You're Not Lazy. You're Running on Empty.
Therapy for burnout that goes beyond rest and self-care advice — with a licensed psychologist who takes your insurance and helps you understand how you got here in the first place.
Hi, I'm Corinne.
“Burnout isn't a productivity problem. It's what happens when the way you've been living stops being sustainable — and your mind and body finally say so.”
I'm a licensed psychologist offering therapy for burnout and chronic stress online for adults in 45+ states. I work with people who are exhausted in a way that sleep doesn't fix — people who used to feel capable and energized and can't figure out what happened to that version of themselves.
Burnout is real, it's treatable, and it almost always has deeper roots than just working too much. Therapy can help you understand those roots and build something more sustainable — not just recover enough to do it all again.
Burnout is more than being tired
Most people who are burned out don't lead with that word. They say they're fine, just tired. They push through, take a vacation, try to get better at time management. And then they're back in the same place two months later — or somewhere worse.
Burnout is what happens when prolonged stress depletes you past the point where ordinary recovery works. It's also rarely just about the job — it tends to develop in people who carry a lot, who have learned to override their own needs, who tie their worth closely to their output, or who have been running on adrenaline long enough that slowing down feels more threatening than staying in overdrive.
Exhaustion That Doesn't Lift
Tired no matter how much you sleep, rest, or take time off — a depletion that feels physical and bone-deep.
Cynicism & Detachment
Things you used to care about feel hollow. You're going through the motions but the meaning has drained out.
Dread & Avoidance
Dreading work, obligations, or even your phone — procrastinating things you'd normally handle without a second thought.
Reduced Effectiveness
Struggling to concentrate, make decisions, or produce the quality of work you used to do without effort.
Irritability & Short Fuse
Snapping at people you care about, low frustration tolerance, or a simmering resentment you can't fully explain.
Emotional Numbness
Feeling flat, disconnected from joy, or like you're watching your own life from a slight remove.
Physical Symptoms
Headaches, gut issues, frequent illness, jaw tension, or a body that keeps sending signals you keep trying to ignore.
Loss of Identity
Uncertainty about who you are when you're not performing or producing — a self that feels contingent on output.
If that sounds familiar, what you need isn't another productivity hack. You need space to actually look at what's driving this — and support to change it.
Burnout doesn't only happen to one kind of person
Burnout gets talked about mostly in the context of high-powered careers, but it shows up across many life contexts — and it tends to hit hardest in people who care the most.
Professional Burnout
Exhaustion from sustained high-demand work, constant availability, and a culture that treats rest as weakness.
Caregiver Burnout
The depletion that comes from consistently prioritizing others — parents, partners, adult children of aging parents.
Helping Professional Burnout
Therapists, nurses, teachers, social workers, and others whose work requires sustained emotional labor.
Academic Burnout
Graduate students, early-career professionals, and high achievers who have been grinding without adequate support.
Activist & Mission-Driven Burnout
The particular exhaustion of working toward something meaningful in a world that keeps pushing back.
Identity-Based Burnout
The cumulative toll of navigating systems, workplaces, or relationships where you have to work harder just to be seen as equal.
Relationship & Life-Stage Burnout
Exhaustion from sustained relational stress, major life transitions, or the invisible load of managing everything for everyone.
Burnout With Underlying Anxiety or Depression
When burnout intersects with anxiety, perfectionism, or depression that has been fueling the overdrive all along.
Therapy that addresses the root, not just the symptoms
Real recovery from burnout isn't about doing less for a while and hoping you bounce back. It's about understanding what drove you here and making meaningful changes to how you relate to yourself and your life. Often the same patterns that made you effective — high standards, strong sense of responsibility, difficulty asking for help, an identity built around capability — are exactly what left you depleted. Therapy gives you the space to examine those patterns honestly. Depending on what we find, treatment may also include trauma-informed work or EMDR if burnout is connected to a history of pushing through things you never fully processed.
Values Clarification
Getting honest about what actually matters to you — versus what you've been performing or achieving for other reasons.
