Support Options After Your Burnout Self-Check

Practical next steps if your results raised concerns about burnout.

Burnout isn't a personal failure. It's a signal that something about the conditions around you may not be sustainable.

If your results feel confronting, that makes sense. They're not telling you you're broken — they're telling you something about the way you're working, leading, or being led might need to change. This page is here to help you figure out what to do next.

A Quick Safety Note

If you’re feeling:

  • overwhelmed most of the time,
  • unable to cope with daily life, or
  • like you might hurt yourself or others,

This tool isn’t enough on its own.

Please reach out to:

  • a doctor or mental health professional,
  • a local crisis line or community mental health service, or
  • emergency services in your region if you feel at immediate risk.

You don’t have to wait until it’s “bad enough” to ask for help.

Small steps you can take right now

You don’t have to overhaul your whole life this week. Start small.

In the next 24–48 hours:

  • Tell one trusted person: “I did a burnout self-check, and it showed I’m struggling in [your focus area]. Can I share a bit about that?”

  • Give yourself permission to name what’s hard without minimizing it with “but other people have it worse.”

  • If your body is giving you strong signals (sleep disruption, constant tension, headaches, gut issues), make a note and consider booking time with a health professional.

Over the next couple of weeks:

  • Notice when your difficult moments show up—time of day, tasks, specific contexts or people.

  • Ask: “What would make my work feel 10% more sustainable?” instead of “How do I fix everything?”

What your colours and scores tell you

Your profile uses four zones:

  • Healthy

    Strong protective factors. Things here are generally working for you.

  • Watch

    Mild strain. Small adjustments could prevent bigger issues later.

  • At-risk

    Stressors may be stacking up in ways that are hard to sustain.

  • Critical

    This area likely needs attention and support as a priority.

Most people have a mix: a few areas that protect them, and a few that are pulling them toward burnout. That’s normal.

Your “Good place to start” focus area is simply the lowest-scoring category. It doesn’t mean everything else doesn’t matter—it’s just a practical first step.

Action for change by sub-domain

Your results page already highlights the areas most relevant to you, with specific suggestions for each.

If you want to explore all seven dimensions in depth, visit our Burnout 101 series →

Talking about your results

Knowing what to say is often the hardest part. Here are two conversation starters you can adapt — one for a manager, one for a health professional.

With a manager or leader

“I’ve been noticing some signs of burnout, and I used a burnout self-check that highlighted [focus area] as a key pressure point.

I don’t expect you to fix everything, but I’d like to explore small changes that could make my workload more sustainable so I can keep doing good work. Could we look at what’s on my plate and see what’s most important, what can wait, or what might be done differently?”

With a doctor / mental health professional

“I’ve been experiencing [brief list of symptoms], and a burnout self-check showed that I’m really struggling in [focus area(s)]. I’d like help understanding what might be going on and what my options are.”

Jennifer’s Burnout Workbook offers guidance for these types of difficult conversations → The Burnout Prevention Workbook

If you’re a leader

If you’re leading people and you’re burned out yourself, you’re not alone.

If you're leading people and you're burned out yourself, you're not alone.

Leaders often carry their own workload, the emotional weight of their team, and pressure from above simultaneously. You can't remove every barrier, but you can:

  • Model realistic expectations — what you do matters more than what you say.

  • Normalzse workload conversations. Ask your team: "What's getting in your way this week?"

  • Advocate upward when demands are consistently out of line with resources.

Interested in using this tool with your team, or building a burnout prevention strategy for your organization?

Jennifer works with organizations through keynotes, workshops, and advisory programmes. → Learn more

A final reminder

You’re not weak for feeling the way you do. Burnout is often a rational response to sustained pressure, misaligned expectations, or a lack of support.

This self-check is one lens, on one day. You’re allowed to take what’s useful, leave what isn’t, and reach out for help as you figure out what comes next.