Burnout Is Real: Therapists on What Women of Colour Need to Know
Burnout can feel sneaky—one day you’re keeping it all together, and the next you’re wondering why the smallest tasks feel impossible. As we prepare for Healing through Burnout, a 5-week group offering we’re co-hosting with Bloom Psychology, I sat down with lead therapists Meghan Watson, Registered Psychotherapist & Clinical Director, and Tracy Owusu-Gyimah, Registered Social Worker & Mental Health Therapist, for an honest conversation.
Images provided my Bloom Psychology
Before we get into it, I want to share something personal. Running The Villij has been one of the greatest joys of my life but it’s also stretched me in ways I didn’t expect. There have been seasons where I was facilitating, handling strategy, and supporting our community, all while quietly ignoring the signals my own body was sending. I told myself I just needed a “better routine,” but really, I was running on empty. Learning to pause, ask for help, and honour my limits has been humbling and life-giving.
That’s why this conversation means so much to me. What follows isn’t a clinical lecture; it’s more like sitting on the couch with two wise friends who see the invisible weight women of colour often carry and who are here to help us put it down.
What follows isn’t a clinical lecture; it’s more like sitting on the couch with two wise friends who see the invisible weight women of colour often carry and who are here to help us put it down.
Let’s start with the big picture. How do cultural, familial, or workplace pressures feed burnout—especially for women of colour?
As women who are socialized to work, to care, to produce, we are often taught to work until we burn out and not in sustainable ways. If we think of the roles we play in our families, our friendships and in our communities we are often doing the most with little reprieve and support. The pressure to perform at high levels, to be the “boss”,to be the “go to person”, the eldest sister or the best friend can often lead us to burn out when we are not aware of our own boundaries and limitations.
Many of us are socialized to be dependable first and human second. In our families and communities, we step into “go-to person,” eldest-daughter, and fixer roles that reward self-sacrifice and punish rest. At work, we face the double bind of being overlooked unless we overperform, then praised for “grit” while supports are missing. Over time the nervous system normalizes urgency, so boundary-setting can feel disloyal even when it is necessary. The pressure to be the boss, the caregiver, the best friend, and the cultural representative compresses multiple jobs into one body. What once signalled love or loyalty becomes a pattern of overfunctioning that quietly drains capacity. Healing asks us to pair commitment with limits, and to expect structural support, not just personal resilience.
What are some early signs of burnout that people often ignore?
An early sign that often can get dismissed is a decreased interest in the things we enjoy, or not prioritizing the things that bring us joy. When we are reaching the capacity in our lives we often cannot create space for the things that bring us joy because we become focused on survival and activities of daily living. Often we ignore this and blame it on being tired or busy, but what it can actually be is a sign that we are at capacity and are at risk of burning out.
Sleep stops feeling restorative, even when you “get enough.” Joy shrinks, creativity dims, and you start hoping plans get cancelled so you can catch your breath. Small decisions feel heavy, and you rely on scrolling for relief instead of the practices that actually ground you. You withdraw from the safest people because you do not want to “bring the mood down,” while continuing to show up where you feel obligated. Headaches, jaw tension, and digestive discomfort show up as background noise you wave away. Wins do not land, and self-talk gets harsher. These cues are not laziness, they are capacity signals asking for rebalancing.
Just Checking In by Nautica Simone
In your experience, how do women of colour tend to cope with burnout—and what are the risks in those coping strategies?
Different people deal with burnout in different ways. While many people burnout and use it as an opportunity to rest and rest, what we often see in women of colour is a desire to ramp up and take on more. As women who are socialized to work, to care, to produce, we often see burn out as a badge of honour and take on more when it is time to let go and rest. The risk of this is we can lose the joy and passion that we have for certain activities, we can see decline in our health and relationships and in our mental wellbeing.
A common pattern we see is to “power through”, take on more, and overfunction to feel safe or useful. Productivity essentially becomes a numbing strategy that keeps anxiety at bay while deepening depletion. People-pleasing, perfectionism, and caretaking can temporarily soothe fear of letting others down, yet they compound resentment and reduce intimacy. We may delay medical care, skip therapy, or avoid rest until there is a crisis, which increases health risks and recovery time. The cost shows up as cynicism about work we once loved, irritability with those we love, and a shrinking sense of self outside service. A kinder, braver move is to slow the pace, right-size responsibilities, and practice collaborative boundary-setting. As Audre Lorde reminds us, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
For someone who’s never tried it, what makes group therapy different from a chat with friends?
Group therapy is more than a conversation and it's not just being talked at or being given a bunch of resources. Group therapy is an opportunity to process and share together with others with similar experiences. It’s also different from just being in a group chat or at the salon because there are considerations your therapists and facilitators take to promote safety and reflection and growth. Group therapy is an active space for growth, reflection and community.
Real talk: Group therapy is not simply a loose chat or purely a learning lecture; it is a facilitated space designed for safety, growth, and skill-building. Agreements, pacing, and identity-aware facilitation are intentional so you can share at your own rhythm, pass when needed, and still belong. You can learn practical tools—nervous-system regulation, boundary language, values-aligned planning, while also getting the chance to practice them in real time with support. When you witness others say out loud what you’ve been carrying reduces the shame and speeds up the insight gained as a result. The group becomes a rehearsal - like space where rest, asking for help, and saying no are treated as skills, not character flaws. Combine that with a group of women of colour who understand the diasporic and cultural references, the types of pressure and demands you face uniquely, and you can leave with not only tools and language, but actual community too.
What moments from past group therapy cohorts give you hope?
In previous cohorts the courage and vulnerability that folks show up with has been amazing. Therapy in itself is often a risk to sit with difficult emotions and thoughts, and process them when you might not always feel ready to. Group therapy has the same risks, and it encourages you to do it in community with the support and witnessing of others. In our previous cohort, seeing how folks make connections, support one another and witness the pain, grief and joy of each other has been a magical experience.
In the past cohorts we’ve seen people come back the next week feeling unburdened (even if it’s a temporary feeling) and a little bit more free to be open and share their stories. We’ve seen boundaries set, emotional release and true insight that takes people out of the “idea” of healing into real solutions. It also gives me hope that every cohort we’ve had thus far has wanted to keep the group experience going beyond the designated weeks! Beyond individual and collective growth and healing, that tells us that this type of community and therapy is so needed and important right now.
Ready to Begin?
If burnout has been whispering or shouting at you, this group is a chance to pause, process, and build sustainable ways of caring for yourself.
Healing through Burnout begins Saturday, September 27, 2025 at The Villij, in partnership with Bloom Psychology. This is a 5-week program designed to support your healing in community.
Learn more & register here
About the Therapists
Meghan Watson (she/her) is a licensed psychotherapist, clinical director, and wellness consultant based in Toronto. She is the founder of Bloom Psychology & Wellness, a collective of Black, Indigenous, South Asian, and multi-racial therapists dedicated to fostering emotional growth and connection within communities of colour. With over a decade of experience, Meghan supports individuals and couples navigating trauma, burnout, relationship stress, identity, and attachment, using mindful, somatic, and growth-oriented approaches.
Tracy Owusu-Gyimah (she/her) is a registered social worker and mental health therapist from Toronto. She provides strength-based support to folks of colour as they navigate life transitions and emotional distress. Tracy uses joy and humour to help clients challenge negative thoughts, rewrite harmful narratives, and manage stressors while strengthening their sense of self.
