From Burnout to Hope: Get out of the Overwhelm and into a Future Better than Today

11
Oct 2023
CPHR Alberta
87
A red door is open to a cloudy sky in a room.

Author:  Lindsay Recknell 

I realized I’d lost my hope the day I recognized I got it back.

Totally innocuous moment – driving along, thinking of nothing important – when I sat up a little taller…and immediately slouched back down. Waves of emotion were rolling over me, from pride and relief, to fear and disappointment. I mean, I’m a reasonably self-aware person…how did I not recognize I’d lost my hope for the future?

To this point, I’d been basically functioning. Going to work, cooking (most!) meals, putting on pants, but it was this moment that I’d recognized that I was just going through the motions – that I’d stopped reaching for my goals, that I’d stopped really caring about my career and went from thriving to merely surviving. I was burnt out and hitting the proverbial bottom was the moment I’d realized it.

Burnout is a hot topic right now with 77% of survey respondents in a recent Deloitte marketplace survey saying they’ve experienced burnout at their current job, with more than half citing more than one occurrence. More than prolonged stress, burnout is characterized by moving from feeling like it’s all too much – too much work to do, too many expectations, too many deadlines – through to feeling like you don’t have enough – time, energy, motivation – to get it all done and by now you don’t even care. 

When you feel like you don’t have any more cares to give, that’s a good sign you’ve crossed from simply stressed out into burnout.

The Stress Cycle 

In a recent episode of her Unlocking Us podcast, Brene Brown interviews Drs. Emily and Amelia Nagoski, authors of a new book called Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle. A truly informative, entertaining and fascinating episode, they introduced me to a concept I wasn’t aware of before – the Stress Cycle. You can think about it like this – stressors in life cause you stress and once you’re feeling stressed, you do something to feel less stressed which closes the Stress Cycle. Just removing the stressor isn’t enough – when you finish that big project or pay off that debt or even break out of your bad relationship – unless you complete the Stress Cycle by doing something to actually reduce the feelings of stress in your life, you won’t feel less stressed. Stress is a chemical reaction in your body and you need to actually take action to change the chemical reaction from negative to positive.

Five Most Effective Ways to Stop the Stress Cycle 

A stressful part of feeling stressed is the time it takes to feel less stressed. How’s that for irony? But like the best things in life, when we prioritize completing the Stress Cycle, we can feel immediate positive impacts and the effects of prolonged stress can be reversed before we go into full blown burnout. In my personal experience, here are the five most effective ways to stop the Stress Cycle and come back from the edge of burnout.

Move Your Body 

Seems so cliched and overdone but like the best cliches, this one is also true. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, wash your dishes by hand instead of using the dishwasher, do a few stretches in your office. Honestly, any moment at all, no matter how quick or small, will have a positive impact by bumping up the production of your brain’s feel-good neurotransmitters, called endorphins.

Set Boundaries 

Boundaries are our limits of what we will and will not do. Identify what your personal boundaries are and then communicate them to others. This is probably the hardest part – the people most likely to be upset by any boundaries you communicate are those that are crossing your boundaries. Boundary crossing is a stressor in your life and you know now that stressors are what cause chemical stress so remove the stressor before burnout occurs.

Get Creative 

There’s a reason art therapy works. It’s a physical representation of your internal stressors and a really great way to purge negativity from your body and leave it all on the proverbial dance floor, paint canvas or concert hall. By communicating through creative expression, you foster self-awareness, boost self-esteem, and connect with others, all positive ways to close the Stress Cycle.

Hug - for a long time 

Physical touch has long been used as a method to reduce stress in premature babies so why wouldn’t it also work for us as adults? There is a lot of research out there to support the effectiveness of this kind of positive physical contact and as Drs. Emily and Amelia Nagoski explain on Brown’s podcast, “the research suggests that a 20 second hug can change your hormones, lower your blood pressure and heart rate and improve mood, all of which are reflected in the post hug increase in the social bonding hormone, oxytocin.” 

