How I Work
work shouldn’t consume your entire life.
But you still haven’t switched off.
You may have read about burnout, tried setting better boundaries or promised yourself you would stop checking your email after dinner.
But when your boss asks for one more thing, you still hear yourself saying yes.
When you close your laptop, your mind keeps reviewing what you did, what you might have missed and what needs to happen tomorrow.
Even rest can feel uncomfortable when part of you is anticipating a problem, feeling guilty for stopping or waiting to be needed.
This is where somatic coaching can offer something different. We pay attention not only to what you logically know, but also to what happens inside you when you try to rest, set a boundary, tolerate uncertainty or allow someone to be disappointed.
Together, we work toward a life where you can care about your work without carrying it into every evening and weekend.
You know what you want to say.
Your body has an old program running
This Work may be for you If…
You finish work, but keep drafting emails, reviewing decisions or replaying conversations over and over in your mind.
You automatically accept more work because saying no, negotiating a deadline or disappointing someone makes you want to crawl out of your skin.
You check your work or spend far too long trying to make something impossible to criticize.
You notice what needs doing, compensate for other people and take responsibility. Someone brings up a mistake and immediately you’re saying, “oh, that was probably me”. But was it?!
You feel restless, guilty or unproductive when you try to rest.
You hold it together at work, then feel depleted, irritable or unavailable in your relationships outside of work.
You want support with boundaries and overthinking, but you also recognize that knowing what to do has not been enough and want to try something different.
You want to have energy and attention left for friendships, relationships, hobbies and the rest of your life.
You do not have to identify as a high achiever or believe you are “burned out enough.” You may simply know that your current relationship with work is no longer sustainable.
Sessions are conversational and experiential. We will talk about what is happening in your life while also paying attention to what happens in your body as we explore it.
For example, you might tell me that your boss asked you to take on another project. You knew you did not have capacity, but before you had time to think, you agreed.
Rather than stopping at “I need to be better at saying no,” we might slow the moment down:
What did you notice when your boss asked?
Did you feel pressure, tension, urgency or an impulse to answer immediately?
What did your body anticipate might happen if you hesitated or said no?
What support would help you stay present long enough to make a more deliberate choice?
We may use sensation tracking, orienting, movement, imagery, parts work, boundary rehearsal or other gently paced somatic practices. You will always be invited to slow down, modify a practice or choose not to continue.
We can also work with practical changes, such as preparing language for a difficult conversation, setting a realistic limit, delegating a task or creating a transition out of the workday.
The goal is not to just help you feel calmer while continuing to absorb an unreasonable amount of work. It is to help you develop more capacity to respond differently.
what somatic coaching sessions are like
That feeling of still being “at work” even after you’ve closed your laptop — replaying conversations, rewriting emails in your head, thinking I should have said it differently
The way you say yes before you’ve even checked if you actually have the capacity… and then feel that quiet dread afterwards
Reading an email three times, then coming back to it again “just to be sure”
Spending way longer than you meant to on something because it doesn’t feel quite good enough to send yet
Knowing you want to say no or push back on a deadline, but feeling your body go tight the moment you try
That automatic “I’ll just do it” response, even when you’re already overloaded
Taking responsibility for things that technically aren’t yours, because it feels easier than letting them sit
Delegating something, then quietly checking, tweaking, or taking it back because it’s not being done “right”
Staying quiet in meetings, then thinking of everything you wish you’d said on the way home
Feeling oddly restless or guilty when you try to rest, like you’re forgetting something important
Losing access to energy or interest outside of work, even when you want to care about other things
Second-guessing yourself constantly, even on small decisions that shouldn’t feel this loaded
Relevant personal and relationship patterns may naturally become part of our work, particularly when they are connected to the way you respond to responsibility, conflict, rest or other people’s expectations.
WHat we can work on
How WE Might Work Together
1. Understand The Patterns
We look closely at the moments when work takes over.
That might be the instant you agree to an unrealistic deadline, the hour you spend rewriting an email or the Sunday afternoon when your mind starts preparing for Monday.
Together, we explore what you think, feel and anticipate in those moments, without treating your response as a personal failure.
2. Build Capacity for a different response
We slow things down around the moments where it becomes hard to pause, speak up, or choose differently at work and outside of it.
