Losing my job was humiliating in a way I was not prepared for. The money mattered, obviously, but the bigger shock was how quickly I stopped knowing what to say when people asked what I do.

I had the promotion and absolutely none of the confidence. The sessions were practical — prepare, do the thing, debrief, adjust. Exactly what I needed.

I kept thinking the answer was a better productivity app. Turns out there is no app that makes 70 hours a week sustainable 😂.

I honestly thought educational psychologists were for school kids. I was 34, doing well in a career I had chosen at 18 and increasingly sure I was in the wrong place. I found an educational psychologist whose practice included career assessment. The assessment did not spit out one magical job title, but it gave me a much clearer picture of my interests, strengths and the kind of work environment I actually thrive in. I ended up changing direction much more deliberately instead of just resigning because I was unhappy.

Returning after maternity leave made me feel like I had forgotten how to be good at my job. I had not. I was trying to do my old job with a completely different life around it.

When my doctor suggested an occupational therapist after burnout I thought he meant something physical. I had no idea OTs could look at how I was actually functioning at work. She went through my day, energy, task-switching, meetings, what wiped me out and what I could realistically manage on returning. It was probably the most practical support I had in the whole process.

I thought burnout would mean I could not work. I was still the person getting the most done. The problem was that I had nothing left for anything else and needed the whole weekend to become a person again. That was my warning sign.

I was ready to resign after one awful quarter. My practitioner kept me from turning exhaustion into a permanent career decision. I eventually did change roles, but six months later and for much better reasons.

I was promoted very quickly through an empowerment programme and I was proud of it, but I also felt like I had to prove every single day that I was not there because somebody needed to tick a box. I overprepared for everything and avoided delegating because I thought one mistake would expose me. Counselling helped me separate actual leadership skills I still needed to build from the imposter story in my head. That distinction changed how I worked.

The most useful question was whether I wanted less work or different work. Those are not the same problem.

I went from senior developer to engineering manager. Suddenly the job was not writing the code; it was having fifteen conversations I did not feel remotely qualified to have. I used a counsellor almost like a sounding board before the difficult ones until I found my feet.

My manager and I were stuck in a terrible dynamic and I was reacting to every email like it was a threat. Counselling helped me get calm enough to work out which bits were mine to change and which needed to go through HR.