What Women in Healthcare Are Quietly Carrying: Therapy for Burnout, Guilt & Caregiver Fatigue

Being a woman is hard. Full stop.
For many of us, our default role is caretaker — it’s how we learned to relate to the world, to find belonging, to prove our worth. But for women in healthcare, caretaking isn’t just a role — it’s a profession. It’s the way you show up at work, and often the way you're expected to show up at home.

That’s a heavy load. And the truth is, most of us were never taught how to set it down.

When you do try to rest — when you finally cancel plans, take the break, say no — it doesn’t always feel good. Instead, you might feel guilt. Anxiety. Like you’re missing something important. But you’re not missing anything — that’s your nervous system still in high alert mode, still bracing for the next thing.

You’ve been a caretaker for so long. But what you’ve missed — and what no one ever taught you — is how to care for yourself.

The Hidden Cost of Emotional Burnout

Emotional burnout doesn’t always look like breaking down. Sometimes it looks like numbing out — stress spending, overeating, doomscrolling at night when you can’t seem to quiet your mind. Sometimes it looks like snapping at the people you love most, or completely withdrawing when you feel overwhelmed.

It can also look like becoming someone you don’t recognize: overworking to prove yourself, pushing your limits, trying harder instead of pausing.
Especially in healthcare settings, this kind of overcompensation can become a survival strategy.

Women in healthcare often face the barrier of sexism — being questioned, underestimated, or dismissed, even while giving everything to your patients. It’s exhausting. You constantly feel like you have to prove your competence, your value, your right to be there. And that drive to prove yourself? It often leads straight back to burnout.

It’s a loop that’s hard to break, especially when it’s been reinforced over and over again — in your workplace, in your family, even in the culture around you.

You’re Not Broken — You’re Exhausted

If any of this feels familiar, I want you to know: this isn’t a personal failure. You’re not broken or lazy or “too sensitive.” You’re responding to a system that asks too much and offers too little in return.

You’ve spent so long tending to others that it might feel unnatural — even selfish — to turn that care inward. But it’s not. It’s necessary.

A Space to Be Held

I created a therapy group for women in healthcare because I see how deeply this profession affects your inner world. You deserve a space where you don’t have to be the strong one. A space where you’re allowed to show up messy, uncertain, overwhelmed — and still be met with care.

We start in early June. If you’re curious, have questions, or just want to talk it through, reach out. You don’t have to carry it all alone.