical backgrounds in occupational and community mental health, with experience supporting workers, students, and volunteers/activists navigating chronic overload. We draw on both clinical burnout research and critical perspectives on labour and care.
Schedule a Free Initial Consultation
The first consultation is to get to know your organization, understand your needs and assess how we could assist you. In this conversation, the frequency, investment and other issues will be decided.
