EMDR for Burnout in High-Achieving People of Color
If you are a high-achieving Person of Color, burnout might feel like an old, unwelcome friend. You may not have used the word burnout before, but you probably know the feeling:
Never feeling good enough.
Constantly chasing more.
Carrying the pressure to succeed at all costs.
On the outside, you may look like you have it all together. You have a thriving career, milestones checked off, always striving. But inside, you might feel like you are running on fumes, questioning yourself, and wondering why nothing ever feels like “enough.”
I get it. Many of my clients are People of Color who have built their lives around achievement. It’s not their fault. We have been told the story since childhood: “Work hard and good things will come your way”. But no one ever told us how to pause, how to celebrate our wins, or how to care for ourselves along the way.
Often, achievement comes at the cost of our mental and emotional well-being. We rarely pause to ask ourselves important questions like, what does success truly mean to me? Am I pursuing my own vision, or living out someone else’s expectations? Without that clarity, we can find ourselves caught in a cycle of chasing borrowed dreams, doubting our worth, and running on empty, the very pattern that fuels burnout.
Signs of Burnout to Watch For
Burnout doesn’t always give us a warning. It creeps in quietly and takes root in the everyday. Some signs to look out for:
Always feeling overwhelmed, no matter how much you do.
Staring at your to-do list and feeling frozen.
Feeling constantly on edge or irritable.
Guilt when you try to relax, like you should always be “doing.”
A loss of purpose or meaning, even in the things you once cared about.
Physical and emotional exhaustion that rest doesn’t seem to fix.
What is EMDR Therapy
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a structured, research-backed therapy designed to help you work through unresolved experiences and the painful beliefs they leave behind. Where talk therapy often focuses on exploring your thoughts, EMDR goes deeper, it helps your brain reorganize the way those memories are stored, so they no longer carry the same emotional weight.
In an EMDR session, the process might look like this:
Pinpoint the beliefs or experiences that fuel burnout. For example, the sense that “I have to keep performing or I’ll let everyone down.”
Activate both sides of the brain using eye movements, tapping, or sound cues. This bilateral stimulation jumpstarts your brain’s natural healing system and allows stuck experiences to finally move.
Shift into healthier beliefs. Over time, the old story (“I’m never enough”) is replaced with a calmer, more compassionate one (“I am worthy, even when I rest.”).
The result is that the memories or patterns stop feeling so raw and overwhelming. Instead of being trapped in cycles of exhaustion, you begin to feel lighter, more present, and better able to respond to life in ways that truly support you.
Why EMDR Therapy Works for Burnout
So how does this connect to burnout? Burnout isn’t just about long hours or a heavy workload, it often grows out of deeper patterns and beliefs that have been running in the background for years. EMDR is powerful because it doesn’t just calm the surface stress; it helps you reprocess the very experiences that created those patterns in the first place.
Some of the most common roots of burnout include:
Childhood messages: growing up feeling like you had to excel, earn approval, or constantly prove your worth.
Workplace culture:environments that reward perfectionism, overwork, and self-sacrifice as the “norm.”
Cultural and societal narratives: especially for People of Color, Immigrants or Children of Immigrants, the belief that your value is tied only to achievement, resilience, or how much you can give.
Immigration stress: the weight of adapting to a new culture, navigating identity, and carrying unspoken expectations to succeed or “make it” for yourself and your family.
These experiences often leave you with stories like: “I can’t stop,” “I’m only valuable if I achieve,” or “Rest is lazy.”
EMDR helps you gently process those stories so they no longer control how you show up today. Instead of forcing yourself to “just set boundaries” or “rest more,” EMDR helps your nervous system truly believe it is safe to slow down and care for yourself.
The shift is powerful, clients often notice feeling calmer, more balanced, and more connected to themselves, as though they’ve finally been given permission to live differently, not just keep surviving.
What to Expect in an EMDR Session
An EMDR session is not about reliving painful memories in detail. It’s about creating a safe space where your brain can do the healing work it’s been trying to do all along. Here’s what it usually looks like:
We start with grounding. You will learn techniques to feel safe and steady before diving into anything heavy.
We identify triggers or patterns. Maybe it’s the constant pressure at work, or the guilt you feel when you try to rest.
We use bilateral stimulation. This might be eye movements, gentle tapping, or sounds that guide your brain into processing mode.
You reprocess. With guidance, your brain begins to “file away” stressful memories or beliefs properly. Over time, they lose their emotional intensity.
We close with calm. Each session ends with grounding so you leave feeling safe and supported.
Clients often notice small but powerful shifts after just a few sessions. They start to feel less overwhelm, more clarity, and more energy to focus on what truly matters.
If you see yourself in these words, know you don’t have to keep pushing through burnout alone. EMDR can be a powerful tool to help you reconnect with yourself, heal from the pressures you
Ready to Take the Next Step?
If burnout feels like it’s running your life, I’d love to support you. I offer EMDR therapy online across Ontario for professionals, immigrants, and people navigating stress, trauma, and high expectations.
Book a free 15-minute consultation to see if EMDR might be a good fit for you.
