The Burnout-Informed Coach
For coaches who are noticing something their training didn’t prepare them for.
You're in session with a high-performing client.
They're articulate, self-aware, accomplished. They talk about their goals with clarity. They agree to the actions. They say the session was helpful.
Then they don't move.
Or they move but the progress doesn't stick.
Or they show up the next session and something feels different. Flatter. More effortful. Like they're performing engagement rather than actually being present.
You ask a coaching question that should open something up, and they go blank. Not resistant. Not defensive. Blank.
Like the question disappeared before it reached them.
You finish the session. They thank you. You close your laptop. And you sit wondering what just happened.
You're not new to coaching. You know how to hold space. You know how to ask powerful questions. You know how to work with resistance, avoidance, fear, self-doubt.
But this isn't that.
This is something else.
And once you start noticing it, you can't stop.
Here's where you find out what's actually happening.
Your clients aren’t just
tired, or a “bit stressed”.
They look high-performing because they're still delivering. But underneath the polished exterior is a cognitive system that's compromised, an identity that's eroding, and a body that's running on fumes.
And when you coach them the way you were trained to coach, using the frameworks that work beautifully with clients who have energy, agency and capacity, the tools start to fail.
Goal-setting reinforces the performance pressure that's contributing to the problem. Powerful questions don't land because their brain can't process them. Accountability creates another demand for someone already about to crack. Strengths-based work feels invalidating when the client can't access their strengths. And action-focused conversations produce a to-do list for someone whose list is already keeping them awake at night.
Traditional coaching assumes the client has capacity, sense of self and a regulated nervous system. Burnout removes all three. And when those conditions aren't present, coaching doesn't just stop working.
It can cause harm.
The standard for coaching has changed.
High-performing clients are operating in chronic depletion. Traditional coaching frameworks were not built for this reality.
Coaching is no longer safe unless it's burnout-informed.
Burnout is in your coaching room whether you see it or not. The high-performing client who stalls. The articulate client who goes blank. The capable client who agrees to actions and doesn't move.
That's burnout.
And if you can't recognise it, if you don't understand what it's doing to your client's capacity to engage with coaching, you're coaching blind.
You're relying on instinct in moments that require expertise.
And instinct is no longer enough.
This is the new standard for coaching.
Not a nice-to-have for coaches interested in burnout. The baseline. The foundation every coach needs because burnout doesn't stay in one niche. It's everywhere. Corporate clients, business owners, women in leadership, parents, anyone operating in chronic demand.
You don't get to decide whether it's relevant to your work.
It's already there.
The only question is whether you can see it.
Here’s what continuing without being burnout-informed is costing you.
You guide a client toward a goal because that's what coaching does, and you don't realise that pushing them toward that goal is the thing that tips them over the edge.
A client says "I'm fine", and you believe them, because they look fine. Three months later they're signed off work and you're replaying the sessions wondering what you missed.
A client agrees enthusiastically to an action, then doesn't do it. You frame it as resistance, or lack of commitment, when what's actually happening is their nervous system is close to shutdown and action feels impossible.
You ask a question that should create insight, and instead it creates overwhelm. You don't know how to recover the session because you don't understand what happened.
You finish a session that felt productive in the moment and lie awake at 3am wondering if you pushed too hard, whether you should have reframed the question, whether the client is okay.
A client leaves your coaching and you never find out whether the work you did together helped or harmed.
You keep finishing sessions with that niggle, the one that tells you there was more going on, and you didn't see it.
You refer a client to another coach and realise later you were the third coach who missed it.
You keep coaching the way you were trained, and one day you cause harm you can't undo.
After the two days.
You're in session with the same high-performing client. They say "I'm fine."
But this time, you don't just hear the words. You hear what's underneath them. You don't push toward the goal.
A client goes blank after a coaching question. You don't interpret it as resistance. You recognise what's happening in the body and the brain, and you adjust the coaching. You don't ask another question. You slow the session down. You work with the client as they are, not their future self.
A client talks about pushing through until the end of the quarter. You hear the strain underneath the determination. You know this isn't about discipline or commitment. You know the cost of continuing to push. And you have the language to name what's happening in a way that doesn't overstep the coaching boundary, doesn't blame, and helps them see what they couldn't on their own.
You know when to challenge and when to hold back.
You know when goal-setting will support the client and when it will cause harm.
You know when a powerful question will create insight and when it will create shutdown.
You know when to stretch and when to refer.
You close your laptop after the session and you know you worked with the whole person. You saw what needed to be seen. You adjusted your coaching to meet the client where they actually were, not where the coaching tools assumed they'd be.
You don't lie awake wondering if you got it right.
You know you did.
This is what burnout-informed coaching does.
The Burnout-Informed Coach training is the new standard for coaching right now.
This makes you burnout-informed, not a burnout expert. That distinction matters.
Weekend qualifications churn out people calling themselves burnout coaches who don't understand burnout. They've learned the WHO definition, the 12 stages, and some stress management tools. Then they position as burnout experts.
That's not this.
This is burnout literacy. The baseline every coach needs because burnout is already in your coaching room whether you see it or not. And when you can't see it, your coaching stops working. Or worse, it causes harm.
The BIC teaches you the neuroscience of burnout, how it shows up across the whole person (cognitive, somatic, neurological), and the first steps to solving the Burnout Equation:
Toxicity − Sense of Self = Burnout
It changes how you coach all of your clients, burnout or not, because it teaches you to see capacity, sense of self, and nervous system state before you reach for a coaching tool.
The BIC makes you burnout-informed. The MBC makes you a burnout expert.
