Francis Norton

I am currently available for new clients.

I am a BACP-accredited counsellor and psychotherapist with nearly six years' specialist experience working with burnout, particularly among founders, entrepreneurs, senior professionals and people working in demanding, high-responsibility environments, people who can't simply ask for a sick note.

Burnout isn't just about the workload. It's about when demanding circumstances, threat, exhaustion, coping strategies and loss of agency start reinforcing each other, creating a self-sustaining state of overwhelm. My work is to help you understand what is happening, recover your capacity, and find ways of working and living that are sustainable.

Context
Before becoming a counsellor I spent over 30 years working in technology and startups, so I know from the inside that culture of ambition, urgency, uncertainty, responsibility and constant change, and the difficulty of switching off when the business feels as though it depends on you.

I don't approach these worlds as an outsider telling people to just "work less". I understand why that advice can be both unrealistic and unhelpful. Instead, we explore what is actually happening and what would make your work and life more sustainable.

I too have lived through burnout. I know something of the gradual narrowing of life that can occur when work becomes exhausting, motivation disappears and it becomes difficult to imagine things being different. But I also know how transformative it can be to discover that change is possible.

Professional Work in Burnout
Beyond my private practice, I have written for BACP's Therapy Today on burnout recovery case studies, and I am delivering professional training for counsellors on working therapeutically with burnout.

I am also a speaker at BACP professional events and have contributed to podcasts and public discussions about burnout.

My aim is to combine evidence-informed psychological thinking with counselling

My approach is integrative, drawing on person-centred, attachment and existential approaches. Alongside these, I bring a specific burnout perspective to the work.

We may explore the demands you are facing, your expectations of yourself and others, your ways of coping, your relationships, your capacity to recover, and your sense of agency, effectiveness and meaning.

For some people, burnout develops around an apparently successful career: the work may be rewarding, but the effort required to sustain it has gradually become impossible to maintain. For others, burnout follows a period of organisational upheaval, caring responsibilities, redundancy, chronic workplace stress or a prolonged and critical uncertainty.

Where appropriate, we can also explore the underlying patterns that make it difficult to step away from unsustainable ways of working, such as perfectionism, over-responsibility, difficulty setting boundaries, attachment patterns or the need to derive self-worth from achievement.

The aim isn't simply to get you functioning again. It is to understand what happened and develop a more sustainable way of living and working.

I offer both ongoing counselling/psychotherapy for working towards your goal or goals, and Single Session Therapy for when you have a specific issue that you'd like to get unstuck without committing yourself to longer-term work.

If you're concerned that work has become unsustainable, or that you're beginning to lose the energy, motivation or sense of effectiveness you once had, please get in touch.

I offer a free 20-minute phone or Zoom conversation before you decide whether to book a session. This gives us an opportunity to briefly discuss what is happening and whether I might be the right person to help.

You can call, text or WhatsApp me on 0749 573 5189, or book a preliminary conversation online at https://calendly.com/francis-norton/preliminarychat

In our first session we will begin to map what is happening to you rather than simply asking "How stressed are you?"

We will look at the demands you are facing, how you are coping, what is happening in your relationships and working life, how your capacity has changed, and what has happened to your sense of effectiveness, agency and purpose.

This will help us see what keeps your individual burnout cycle spinning, and target an initial focus for change.

You don't need to know in advance whether what you're experiencing is burnout, anxiety, depression or simply the consequences of prolonged stress. We can work that out together.

By the end of the first session, my aim is that you have a clearer understanding of what is happening, and a sense of what meaningful change might look like.

I am currently available for new clients.

I am a BACP-accredited counsellor and psychotherapist with nearly six years' specialist experience working with burnout, particularly among founders, entrepreneurs, senior professionals and people working in demanding, high-responsibility environments, people who can't simply ask for a sick note.

Burnout isn't just about the workload. It's about when demanding circumstances, threat, exhaustion, coping strategies and loss of agency start reinforcing each other, creating a self-sustaining state of overwhelm. My work is to help you understand what is happening, recover your capacity, and find ways of working and living that are sustainable.

Context
Before becoming a counsellor I spent over 30 years working in technology and startups, so I know from the inside that culture of ambition, urgency, uncertainty, responsibility and constant change, and the difficulty of switching off when the business feels as though it depends on you.

I don't approach these worlds as an outsider telling people to just "work less". I understand why that advice can be both unrealistic and unhelpful. Instead, we explore what is actually happening and what would make your work and life more sustainable.

I too have lived through burnout. I know something of the gradual narrowing of life that can occur when work becomes exhausting, motivation disappears and it becomes difficult to imagine things being different. But I also know how transformative it can be to discover that change is possible.

