Feeling stuck between burnout and “just pushing through”?
A different kind of psychiatric care for nurses and health workers in Wisconsin
If you work in healthcare, you’re probably used to being the one other people lean on. You power through short staffing, heavy assignments, emotionally intense shifts, and everything waiting for you at home.
From the outside, it can look like you’re “doing fine.”
On the inside, it might feel like:
You’re exhausted no matter how much you sleep
Your patience is razor thin at work and at home
Charting, emails, and everyday tasks feel overwhelming
You’re more irritable, numb, or checked out than you want to admit
You’ve quietly wondered if people would be better off without you
If that sounds familiar, you’re not broken or weak. You’re having a human response to an inhuman load.
This post is about what it can look like to get psychiatric support that actually understands healthcare, honors your lived experience, and doesn’t shame or pathologize you for how you’re coping.
Why so many nurses and health workers wait to get help
Most of the nurses, health workers, and busy professionals I see didn’t reach out the first time things got hard. Usually, they’ve been trying to manage on their own for a long time.
Common reasons people delay care:
Licensure and career fears
You may worry that taking medication, seeing a psychiatrist, or having a diagnosis on record could jeopardize your license, credentialing, or reputation. That fear is real, and it keeps a lot of clinicians suffering in silence.“I should be able to handle this”
Healthcare culture often rewards self-sacrifice and grit. Many people grew up hearing some version of “other people have it worse” or “just be grateful you have a job.” That can turn into self-criticism when you start struggling.Bad past experiences with mental health care
Maybe you saw someone once who rushed you, dismissed your concerns, over-medicated you, or made you feel like a diagnosis instead of a person. It makes sense you’d be hesitant to try again.Time and energy
When you’re working full time (or more), caring for family, and just trying to keep your life running, scheduling an appointment can feel like one more thing you can’t manage.
If any of these are familiar, you’re not alone. None of them disqualify you from getting help that fits your reality.
What trauma-informed, non-shaming psychiatric care actually looks like
“Trauma-informed” often gets used as a buzzword, so here’s what I mean in concrete terms in my practice:
We move at your pace
You get to decide what you share and when. You never have to tell “the worst thing that happened to you” in the first visit for us to make progress.We talk about what happened to you, not “what’s wrong with you”
Symptoms like anxiety, depression, shutdown, or irritability are often understandable responses to chronic stress, moral injury, trauma, or unsafe systems. Naming that is part of the work.We focus on collaboration, not compliance
You’re the expert on your body, history, and context. I bring clinical training. Good care happens in the overlap, where we make decisions together.Medication is an option, not a mandate
We can look at meds as one tool among many. If we use them, we’ll be clear on what we’re targeting, what to expect, and how we’ll monitor and adjust. If you’re not ready, we’ll focus on other strategies.We honor lived experience
Lived experience with depression, suicidal thoughts, trauma, or burnout is not a liability here. It’s part of who you are and how you’ve survived. It deserves respect, not judgment.
Who I work with in my psychiatric practice
My 1:1 psychiatric practice, Empowered Psychiatric Solutions, focuses on:
Nurses (bedside, ambulatory, leadership, education, advanced practice)
Other health workers (techs, therapists, pharmacists, APPs, support staff)
Busy professionals who carry high emotional and cognitive loads
Common concerns we work on together:
Depression, anxiety, and trauma-related symptoms
Burnout, compassion fatigue, and work-related distress
ADHD and executive function struggles
Substance use that slid from “coping” into “concerning”
Suicidal thoughts, from passive “I’m just tired of all of this” to more active planning
Navigating aftermath of a suicide attempt (your own or a loved one’s)
If it touches mental health, work, or how you’re functioning in your life, it’s appropriate to bring in.
What makes my approach different
Several things shape how I practice:
Nurse-first lens
I’ve been on the floor, in the ICU, and in the meetings where metrics and staffing decisions are made. I understand things like assignments, call shifts, moral distress, and charting overload from the inside. You don’t have to translate your world.
Suicide prevention and health worker expertise
My work outside of clinic focuses on health worker mental health, suicide prevention, and postvention. That means I’m thinking about your safety and well-being in the context of the systems you work in, not just as an individual problem to “fix.”
Lived experience
I don’t see you as a problem to be solved. I see a person who’s gotten this far using the tools they had, in conditions that may not have been fair or safe. That shapes how I listen, how I ask questions, and how we plan next steps.
Non-shaming, avoids over-pathologizing
Feeling miserable in a miserable situation is not a pathology. We might use diagnoses when helpful for treatment planning, insurance, and shared language, but we won’t treat those labels as your identity.
What it’s like to work together
Here’s a simple picture of what care usually looks like.
Initial evaluation (first visit)
We’ll spend time understanding your story:
What’s been going on recently
How it’s affecting work, home, and relationships
Any past mental health care, medications, or hospitalizations
What you’re most worried about
What “better” might realistically look like in your life
We’ll talk through options, which might include:
Medication changes or starting something new
Skills to manage distress in the short-term
Ways to protect your energy and nervous system in your current work context
How to talk (safely) with people in your life about what you’re going through
Follow-up visits
Follow-ups are about seeing what’s working and what isn’t, then adjusting.
We’ll:
Track symptoms and functioning, not just side effects
Review how meds (if we’re using them) are actually feeling in real life
Troubleshoot barriers like sleep, schedules, work demands, and family stress
Keep connecting your care to what matters most to you
Telehealth for Wisconsin residents
All 1:1 care is via secure telehealth for people physically located in Wisconsin, which helps with tight schedules, rural access issues, and childcare or travel barriers.
When to consider reaching out
You don’t need to wait until everything is on fire. It may be time to get support if:
You’re starting to dread each shift in a way that feels new or more intense
Your sleep, appetite, or energy are off for weeks at a time
You’re relying more on alcohol, substances, or zoning out just to get through
You’re thinking about quitting the profession without really wanting to
You’re having thoughts that people would be better off without you
Even if you’re not sure whether it’s “serious enough,” you’re allowed to ask for help. Let’s let go of the idea that you must be at rock bottom to deserve care.
For organizations and leaders
If you’re a leader or part of an organization that wants to support your workforce beyond EAP referrals and pizza parties, I also offer:
Workshops and trainings on health worker mental health and suicide prevention
Postvention support after a suicide loss or serious attempt
Zero Suicide–informed strategy and policy consulting
Help building psychologically safer, more trauma-informed cultures
This isn’t about adding one more program on top of an overloaded system. It’s about aligning what you say you value with how people actually experience work.
Next steps
If you’re a nurse, health worker, or busy professional in Wisconsin and something in this post landed for you, you don’t have to figure it out alone.
You can:
Visit my website to learn more about Empowered Psychiatric Solutions and how I work
Reach out to inquire about a 1:1 psychiatric evaluation
Share this post with a colleague who’s been quietly struggling