Laugh your butt off

Have you heard of Laughter Yoga? I thought it was fake until I learned of Dr. Madan Kataria, a family physician from India who modernized the teachings of earlier laughter pioneers from the 1960s. Dr. Kataria suggests that laughter promises to reduce feelings of stress, boost immunity, fight depression and leads to more positive thinking. In Laughter Yoga, you start with fake laughing until you feel so ridiculous that the laughter becomes real and the magic within your body starts to happen. It’s this kind of mouth-hanging-open, uncontrolled, belly-shaking laughter than can take you through the end of the Stress Cycle and change your stress chemicals from negative to positive.

Before my ah-ha moment when I realized I’d gotten my hope back, I didn’t realize how far into burnout I’d fallen due to the prolonged stress I’d been carrying around in my body. Even as the various stressors had been removed from my life, I realize now that I hadn’t really done anything to intentionally complete the Stress Cycle and reverse the negative chemical reaction in my body. Burnout is your body’s physical response to the impact of stressors in your life and it’s empowering to recognize that while the stressors themselves feel uncontrollable, I can take control over completing my Stress Cycle and take action to start to feel better. Takes work, and intention, and a change of priority but you too can implement any of these five ways to complete your own Stress Cycle and come back from the edge of burnout.

As an expert in hope and a Certified Psychological Health and Safety Advisor, Lindsay works with individuals and organizations to increase their levels of psychological health & safety in the workplace using Positive Psychology and the Science of Hope. She empowers individuals, strengthens teams and transforms organizations through her Mental Health Skills Training certificate program , Language of Mental Health digital subscription and wellness webinars. Lindsay lives in Calgary, Canada with her husband and their Golden Retriever, Dennis. 


The views and opinions expressed in this blog post belong solely to the original author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of CPHR Alberta.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog post belong solely to the original author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of CPHR Alberta.



