Burnout: Why an overwhelmed nervous system takes over your life and how to reclaim it

This is an excellent resource for both professionals and for people wanting to learn about, or who may be experiencing burnout. Claire's writing style lends itself to a clear understanding of what burnout is, triggers and what makes it different from stress and then some great steps to help a person help themselves. I would highly recommend.

This book deserves a place on the book shelf of everyone who is interested in their mental well-being; and not tucked away on a book shelf in the corner but given a prominent place on a shelf where it can be easily seen, taken down and re-read at will.Of course I had heard about Burn Out and really thought I understood what the term meant but when my eye fell on the subtitle of this book, ‘How to Manage your Nervous System before it Manages You’ I was hooked!By allowing the reader to follow the progress of four of her clients, Anika, Scott, Sarah and Suraj who had recognised that their mental health was being affected and had sought professional help, the author is able to explain and discuss the reasons why their nervous system was alerting them that all was not well. Having explained the rational behind some of the feelings they were experiencing, helpful advice is suggested and healing can begin.The book is written in a clear style, in language that makes it as accessible to the layman as it would be to a medical professional. It is for all of us because anyone can suffer from burnout. You don’t have to be in a war zone; coping in a busy A & E department; running a multi-million pound business or managing difficult clients and deadlines in a highly pressurised job. It can happen to any one of us. By helping us to better understand how the internal and external pressures may lead to burnout, by teaching us ways of soothing our nervous system, by encouraging us to value ourselves because we are defeating that ‘inner critic’ and listening to our own needs, the author assures us we can all learn to manage our nervous system.

This book’s resonates so deeply with my experiences of parenthood, even though the book has a wider focus. It is clear, interestingly written and very informative. After realising that much of my life is led in the red and amber zones described in the book, the practical guides and suggestions given are so helpful. I have been practicing breathing techniques and tapping to get myself back into the green zone- and it has been really working. I’m so grateful to have this compassionate and practical guide out of burnout.

This book is so compassionately written. Understanding polyvagal theory gave me the awareness and language I needed to help me identify what was going on and how to monitor myself going forward into recovery.Learning about how your traits and your past experiences influence your behaviours was also insightful.It is framed around a handful of clients and this gave the theory presented a real world connection. I saw myself in so many of those descriptions. I felt the author was speaking to me. Thank you, Claire, for a wonderful book. It’s helped me and will no doubt help countless others.

I'm a clinical psychologist who specialises in parental burnout and I have lots of books about burnout. So many of the books I have focus very narrowly on workplace burnout and suggest purely cognitive solutions to what is a mind-body (and societal) problem. I love that this book acknowledges burnout outside of the workplace, focuses on the nervous system dysregulation is at the heart of it and introduces a Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) approach which is my own preferred therapeutic model. Aside from explaining how burnout happens, it gives you so many practical tips to address it and so I will definitely be recommending this brilliant book to my clients.