beyond burnout: rediscovering purpose & alignment at work
Experiencing Job or Career Burnout? This Therapy Group in Washington, DC is For You.
Navigating a high-pressure career in the DMV can often feel like running a marathon with no finish line. For young professionals, the drive that fueled your early success can eventually morph into a sense of being stuck in neutral. It’s a common experience. It’s called career burnout.
Career burnout is a sign of a mismatch between the rules you’ve always followed to succeed and your own internal growth. Decisions about your career are based on your needs and values, and if those become misaligned as you grow and change — or if the nature of your job changes — that can lead to a lack of fulfillment at work, and possibly to burnout.
Real burnout is a deep wound that can’t be fixed with a few days off and a little self-care. Those are always important, but it takes dedicated self-compassion and self-examination to work through a misalignment between your career and your values.
So let’s get started.
What This Career-Focused Therapy Group Explores
Beyond Burnout is a therapy group for 20- and 30-somethings designed to explore, discuss, and reflect on the patterns and perspectives surrounding career burnout.
Through authentic conversation, we hold space for:
Uncoupling worth from productivity: exploring who you are outside of your job title or academic pedigree.
Examining the high-achiever’s trap: discussing how the grind culture of the DMV shapes internal pressure and identity—even if you’re not involved in political work at all.
Values exploration and identification: stripping away the “shoulds” to clarify the core motivators and personal values that make your work feel meaningful and sustainable.
Defining professional alignment: considering what boundaries, a sustainable career, and work-life balance actually look like for your life.
Small steps in real-time: Focusing on the in-process nature of growth rather than immediate, drastic shifts.
Who Beyond Burnout Is For
This small group is designed for insightful and reflective young professionals in their 20s and 30s in the DC area who are highly motivated for change but feel overwhelmed by the demands of their current path. All genders and backgrounds are welcome.
You might find this space helpful if:
You are a Type-A professional seeking a peer-to-peer therapeutic relationship.
You are a lifelong learner who values deep personal work and meaningful outcomes over superficial career advice or “just talk”.
You feel dissatisfied, stuck, or unsure of your next professional steps, and feel ready to look beneath the surface of your professional dissatisfaction.
You see value in sharing experiences with others going through similar challenges.
A Therapy Group For Navigating Burnout
This 8-week therapy group—led by Hillary Donahue, LGPC, one of our licensed therapists—offers a dedicated space to examine the emotional weight of professional life alongside peers who share similar high-achieving work challenges.
Rather than offering a quick fix in a casual meetup, these group therapy sessions offer guidance in a safe and relatable environment to explore the complex relationship between your identity, your core values, and your work.
For a more general overview of group therapy, visit our Group Therapy page, or read this explanation from the American Psychological Association (APA).
Group Structure & Enrollment
Duration: 8 weekly sessions. All participants begin and finish at the same time, to help build rapport and connection.
Group Size: Limited to 8 participants to ensure a thoughtful, private, and inclusive experience.
Dates & Time: Wednesdays at 4:00 PM (EST), Starting February 5. In-person. Mondays from 6:00pm to 7:15pm, starting February 2.
Price: $80 per group session
Sign up now for this opportunity to gain fresh insight, make meaningful connections, and explore questions of personal identity and professional alignment. Come be one of the eight!