This might include over-explaining, second-guessing, saying yes too quickly, or struggling to trust your decisions afterwards. We also pay attention to what makes it difficult to stay present in meetings or tolerate uncertainty, visibility, or other people’s reactions.
Alongside this, we use somatic practices to help you stay more connected to yourself in these moments, without forcing calm or confidence.
3. Practice change in everyday life
We begin to notice what small shifts might feel available in your everyday life, without pressure to change anything before you are ready.
Sometimes this might simply involve imagining a different response, noticing what feels possible, or paying attention to what feels like “too much” or “not yet.”
At other times, it may include very small, supported experiments—like pausing before saying yes, or letting something be “good enough” instead of perfect.
There is no expectation to implement anything outside of sessions. We move at a pace that feels resourced, and we stay curious about what you learn from even imagining change.
My Approach
My approach combines somatic coaching, Somatic Experiencing, parts work, and practical exploration of the patterns that contribute to burnout and chronic work stress.
We often look at the nervous system patterns that are actually driving these experiences. For example, the automatic urgency to respond, the collapse into exhaustion after work, the difficulty tolerating someone else’s disappointment, or the sense that you can’t fully switch off even when nothing is required of you.
The work is gentle and collaborative. We may work with what is happening in your body in real time while also looking at very practical things like workload, boundaries, communication, perfectionism, and the choices available to you at work and in daily life.
We go at a pace that supports choice, consent, and a sense of steadiness, and we adjust if something feels too much, unclear, or not useful in the moment.
Sessions take place online, so you can join from wherever you are.
You don’t have to wait until work becomes completely unmanageable.
If you are tired of spending your evenings replaying your day, feeling guilty when you rest or agreeing to more than you can sustainably carry, we can explore what support might look like.
Start with a free 20-minute consultation. There is no pressure to make a decision during the call.
MY Experience and TRAINING
Re-origin Somatic Practitioner and Coach
Somatic Experiencing Practitioner in Training (Advanced Level) Somatic Experiencing International
Certified Trauma-Informed Coach through Moving the Human Spirit
Integrative Somatic Parts Work Level 1 - 3, taught by Fran D Booth, LICSW
Mindful Somatic Wellness Practitioner through Mindful Somatic Wellness
Clinical Applications of Polyvagal Theory taught by Stephen W. Porges, PhD and Deb Dana, LCSW
200 hour Meditation Teacher Training through Yoga & Meditation Centre Calgary
Movement for Trauma Level 1 through Jane Clapp
FAQs
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Somatic Experiencing® is one of the approaches I draw on in sessions. It’s about noticing what’s happening in your body as you think about stressful situations, without trying to push through or override it.
For example, you might notice your chest tighten when you imagine saying no to your boss, or a rush of urgency when you think about an unfinished email.
Instead of ignoring those reactions, we slow things down and stay with them in a way that feels manageable. Over time, this can help you respond to stress with a bit more space and choice.
Somatic coaching is not psychotherapy or medical treatment, and I do not diagnose or treat mental health conditions.
Over time, you’ll build the ability to stay present during uncomfortable or emotionally charged moments. Life often starts to feel more manageable because your system can move through challenges more smoothly and really take in the good when it happens.
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This might be a good fit if work stress is spilling into the rest of your life, like you can’t switch off, you’re overthinking emails at night, or you keep saying yes when you really don’t have space.
You don’t need any experience with somatic work. Just a bit of curiosity about what’s happening in your body when you’re stressed, overwhelmed, or trying to set limits.
This is especially for people who are still functioning day to day, but feel like perfectionism, overthinking, or people-pleasing is starting to wear them down.
The free consultation is just a chance to talk about what’s going on and see if working together feels like a good fit.
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Somatic coaching is intended for people who are generally able to manage daily life and are looking for support with personal growth, patterns and behaviour change.
It is not a substitute for psychotherapy, medical care, addiction treatment or emergency support. If your needs fall outside my training or scope, I may recommend working with an appropriately qualified healthcare professional instead of, or alongside, coaching.
We can talk about whether my services are appropriate for your current needs during a consultation.
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Individual 50-minute online sessions are $150 CAD.
Multi-session packages are available at a reduced per-session rate. I also maintain a limited number of sliding-scale spaces for clients who require a lower fee.
The first step is a free 20-minute consultation. This gives us a chance to discuss what you are looking for, answer your questions and decide whether working together feels like a good fit.