When you’re feeling burned out in your career, it can be tough to know whether it’s time to make a change or if there’s something deeper at play. That’s where Christine Walker, a career therapist, comes in. Christine specializes in helping mid-career professionals who are stuck in a rut, overwhelmed, or simply unsure of what’s next. By blending career coaching with therapy, she provides a unique approach that not only helps people navigate their career transitions but also digs into the emotional and psychological aspects that influence job satisfaction and work-life balance.
With a background in education, counseling, and trauma therapy, Christine takes a holistic approach to helping her clients reclaim their careers and personal fulfillment. In this conversation, we explore her methods, the intersection of therapy and career coaching, and why redefining success is such a powerful part of the process.
The Intersection of Therapy and Career Coaching
Christine describes herself as a career therapist, blending both career coaching and therapy to help clients who are at a crossroads in their careers. “I work with mid-career professionals who come to me feeling burnt out, stressed out, or dissatisfied with their work,” she explains. “Often, they think they need a whole new career, but after digging deeper, we realize they just need a new approach to their current job.”
Her work is particularly focused on helping people identify and work through emotional barriers that are affecting their career satisfaction. For example, clients who have unresolved childhood trauma, perfectionist tendencies, or people-pleasing habits often struggle with burnout in ways that go beyond workload. Christine’s job is to help them understand how these deeper issues are showing up in their careers and work on practical strategies to manage stress and set healthier boundaries.
“We often find that it’s not the job itself that’s the problem—it’s the way people are approaching the job,” she says. “If someone’s coming from a background where they had to constantly prove their worth, or if they don’t know how to say no, that’s going to show up in their work.”
The Power of Therapy in Career Transitions
While career coaching usually focuses on practical strategies—such as job searching, resume building, or skill development—Christine’s work goes deeper. “Therapy helps address the emotional side of things,” she explains. “A lot of the time, the stress and burnout in someone’s career are connected to unresolved issues from the past, like childhood trauma, low self-esteem, or negative thought patterns that they’ve carried into adulthood.”
Christine uses a mix of therapeutic techniques, including Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), which is designed to help clients process trauma more quickly, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), which helps people regulate their emotions and manage stress. She also incorporates Schema Therapy, which looks at how early life experiences shape the way people think and behave as adults.
“These therapies are about more than just finding a new job or solving a specific work issue,” she says. “They help people understand themselves better—why they react the way they do, why they struggle with certain things, and how they can start to change those patterns.”
Redefining Success: More Than Just a Job Title
One of the biggest challenges Christine sees in her clients is the pressure to meet society’s narrow definitions of success. For many, success is tied directly to income, status, or job title. “Especially for women, success often looks like a high-paying job or a prestigious career,” she explains. “But when your self-worth is based solely on those things, it can feel like you’re constantly chasing something that doesn’t truly fulfill you.”
Christine helps her clients rethink and redefine success on their own terms. “Success is personal,” she says. “It’s not just about the paycheck or the title. It could be about having balance in your life, feeling valued at work, or doing something that aligns with your values. For some people, success is about feeling like they’re making an impact, while for others it’s about peace of mind and being present in their personal lives.”
By helping clients examine the messages they’ve internalized about success and question whether those messages are truly serving them, Christine enables them to create a more authentic and fulfilling vision of what success looks like.
Addressing Burnout: The Role of Self-Compassion
For clients who are struggling with burnout, Christine emphasizes the importance of self-compassion. “When you’re burnt out, it’s easy to slip into a cycle of self-criticism. You feel like you’re not doing enough, you’re not enough, and you just keep pushing harder,” she explains. “But self-compassion is key to breaking that cycle.”
Christine helps her clients learn how to treat themselves with kindness and understanding—especially when they’re at their lowest. “Self-compassion isn’t about letting yourself off the hook,” she says. “It’s about acknowledging that you’re human and that it’s okay to need a break. It’s about recognizing that you deserve care and respect, not just from others, but from yourself.”
This shift in mindset is a game-changer for many people struggling with stress and burnout. “Once people begin practicing self-compassion, they start to set healthier boundaries, prioritize their well-being, and create a better work-life balance,” Christine explains.
The Ultimate Goal: Empowerment and Fulfillment
At the heart of Christine’s approach is a belief in her clients’ ability to heal, grow, and thrive. Whether it’s through therapy or career coaching, her goal is to empower people to take control of their careers and their lives, without being weighed down by societal expectations or past experiences.
“There’s so much pressure to have it all figured out and to follow a set path, but that’s just not realistic for everyone,” Christine says. “I want my clients to know that it’s okay to question the path they’re on and that they have the power to change it. True success is about finding fulfillment and balance, not just ticking off boxes on someone else’s checklist.”