There can a moment when your relationship to your work begins to change. Sometimes it happens slowly. Sometimes it happens all at once.

At first, it may be hard to name what is different.

You still show up. You still do your job well.

But something feels off. Something no longer fits the way it used to.

When work stops feeling like it used to

You may remember when your work felt clear and meaningful. It matched who you were and what you cared about.

  • Maybe you felt called to help others

  • Maybe your work gave you purpose

  • Maybe it felt like a stable and meaningful path

Now, things can feel different. You may know your work matters. But you do not feel connected to that truth anymore. You may move through your day with skill, but without feeling. It may take longer to recover after work and it might be hard to feel yourself.

At the same time, you might feel stuck between two truths:

  • This work is important

  • This way of doing it is not sustainable

How stress shows up outside of work

This shift does not stay at work. It often follows you home. You might notice:

  • Irritability with people you love

  • Feeling numb or distant

  • A quiet sense of grief about how life turned out

  • Questions like:

    • Is this the life I actually want?

    • Can I change it?

    • Why does change feel so hard?

If this feels familiar, it is not a personal failure. They are ways your mind and body are trying to handle healthcare-related stress and burnout.

Common patterns in healthcare burnout

1. Overthinking and self-criticism

In healthcare, you are trained to understand problems and fix them. So when you struggle, you may think: “If I know better, why can’t I do better?”

This can lead to:

  • Constant self-analysis

  • Harsh self-judgment/criticism

  • Shame or self-directed anger instead of kindness

What starts as helpful self-awareness can turn into an internal pattern trying to make unnamed emotions and thought go away.

2. Avoidance from exhaustion

You still care. That has not changed. And you are so tired, numb. When you finally get a break, you may feel:

  • Too drained to do anything helpful

  • Overstimulated

  • Unable to engage in self-care

So you put it off because you do not have the energy to rest.

3. Emotional shutdown

In healthcare, you often have to focus and push emotions aside. Compartmentalization is your super power! This is often essential in the acute moments. And over time, it can become a default way of relating to yourself and you start to lose touch with:

  • What you feel

  • What you need

This can leave you feeling lost, even if nothing obvious is wrong.

4. Carrying unprocessed grief

Loss in healthcare is not always loud or obvious. And it is happening everyday in big and small ways. It can look like:

  • Patients who do not improve

  • Discharges that you feel uneasy about

  • Moments with family members that stay with you

  • Not being able to perform how you wanted

If these experiences are not processed, they build up. You may feel:

  • Irritable

  • Numb

  • Disconnected from your work and yourself

5. Moral distress and trauma

Some experiences are harder to name. You may face situations where:

  • You cannot act according to your values

  • What you see feels wrong

  • You have to act against your own recommendations for good care

  • You must keep working in the same system

These moments can stay with you. Time alone does not always resolve them.

6. Old patterns getting activated

Healthcare work is intense. It can amplify older patterns like:

  • Taking on too much responsibility

  • Struggling to set boundaries

  • Strong emotional reactions

These are not flaws. They are strategies that once helped you survive. But now they may not serve you in the same way.

“Is something wrong with me?”

Many healthcare workers quietly ask this question:

  • I knew it would be hard, but why does it feel this hard?

  • I know so much about how to be healthy, why can’t I feel better?

What if this question is not about something being wrong with you, but an invitation to look closer at what is happening?

Understanding burnout, stress, and moral injury

Words like burnout, anxiety, depression, and moral injury are not just labels. They help name real patterns that human brains enact to help us deal with stress, loss, and difficult experiences.

Seeing yourself in these patterns does not mean something is wrong with you. It means your system is responding to real challenges the best way it knows how.

What healing can look like

Healing is not just about coping better. It is about:

  • Understanding your patterns of reaction

  • Seeing what needs they were trying to meet

  • Finding new ways to meet those needs

This often includes:

  • Slowing down

  • Trying small changes

  • Processing past experiences in a supported way

The goal is not to relive the past or difficult experiences, but to reduce how much it still affects you.

Reconnecting with meaning

And at some point, a deeper question may come up: What matters to me now?

This is not about going back to who you were. It is about finding a way forward that integrates who you have become given all that you’ve experienced.

You may ask:

  • Can I care about my work without losing myself?

  • Can I stay in this field in a different way?

These questions take time. There is no quick answer. But they matter.

Therapy for healthcare workers in Minnesota and Oregon

If you are a healthcare worker in Minnesota or Oregon, you do not have to figure this out alone. Therapy can help you:

  • Understand your stress patterns

  • Process burnout and grief

  • Reconnect with yourself and your values

  • Explore what comes next, without pressure

What you are experiencing is not the end. It is a turning point.

With the right support, it can open the door to a different way of working and living.

Therapy for Healthcare Workers in Minnesota and Oregon

If you’re interested in therapy with Rootwise Mental Wellness, learn more here.

FAQ

How do I know if this is the right kind of therapy for me?

The “right” kind of therapy is a combination of several factors:

  • A sense of connection and trust you feel with the therapist and how that ebbs and flows over time. While this generally becomes clear in the first 3-5 sessions, your first impression of the “vibe” of your therapist in the Discovery Call can also help determine this.

  • A match between the therapy method offered by the therapist, your current struggles, and your hopes and goals

  • Your readiness and willingness to invest time and energy into becoming aware of and starting to make changes in your life. This kind of change can be a difficult leap of faith and sometimes the first few steps are figuring out how to be ready and willing to do that work.

  • Timing! Given what else is going on in your life, sometimes it just isn’t the right time for therapy, and sometimes it is.

As those factors work together, you will hopefully begin to see the kind of changes you are looking for. If you aren’t seeing those changes, bring it up with your therapist. They can talk with you about how those factors are working together, which ones might need to be tweaked, and how to do that.

What’s your experience with healthcare workers?

I have both been a healthcare worker (chaplain and mental health therapist) in a variety of care settings, from acute care at Trauma 1 hospitals to memory care and neurology clinics, and everything in between. I have also provided therapy for nurses, doctors, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, certified nursing assistants, and health unit coordinators in rural and urban settings in both Minnesota and Oregon.

What happens in the Discovery Call?

It takes about 15 minutes. I'll ask you a few questions, you'll be able to ask me any if you'd like. I'll share a bit about how I work and then we'll talk about what next steps would make sense. The questions I most commonly ask are: 

  • What brings you to seek therapy now, and what are you hoping will be different as a result of our work together?”

  • Have you had therapy before? If so, what was helpful or unhelpful about it?

  • What ideas do you have about what needs to happen for improvement to occur, and what role do you see me playing in that process?

  • Do you prefer someone more structured and directive, or someone who supports you in exploring at your own pace?

After we ask one another questions, we’ll decide if we want to move forward and schedule an intake session. We might decide we need some time to think about whether or not it’s a good fit. We might also decide in the moment it’s not a good fit. This is a normal part of the process, and can feel awkward! If this ends up happening, we’ll talk about what other therapy options might make more sense and I’ll send you some referrals for that kind of care. 

Where are sessions offered?

Telehealth for clients in Minnesota and Oregon. 

Walk-and-talk therapy is available in the Twin Cities.