Boundary & Identity Work
Understanding the internal barriers to saying no, slowing down, or letting yourself matter as much as your responsibilities.
Trauma-Informed Care
When burnout runs deeper than overwork — addressing the anxiety, perfectionism, or early experiences that have been driving the pattern.
EMDR, When It Fits
If burnout is connected to a history of pushing through things you never fully processed, EMDR can be part of the work. See EMDR Therapy.
What you can expect to gain
Recovery from burnout isn't just getting back to baseline — it's understanding why baseline wasn't working, and building something better.
- Relief from the physical and emotional exhaustion that rest alone hasn't fixed.
- A clearer sense of what you actually want, separate from what you feel obligated to do.
- The ability to set limits without guilt — and mean them.
- Reconnection with motivation and meaning that feels genuine, not performed.
- A more stable sense of self that isn't contingent on productivity or performance.
- Sustainable patterns — so you can do good work and have a life at the same time.
What therapy for burnout looks like, step by step
Burnout therapy isn't a quick fix — and anyone promising one should raise a flag. Here's how our work typically unfolds, at a pace that respects where you are.
Initial Evaluation (90 Min)
We start with a thorough intake to understand your history, how burnout is showing up across your work, body, and relationships, and what you most want to be different.
Stabilization & Immediate Relief (3–5 Sessions)
Before we dig into the roots, we focus on what will give you the most relief right now: regulating your nervous system, reducing the acute overwhelm, and building enough breathing room to do deeper work.
Understanding the Pattern (6–10 Sessions)
This is where we go deeper: examining the beliefs, histories, and relational patterns that made burnout likely for you specifically. The goal isn't just insight — it's real, behavioral change.
Building Something Sustainable
We consolidate what you've learned, reinforce new patterns, and prepare you for the moments — and they will come — when old habits try to pull you back.
Insurance accepted for burnout therapy
Burnout therapy sessions are billed the same as standard therapy — which means your insurance coverage applies. I accept the following plans across Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, and Texas.
Not sure if you're covered? Ask during your free consultation call. For full rate and insurance details by state, see Rates & Insurance.
“Burnout therapy works best when your therapist genuinely knows you — your history, your patterns, what you've tried, and where the resistance shows up.”
— Dr. Corinne Votaw-Freer, PsyD
Burnout recovery requires real continuity of care
Working With Me Directly
Burnout therapy works best when your therapist genuinely knows you — your history, your patterns, what you've tried, and where the resistance shows up. That kind of depth takes time to build and can't be replicated in a platform that rotates providers. As a PsyD-level psychologist, I bring the clinical training to do this work thoughtfully, and the continuity to see it through.
Why Not a Large Platform?
Many burnout patterns are subtle and require a provider who knows you well enough to notice when you're performing recovery the same way you were performing everything else. Provider continuity matters here more than speed of access.
Is Online Therapy Effective for Burnout?
Yes — and for many people experiencing burnout, online therapy fits better with an already-overwhelmed schedule. Eliminating a commute and being able to session from a comfortable, familiar space can make it easier to actually show up.
A Personalized Plan
Your treatment plan is built around your specific history, goals, and pace — not a generic protocol applied the same way to everyone.
Before you book
Is burnout actually treatable, or is it just about resting more?
It's treatable, but rest alone rarely fixes it. Burnout usually has psychological roots — patterns around worth, responsibility, and identity — that a vacation won't touch. Therapy addresses those roots directly.
How is this different from just talking to a life coach?
A licensed psychologist can identify and treat what's actually underneath burnout — anxiety, trauma, depression — not just help you manage your calendar. When burnout is masking something clinical, that distinction matters.
Do I need to be in crisis to start?
No. Most people who benefit from burnout therapy aren't in crisis — they're depleted and stuck in a pattern that isn't sustainable. Catching it before crisis is exactly the point.
How long does burnout therapy typically take?
It varies, but many clients move through stabilization, understanding the pattern, and building sustainable change over several months of weekly work, then taper to less frequent sessions.