You’re smart, capable, and outwardly holding it all together - but inside, things feel increasingly unsustainable.
You’ve hit a point where stress, anxiety, or emotional exhaustion are no longer manageable with your usual coping strategies.
This isn’t about needing “more self-care.”
It’s about interrupting deeply ingrained patterns before they take a long-term toll.
I’m Dr Claire Plumbly, a clinical psychologist specialising in intensive trauma and burnout recovery for professionals who need deep, lasting change - delivered with clarity, efficiency, and psychological depth.
You’re smart, capable, and outwardly holding it all together - but inside, things feel increasingly unsustainable.
You’ve hit a point where stress, anxiety, or emotional exhaustion are no longer manageable with your usual coping strategies.
This isn’t about needing “more self-care.”
It’s about interrupting deeply ingrained patterns before they take a long-term toll.
I’m Dr Claire Plumbly, a clinical psychologist specialising in intensive trauma and burnout recovery for professionals who need deep, lasting change - delivered with clarity, efficiency, and psychological depth.
How Can EMDR Therapy Help with Burnout Recovery?
The emphasis in Eye Movement Desensitisation & Reprocessing (EMDR) is on identifying and updating old, unhelpful beliefs that originate from an upsetting incident in your past.
The mechanism of change is through bilateral stimulation - you can learn about the basics of EMDR on our EMDR Resources Page here.
How EMDR Therapy for Burnout Works
EMDR can be a particularly good fit when burnout has been fuelled by unresolved experiences such as:
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a prolonged period of overload where there was no option to stop
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a workplace incident that left you shaken, ashamed, or unsafe
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a complaint, investigation, serious mistake, or near-miss
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exposure to distressing stories or traumatic material (vicarious trauma)
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bullying, micromanagement, discrimination, or toxic team dynamics
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periods when you had to relentlessly “push through” (training years, high-pressure roles, caregiving)
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a single tipping point where your body finally said “no” (which is very scary to go through).
In addition to this, any underlying psychological patterns of burnout related to people-pleasing and perfectionism can be worked on too:
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learning early on that you had to be the capable one
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feeling responsible for other people’s emotions
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being praised for coping while quietly collapsing
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never having your needs taken seriously (so you learned not to have them)
The above lis isn’t exhaustive, but it’s a helpful way to understand why burnout can feel so confusing and hard to break out of
What Happens in the EMDR Sessions?
In your assessment sessions, we’ll build a clear picture of:
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what burnout looks like for you (emotionally, physically, cognitively)
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what’s maintaining it (work patterns, demands on you, relational patterns)
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what happens when you try to rest, slow down, or set boundaries
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any significant events that have occured
We’ll also make sure you have stabilisation tools in place so you have tools for calm and feel resourced enough for processing.
Then we identify the triggers and target memories. If there are lots, we usually start with the worst, the first, or the moment everything shifted.
Using bilateral stimulation, EMDR helps your mind and body to update how it's holding on to old material. This reduces the
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constant hypervigilance and “wired but tired” experience
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shutdown, numbness, and loss of motivation
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self-criticism, guilt, and “I should be coping better” beliefs
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panic spikes when you stop working
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the inability to set boundaries with others
Depending on what you need, EMDR can be combined with other approaches (e.g., compassion-focused work, boundaries, values, behavioural changes) which can support long term changes
FAQ About EMDR
for Burnout
What if I've not been through a traumatic event?
That’s very common. Burnout often builds through repeated high-pressure experiences rather than one headline event. EMDR can still be effective for the moments that your brain and body treated as pivotal — even if you’ve always dismissed them as “not a big deal.” This article gives more about the links between trauma and burnout if you want to learn more.
Can I do EMDR online?
Yes, EMDR for burnout can be carried out online - your therapist will teach you tools for doing the bilateral stimulation virtually. Evidence suggests that outcomes are comparable to in-person. More in this article here.
How many sessions will I need?
It is difficult to estimate before an assessment. But typically an case that isn't too complex we would recommend allowing around 10-12 sessions. For more complex or chronic difficulties then we recommend allowing for up to 24 sessions.
Can I do an EMDR Intensive for this?
Yes, we can work with you on a weekly basis or carry this out as an EMDR intensive if you want to reach your therapy goals more quickly. Read more about our EMDR intensive packages here.
What if my job is still stressful — can therapy still help?
Yes. Therapy isn’t about pretending your workload is fine. It’s about changing how your nervous system carries the load, helping you recover capacity, and building boundaries and internal safety so you feel more resilient. It also opens up possible sources of internal and external support and resources that didn't appear available to you before.