Reimagining Modern Fatherhood in the Corporate World

By Jessica Jaithoo • June 11, 2026
Author: Nidhi Gandhi , 2026 Social Media Committee Volunteer "By the time you truly understand your father, you have become one yourself, and your father may no longer be in the world for you to tell him." It's a thought that stays with Jitendra Das, and one that lands especially close around Father's Day. Jitu, to those who know him, is a Senior Human Resources Business Partner at Amazon, where he partners with business leaders on organizational effectiveness, talent strategy, leadership development, and culture. Behind that work sits more than 16 years of HR experience across India, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and North America. Alongside his corporate role, he is an ICF certified executive coach at the PCC level with over 2,500 coaching hours, having supported leaders across Fortune 500 companies in unlocking their potential and navigating personal and professional growth. But the role that shapes everything else is a quieter one. He grew up watching a generation of fathers who showed love through provision, and made himself a different promise, to show it through presence. He wants his son, Ayaan, to remember the school runs, the bedtime stories, the nothing-in-particular evenings. As he puts it: "I am not building a career despite being a father. I am building it because of it." This Father's Day, we interviewed Jitu to talk about what modern fatherhood asks of men at work, the leave they don't take, the bias they navigate quietly, and what it really means for a working father to feel safe being fully himself. 1. You are uniquely positioned to advocate for policies like parental leave for fathers. Do you feel a personal responsibility to champion men’s work-life balance and mental health in the corporate world? Absolutely, and I think responsibility is the right word, not just opportunity. Men's mental health and work-life balance remain largely underdiscussed in corporate spaces, and the cost of that silence is real. Burnout, disengagement, and leaders who are physically present at work but emotionally absent at home, these are symptoms of a culture that never gave men permission to be human. In Canada, fathers have access to parental leave, yet the uptake remains far lower than among mothers, not because fathers do not want to be present, but because the culture has not caught up with the policy. I want to help close that gap. Not just through advocacy in meetings, but by modeling it myself, being visible about my own boundaries, talking openly about Ayaan and what being present for him means to me, and making it easier for the men around me to do the same. If I cannot use my platform to normalize that, then what is it for? 2. Working fathers often face a subtle social bias where they are viewed as the 'secondary' parent. How can HR teams and leaders shift corporate mindsets to recognize and respect men as primary, equal caregivers? The bias is real, and it often lives in the small things: a father who leaves early for his child's recital gets noticed differently than a mother who does the same thing, and a man who sets a hard stop for school pickup reads as less committed rather than more present. HR teams need to look at this structurally, because in Canada, parental leave is available to both parents yet the uptake among fathers remains significantly lower, and that gap is not about desire, it is about what leaders normalize. If no senior man in an organization has ever visibly taken parental leave, that silence is a message. I keep Ayaan's school events on my calendar and I do not hide them, because representation in everyday behaviour is more powerful than any policy document 3. There’s an old stereotype that fathers should always be the 'unshakable pillar.' How have you learned to embrace vulnerability, both as a dad and as a professional leader? When we moved to Canada in 2022, I went through a period of professional uncertainty I was not prepared for, having built my career across India, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia and then starting over in a new market without the network I had spent years building. My wife Megha held the family steady during that time, and watching her do that taught me the difference between being a pillar and being a wall: she was not unaffected; she was grounded. I have told Ayaan when I have had hard days, not to burden him, but to show him that naming something difficult is not weakness, it is how you move forward. That same principle lives in how I coach leaders now: vulnerability is not the absence of strength, it is the honesty to say where you are, and that honesty builds more trust than any polished performance. 