The #1 Thing Most Burnout Coaches Get Wrong
If you’re coaching someone through Burnout and jumping straight into recovery work without understanding what Burnout actually does to the brain and body - you might be doing more harm than good.
And I don’t say that lightly.
I’ve coached over 700 leaders through Burnout, and I’ve trained coaches from 14 countries to become truly Burnout Aware. This is the biggest mistake I see, over and over again.
Most Burnout coaches aren’t really coaching Burnout.
They’ve lived it. It nearly broke them. So they want to help others feel better, faster. They lead with compassion, empathy, and lived experience - which is beautiful and valuable… but then they rush clients into rebuilding.
Into being their “best self”. Into what’s next?
And the problem is that most are coaching too soon. Either they haven’t fully recovered themselves, or they don’t realise how deeply Burnout impacts the nervous system, the brain, and the body.
So while they’re guiding clients toward healing, they’re often skipping the most critical part of the journey.
Burnout is not a mindset issue.
It’s not just exhaustion or stress.
It’s a full-body crash of your cognitive, emotional, and nervous system regulation.
If you coach clients on clarity, goals, or action - without recognising that their body is still in survival mode - you’re not speeding up recovery. You’re pushing a system that’s already on its knees.
And when that happens?
Clients ghost.
Progress stalls.
Or worse - they end up in a second Burnout, while blaming themselves.
All while thinking: “Why can’t I just get it together?”
This happens because we’ve normalised recovery coaching. We think: “I’ve been through it, so I get it.” But lived experience doesn’t equal expertise. It doesn’t teach you what Burnout does to the prefrontal cortex, the vagus nerve, the HPA axis. It doesn’t teach you how trauma, masking, and identity loss are wrapped around the Burnout experience. And it doesn’t help you recognise that what looks like “stuckness” in a client… might actually be nervous system shutdown.
So what do you do instead?
You stop coaching action. And you start coaching awareness.
Burnout isn’t solved through strategy - it’s soothed through safety.
Your first job as a coach isn’t to set goals or spark motivation.
It’s to help your client feel safe enough to be where they are.
That means:
✅ Help them name what they’re noticing in their body
✅ Validate that brain fog, memory loss, or emotional numbness aren’t personal flaws
✅ Slow down. Reduce pressure. Make it safe to not know what comes next
You cannot mindset your way out of a fried nervous system.
You cannot action-plan your way through freeze.
You have to meet the body first.
Want one practical shift you can use right now?
Use the Burnout Compass Check-In at the start of every session:
Ask your client:
What’s your energy like today?
What’s your focus like?
What’s your emotional tolerance like?
What’s your relationship with rest?
Now here’s the key:
Don’t coach past their answers. Coach into them. If their system is dysregulated—that’s the work.
You regulate before you reflect.
You stabilise before you strategise.
You create safety before you create goals.
This isn’t about becoming a therapist, or a counsellor. It’s about becoming Burnout Aware.
And it’s what I teach in my trainings. Because Being burnout aware isn’t just a skill. It’s a responsibility.
If you’re coaching Burnout without being taught what it really is, you’re not just missing the signs - you could be worsening them.
If this hit something in you and you’re realising, “I was never taught this” - start here:
▶️ I’ve put together a free training called “Watch This Before Your Next Coaching Session”
It walks you through:
The 3 biggest mistakes coaches make
How to spot the hidden signs of Burnout
And what to do instead, without overstepping your role
Watch it before your next session. Your clients deserve it.
And if you’re serious about getting this right - that’s what I’m here to help you do. Come and join me in the Burnout Academy.
Kelly
I’m daring to imagine a world where Burnout no longer exists, and if you’re daring to imagine a world like that too, then come and join me.
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