If you coach people, you need the BIC.
If you want to build your entire practice around burnout, you need the MBC.
This isn't a weekend qualification that lets you add "burnout coach" to your LinkedIn headline.
This is the foundation. The standard coaching should have had all along.
How to recognise burnout even when the client looks high-performing
Why some capable clients stall, and what that means for your coaching
How to respond when a client says "I don't know" without pushing them into shutdown
When traditional goal-setting will do more harm than good
How to adjust your coaching so you're working with the whole person, their cognitive system, their nervous system and their capacity, not just their goals
The tools, skills and techniques that work pre-burnout and post-burnout
The language of burnout, how your clients are talking about it without even knowing what it is, and how to adapt your coaching in real time
This isn't theory you'll figure out how to apply later.
This is designed for real coaching rooms, with real clients, in a way you can use instantly.
Over the two days you’ll learn:
By dinner on day one, you’ll know this is different.
You’re explaining burnout clearly. WIthout buzzwords. Without hesitation.
It clicks.
Day two is where your coaching changes.
This is for every coach.
You don't need to want to specialise in burnout. You need to be able to recognise it, understand what it's doing to your client's capacity to engage with coaching, and adjust your approach so you're not working blind.
If you're coaching high-performing clients, corporate clients, women in leadership, business owners, parents, anyone operating in chronic demand, burnout is already in the room.
The only question is whether you can see it.
This is also for coach supervisors who need to understand what's showing up in their supervisees' coaching rooms, and how to hold that conversation safely.
This is not for:
People collecting certificates without changing how they coach
Surface-level wellbeing add-ons
Coaches looking for a weekend qualification they can use to rebrand as a burnout coach
Who this is for
- and who it isn’t.
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Select Your Dates And Book Your Place
What’s included:
Two-day live intensive, 10am to 5pm UK, via Zoom
Burnout-Informed coach accreditation (you have three months to complete the accreditation after the training, with personal feedback from me)
Once accredited, a FREE listing on the website as a Burnout-Informed Coach for 12 months from the date of the training. This is where I refer the coaching enquiries I receive.
The culmination of 12 years of study, work, research, and 700 leaders coached through burnout.
This is coaching redesigned for the reality your clients are living in.
Choose your dates and book your place.
I reached board-level HR Director by 30. On paper I had it all. The success, the status, the salary. But I hadn't realised just how much the toxic work environments were stealing my brightness, my health, and my happiness.
Then burnout nearly killed me. Twice.
The first time, I was in chronic pain for seven months. I kept passing out. First on a train. Then from the top of the escalator at Liverpool Street station. I landed at the bottom, tights ripped, got back on the tube and went to my meeting. I didn't take one day off. Seven months later, I had two surgeries in 48 hours. The consultants told me it was burnout harming my body from the inside out. I didn't believe them.
The second time, I couldn't leave the sofa for six months. I was still working. I almost didn't survive Christmas.
This is what I wish my coaches had known before my first burnout made me seriously ill and my second almost killed me.
Both times, I was being coached by skilled, ethical, qualified coaches. They missed it entirely. Not because they were negligent. Because coaching wasn't designed for what burnout does to the brain, the body, and the sense of self.
I spent twelve years and hundreds of thousands of pounds joining the dots because what I saw didn't reflect my own experience, nor that of my clients.
I've coached over 700 leaders through burnout. I've trained 150+ coaches across 15 countries. I'm completing a PhD on the long-term cognitive impact of burnout.
And I've built the training that changes how coaches work with the reality their clients are actually living in.
This is the foundation. The absolute baseline for coaches who are working with people in the world as it is right now, not as it was when your coaching training was designed.
WHAT THE ALUMNI SAY.
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I completed a 2 day Burnout Academy with Kelly and I was blown away not only by Kelly's knowledge of burnout but how engaging she made the 2 days so it really sunk in. I don't think I have ever done a full day on zoom before without losing the will to live. Kelly left me wanting more! She's also full of empathy and understanding and when I had a wobble about my own past burnout she held that space for me beautifully. If you're considering working with Kelly, I would highly recommend on my experience so far!
Amy Wilkinson.
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I can honestly say this was like no training programme I have attended. I was completely focused throughout and never once looked at my watch over the 2 days. I thought I knew all about Burnout and was over it. How wrong I was. Kelly just has a way of explaining things that made it all fall into place. I learnt so much more about Burnout, particularly the neuroscience behind it and gained so many tools to use with my clients to support them on their journey to prevent and recover from burnout. But more than this I learnt about me and what I need to do to be kinder to myself going forward. Kelly’s delivery style is inclusive and fun, and her level of knowledge is exceptional. She created a safe space that allowed for a deeper level of discussion and learning. I cannot recommend this program enough for anyone who wants to truly understand burnout and support the mission to banish it.
Lorraine Eivers.
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I attended Kelly's first Burnout Academy programme and loved the two days I learned heaps about burnout and how it affects people, as well as reflecting on my own personal experience of burnout. Kelly is informative, warm, engaging and a true expert. I now feel empowered and confident to identify burnout, and have the techniques to help my clients through this. I'd recommend this programme to anyone who wants to understand this and help make a difference. Thank you Kelly!
Louise Demetriou.
“Not only have I learnt now what burnout is and how significantly it impacts on people, I have gained a deeper insight into why it's so hard for us to stop when we're in periods of significant stress. This has been revolutionary for me in terms of understanding how our brain responds to chronic levels of stress. The concept of not stopping to have a picnic when we're being hunted by wild animals was such a lightbulb moment, in a course that was frankly full of them. ”
EMMA DJEMIL