4. What does psychological safety look like for a working father? Have you ever felt pressure to hide family obligations to maintain a certain professional image? Yes, early in my time in Canada I was careful about how much I revealed as a father in professional settings, because there is an unspoken test that working fathers navigate: prove your commitment by making your family invisible at work. But I think about Ayaan running to show me a drawing he made at school, not because it was perfect, but because he wanted me to see it, and that unconditional trust reminds me that the most important audience for how I show up is not in the boardroom. Psychological safety for a working father means being able to say I am leaving early for my son's event without it being read as a lack of ambition. The day that becomes unremarkable is the day we have actually made progress, and as HR professionals, building that culture is not a nice-to-have. It is the work . A Wish for Father's Day “Fatherhood did not soften my professional edge. It sharpened it, gave me a reason to build something worth being proud of, and a daily reminder of what I am actually working for. This Father's Day, my wish is simple: I hope working fathers across Canada and the world feel seen, take the leave they are entitled to, and show up for the bedtime stories. And I hope their organizations build cultures where none of that is a trade-off. Ayaan, this one is for you.” Jitu's wish is a modest one, but the shift it asks of our workplaces is not. It asks for cultures where presence, honesty, and a hard stop for school pickup read as strength rather than absence, where showing up for your child is never a trade-off against showing up at work. This Father's Day, that feels like a goal worth building toward. Wishing everyone a Happy Father’s Day!

International Wellness Day: Prioritizing Wellbeing in Our Everyday Lives

By Jessica Jaithoo • June 8, 2026
Author: Taia Northrup , 2026 Social Media Committee Volunteer Each year, on the second Saturday of June, people around the world come together to recognize International Wellness Day, a global movement dedicated to promoting healthier, happier, and more balanced lives. This special day serves as a reminder that well-being extends beyond physical health; it includes mental, emotional, social, and workplace wellness as well. As HR professionals, wellness is more than a personal responsibility, it is a workplace priority. The Chartered Professionals in Human Resources (CPHR) profession recognizes that healthy, supported employees are the foundation of engaged, productive, and resilient organizations. HR leaders play a key role in creating workplace cultures that foster psychological safety, work-life balance, employee engagement, and overall wellbeing. International Wellness Day encourages individuals, employers, and communities to reflect on the habits, environments, and relationships that contribute to overall wellbeing. In today’s fast-paced world, it can be easy to put our health on the back burner. This day provides an opportunity to pause, evaluate our wellness practices, and make meaningful changes that support long-term health and happiness. The celebration also aligns with the broader goals of workplace wellbeing initiatives, which focus on creating healthier organizations and communities. Research continues to show that employees who feel supported in their wellbeing experience lower levels of burnout, higher engagement, and stronger workplace satisfaction. Organizations that prioritize employee wellbeing also benefit through improved retention, productivity, and organizational resilience. From a CPHR perspective, wellbeing is not limited to wellness programs or fitness challenges. It involves taking a holistic approach that considers mental, emotional, physical, financial, and social health. Building supportive policies, encouraging meaningful work-life balance, and creating inclusive workplace cultures are all essential components of a successful people's strategy. Wellness looks different for everyone. For some, it may mean prioritizing physical activity, healthy nutrition, or quality of sleep. For others, it may involve managing stress, strengthening social connections, practicing mindfulness, or taking time for self-care. The important message is that small, intentional actions can have a significant impact on overall wellbeing. As we celebrate International Wellness Day, consider taking a moment to invest in your own health and happiness. Whether it’s going for a walk, connecting with loved ones, setting healthy boundaries, or simply taking time to recharge, every positive step contributes to a healthier and more fulfilling life. At its core, wellbeing is about creating environments where people can thrive—both at work and in life. As HR professionals and workplace leaders, we have the opportunity to champion initiatives that support our people, strengthen our organizations, and build healthier communities for the future. How will you invest in your wellbeing today? 

