Working with burnout and chronic stress in adults.
Burnout and chronic stress in adults are common, and they are not the same thing. Stress is a response to a demand. Burnout is what happens when the demand stays on too long without recovery. This page covers what each can look like, how we work with them, and how to begin.
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What it can look like
Burnout is not a single experience. For some people it arrives in the body first: a tiredness that does not lift on weekends, a flatness when something good happens, an irritability that surprises them in small interactions. For others it is mostly cognitive: an inability to read or think clearly, a sense that decisions take more energy than they should, a difficulty caring about work that used to matter. For others again it is a slow shift in attitude: cynicism, detachment, a steady erosion of the meaning the work used to carry.
It is also a pattern of not stopping, not just doing too much. The compressed lunches. The phone checked at red lights. The Sunday evenings already orbiting Monday. The slow drift from sustainable pace to sustainable-only-because-no-one-has-noticed. The recovery time that gets borrowed against and never repaid.
Where it tends to overlap with other things
People often arrive describing burnout and discover, in the work, that several things are happening at once. Depression looks like burnout from the outside but does not respond to the same supports. Anxiety, ADHD, autism, perimenopause, chronic illness, parental burnout, and unresolved grief all change how stress and burnout present and what helps. The World Health Organization classifies burnout as an occupational phenomenon, not a medical condition. That distinction matters for how we think about what is needed.
What it costs to keep carrying it
Long-running stress is rarely just an internal problem. Over time it shapes work choices, relationships, sleep, the body, parenting, and the sense of what is possible. People often describe a slow narrowing: fewer plans made, fewer hobbies kept up, fewer conversations that go beyond logistics. Recognising the loop is often the first part of changing it: in burnout, the cost shows up not at the moments of high demand but in the recovery that no longer happens between them.
Why it is so common, and why that matters
Around one in two Australians surveyed in 2025 reported experiencing workplace burnout in the previous year, with the highest rates in those aged 18 to 29. That is not a reassurance about severity. Burnout can be serious and slow to lift. But it is a reminder that whatever shape it has taken, it is a well-described and well-tracked pattern in Australian working life, and there are recognised pathways for getting support.
How we work
Time to talk through what brought you in
Like every session, the first is 50 minutes, and it is mostly listening. We map what you are carrying, when it started or worsened, what you have already tried, and what you want from the work. No pressure to commit to a number of sessions.
Individually tailored, paced to you
We work in a way that is individually tailored, drawing on what fits the person and the presentation rather than running everyone through the same protocol. With burnout in particular, the work often starts with reducing demand before adding anything, since the standard advice to do more is unlikely to land while recovery is missing.
In conversation with your GP and, where relevant, your workplace
For most people seeing us with burnout, a GP and a Mental Health Treatment Plan are part of the picture. Where the workplace is part of what needs to change, we can also discuss what might be raised in a return-to-work or workplace conversation. We write to your GP at the points that matter, with your consent.
Who you would see
Matthew is interested in understanding how a person's whole system works before anything in it is asked to change.
Natalia works to make a first session feel less like an assessment and more like a conversation.
Practical info
Get started →Book a Meet and Greet
A free 15-minute call or in-person meeting, no obligation, to see if we are the right fit before committing to anything. It does not use a Medicare session.
Who this work is for
- Adults (18+) and older adults experiencing workplace burnout, chronic stress, or parental burnout.
- People who want to work individually and at a pace that allows for the recovery the body needs.
- Those happy to involve a GP, and where relevant, workplace HR or EAP.
- People who want a working understanding of the loop alongside the work of changing it.
What this work is not
- Crisis support. If you are in crisis, please call 000 or Lifeline 13 11 14.
- Workplace investigation or formal advocacy. We can support the person; we do not act as the workplace's advocate or investigator.
- For people under 18. Equal Psychology sees adults and older adults only.
- A guarantee of any specific outcome.
Common questions
All burnout and stress answers →The evidence
The evidence
What this looks like at the population level
Polling commissioned by Beyond Blue in 2025 reported that around half of nationally representative Australian adults had experienced workplace burnout in the previous year, with the highest rates in those aged 18 to 29. Safe Work Australia reported that mental health conditions accounted for around 12 per cent of serious workers' compensation claims in 2023-24, with harassment and bullying and work pressure as the top sub-categories.
The polling is polling, not epidemiology. The compensation data are real and well-documented. Both indicate that the experience of being severely affected by workplace stress, including the pattern that meets the threshold for burnout, is not rare in Australian working life.
Therapy as part of a wider system of care
Because the World Health Organization classifies burnout as an occupational phenomenon rather than a medical condition, the recommended response sits across the workplace and the individual rather than only in the consulting room. Current evidence supports a combination of workload and role changes where these are possible, and individual psychological work focused on stress recovery, sleep, and the cognitive patterns that maintain the loop.
Care for burnout often involves more than one person
- Beyond Blue. (2025). 1 in 2 Australians facing workplace burnout: Polling of 1,000 Australians, June 2025. Beyond Blue. https://www.beyondblue.org.au/about/media/media-releases/1-in-2-Australians-Facing-Workplace-Burnout
- Safe Work Australia. (2025). Australian workers' compensation statistics, 2023-24. Safe Work Australia. https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/data-and-research/statistics
- World Health Organization. (2019). Burn-out an "occupational phenomenon": International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). WHO. https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseases
- Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2016). Understanding the burnout experience: Recent research and its implications for psychiatry. World Psychiatry, 15(2), 103–111. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20311
Resources
See all →General information only. This page is general psychoeducation, not a clinical assessment, diagnosis, or treatment. Reading it does not establish a treating relationship. Outcomes from psychological therapy vary between people and cannot be guaranteed. If you would like personalised support, please book a Meet and Greet or speak with your GP. If you are in immediate danger, call 000 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.