Building Trust with Indigenous Employees: The Role of HR and Leadership

By Jessica Jaithoo • May 22, 2026
Trust is the foundation of any successful workplace, and for Indigenous employees, it is defined by historical, social, and political realities that organizations must acknowledge and understand. Building trust with Indigenous employees goes beyond basic diversity policies to a more informed and meaningful action plan towards achieving a respectful, equitable workplace and a commitment to reconciliation. According to Alberta Learning Information Service (ALIS), a commitment to building a trusting relationship between employers and Indigenous employees is not only an ethical responsibility but also creates a strategic business advantage. Human Resources and leadership play a crucial role in building this trust by intentionally integrating inclusion, trust, and accountability into all aspects of the workplace. Understanding Trust in the Indigenous Workplace Context Trust for Indigenous employees is influenced by a history of colonization, systemic discrimination, and inequities that affect employment experiences today. Data from Statistics Canada (2022) reveals that Indigenous people are more likely to experience workplace discrimination than non-Indigenous employees (15.2% versus 9.1%), and they are also less likely to remain in roles long-term, with only 32.0% reporting tenures of 10 years or more compared to 37.3% of non-Indigenous workers. Statistics like these reveal the lower levels of psychological safety that Indigenous employees feel at work. Building psychological safety for this marginalized group therefore requires HR and leadership to move from performative inclusion to more meaningful and relationship-based practices that are centered around trust, respect, and inclusion. The Role of HR and leadership in Building Trust Building trust with Indigenous employees is a shared responsibility that requires both HR and leaders to work in sync. We will discuss the roles of both parties below. 1. Mentorship Indigenous employees who are new to the workforce might be unfamiliar with systems, procedures, and expectations. A mentorship program, opportunities for leadership development or training, or a buddy system that pairs them with an employee guide and supports them throughout their first few months or longer can be beneficial for these workers. An effective mentorship program will require organizational leadership to endorse and prioritize mentorship initiatives while HR works with managers to design and implement mentorship programs that will meet each employee’s development needs. When done right, Indigenous mentorship programs can bridge the cultural gaps and create safe spaces for growth and promote psychological safety. 2. Cultural Competency and Awareness Training Cultural competency has become a critical skill in managing today’s diverse workforce and the major aim of this training is to create awareness and/or improve the understanding of various cultures and beliefs in the workplace while equipping staff with skills required to seamlessly communicate, collaborate, and respectfully work with people from different backgrounds. Leaders must champion this training and promote a culturally respectful workplace culture. HR must lead the implementation of such training, ensuring it is structured, inclusive, and embedded across the organization and engage the right facilitators. 3. Providing Support for Emotional and Mental Well-being Supporting Indigenous employee well-being is another critical responsibility. To achieve this, organizational leaders must commit to fostering a culturally safe, trauma-informed workplace that respects Indigenous traditions, prohibits discrimination, and creates environments where Indigenous employees feel safe to speak up. Clear reporting avenues and prompt action to concerns should be addressed. HR’s part in this initiative is to provide Indigenous based employee assistance programs like Indigenous-specific counselling resources, elder support, and land-based healing programs where accessible. Also, promoting a supportive workplace culture, fostering inclusive team environments where Indigenous employees feel supported and valued. 4. Integrating Cultural Inclusion in Workplace Practices This is another shared responsibility between HR and leadership. HR plays a key role in designing and formalizing cultural inclusion practices such as starting corporate events with land acknowledgments, creating space for cultural practices like smudging, supporting flexible holidays for cultural celebrations, and ensuring that Indigenous memorial events such as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation or Aboriginal Awareness Day are celebrated. The leadership role is to reinforce these commitments to cultural inclusion by openly supporting and participating in these initiatives, which shows that the organization regards cultural inclusion as a priority. 5.Supporting Career Advancement and Fair Performance Practices Finally, HR plays a vital role in designing clear, transparent paths for advancement and working with managers to implement fair and consistent application of performance standards and employee feedback systems. Organizational leaders are responsible for supporting employee growth and development, encouraging participation in career advancement pathways, and demonstrating commitment to equity and inclusion. The following experience report offers a real-world example of how the trust-building principles outlined above can be put into practice through partnership, flexibility, and shared accountability. Experience Report: Building Trust Through an Indigenous Employment Partnership by Rike Enss In 2024, my HR team attended a career fair at Norquest College where they were approached by leaders of the Indigenous Career Centre, an external facing program of the college located right next to Norquest. The Indigenous Career Centre (ICC) connects Indigenous talent s with their employer partners. So, the conversation was two-fold, finding an employer partner that could support employment opportunities. As a company who has Indigenous Partnerships as a strategic pillar and actively connects with Indigenous communities to support each other, we were very open to connecting and hearing how we can engage. From there, many conversations and meetings were held, where we got to know each other and actively connected on what this partnership could look like, as we are mostly a seasonal employer. Most of our jobs are entry level and all one needs are 3 safety tickets. Even that could be quite a challenge for some Indigenous job seekers. But the Indigenous Career Centre was there to help, and able to financially support job seekers with getting these tickets through funding or other means. Before the whole partnership could begin, a formal Pipe Ceremony was held in February of 2025, where leaders from both sides came together to ground our relationship and affirm our intention to walk together side by side, helping each other and our job seekers. As a company, we also knew we needed to be a bit more flexible than our usual approach, and that wasn’t hard to achieve. Partnering with ICC and consistent and open feedback and communication made this possible. In the spring of 2025, my HR team was actively recruiting from ICC. We started with 6 people entering into our weeklong training that is required to work as a safety watch. Of the 6, we had 1 person remaining who started working with us, but what a shining star! Even though we weren’t successful in having the other 5 start work, we have had great experiences and gained some valuable learnings. When we started our recruitment approach in the fall, we changed our process to allow for more time to obtain tickets, provide additional support during the process, and make sure expectations were clear and set. As a result, ICC was also able to source better candidates who would be a good fit for the oil and gas industry and potentially available to be away from home. Over time, the 2 partners understood each other's needs better, and both continue to learn the other’s needs. In the fall, we ended up hiring 6 people from the ICC. This spring 2026, we successfully trained 7 people from the Indigenous Career Centre. Being able to learn from each other and grow together is a very rewarding experience as an employer. Conclusion Creating a culturally safe and supportive workplace is essential to fostering belonging and well-being for indigenous employees. When leaders and HR create a culture that listens, learns, and acts with respect, trust is achieved. An inclusive environment not only supports Indigenous employees to thrive but also improves engagement, retention, and overall workplace relationships. Trust is built through accountability, and it is important that organizations align workplace practices with Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples strengthens Indigenous inclusion efforts. Organizations should track metrics like retention, engagement, and psychological safety, while incorporating Indigenous voices through lived experiences. Organization should also publish their Indigenous inclusion commitments, report on their progress, and be honest when they fall short. Finally, acknowledging the long-term organizational risks of failing to build trust -such as reputational harm, reduced engagement, and limited talent attraction - would emphasize the strategic importance of sustained and accountable action. 
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