Professional Work in Burnout
Beyond my private practice, I have written for BACP's Therapy Today on burnout recovery case studies, and I am delivering professional training for counsellors on working therapeutically with burnout.

I am also a speaker at BACP professional events and have contributed to podcasts and public discussions about burnout.

My aim is to combine evidence-informed psychological thinking with counselling expertise and practical experience of the environments in which burnout occurs.

My approach is integrative, drawing on person-centred, attachment and existential approaches. Alongside these, I bring a specific burnout perspective to the work.

We may explore the demands you are facing, your expectations of yourself and others, your ways of coping, your relationships, your capacity to recover, and your sense of agency, effectiveness and meaning.

For some people, burnout develops around an apparently successful career: the work may be rewarding, but the effort required to sustain it has gradually become impossible to maintain. For others, burnout follows a period of organisational upheaval, caring responsibilities, redundancy, chronic workplace stress or a prolonged and critical uncertainty.

Where appropriate, we can also explore the underlying patterns that make it difficult to step away from unsustainable ways of working, such as perfectionism, over-responsibility, difficulty setting boundaries, attachment patterns or the need to derive self-worth from achievement.

The aim isn't simply to get you functioning again. It is to understand what happened and develop a more sustainable way of living and working. 

I offer both ongoing counselling/psychotherapy for working towards your goal or goals, and Single Session Therapy for when you have a specific issue that you'd like to get unstuck without committing yourself to longer-term work.

If you're concerned that work has become unsustainable, or that you're beginning to lose the energy, motivation or sense of effectiveness you once had, please get in touch.

I offer a free 20-minute phone or Zoom conversation before you decide whether to book a session. This gives us an opportunity to briefly discuss what is happening and whether I might be the right person to help.

You can call, text or WhatsApp me on 0749 573 5189, or book a preliminary conversation online at https://calendly.com/francis-norton/preliminarychat

In our first session we will begin to map what is happening to you rather than simply asking "How stressed are you?"

We will look at the demands you are facing, how you are coping, what is happening in your relationships and working life, how your capacity has changed, and what has happened to your sense of effectiveness, agency and purpose.

This will help us see what keeps your individual burnout cycle spinning, and target an initial focus for change.

You don't need to know in advance whether what you're experiencing is burnout, anxiety, depression or simply the consequences of prolonged stress. We can work that out together.

By the end of the first session, my aim is that you have a clearer understanding of what is happening, and a sense of what meaningful change might look like.

I am currently available for new clients.

I am a BACP-accredited counsellor and psychotherapist with nearly six years' specialist experience working with burnout, particularly among founders, entrepreneurs, senior professionals and people working in demanding, high-responsibility environments, people who can't simply ask for a sick note.

Burnout isn't just about the workload. It's about when demanding circumstances, threat, exhaustion, coping strategies and loss of agency start reinforcing each other, creating a self-sustaining state of overwhelm. My work is to help you understand what is happening, recover your capacity, and find ways of working and living that are sustainable.

Context
Before becoming a counsellor I spent over 30 years working in technology and startups, so I know from the inside that culture of ambition, urgency, uncertainty, responsibility and constant change, and the difficulty of switching off when the business feels as though it depends on you.

I don't approach these worlds as an outsider telling people to just "work less". I understand why that advice can be both unrealistic and unhelpful. Instead, we explore what is actually happening and what would make your work and life more sustainable.

I too have lived through burnout. I know something of the gradual narrowing of life that can occur when work becomes exhausting, motivation disappears and it becomes difficult to imagine things being different. But I also know how transformative it can be to discover that change is possible.

Professional Work in Burnout
Beyond my private practice, I have written for BACP's Therapy Today on burnout recovery case studies, and I am delivering professional training for counsellors on working therapeutically with burnout.

I am also a speaker at BACP professional events and have contributed to podcasts and public discussions about burnout.

My aim is to combine evidence-informed psychological thinking with counselling expertise and practical experience of the environments in which burnout occurs.

My approach is integrative, drawing on person-centred, attachment and existential approaches. Alongside these, I bring a specific burnout perspective to the work.

We may explore the demands you are facing, your expectations of yourself and others, your ways of coping, your relationships, your capacity to recover, and your sense of agency, effectiveness and meaning.

For some people, burnout develops around an apparently successful career: the work may be rewarding, but the effort required to sustain it has gradually become impossible to maintain. For others, burnout follows a period of organisational upheaval, caring responsibilities, redundancy, chronic workplace stress or a prolonged and critical uncertainty.

Where appropriate, we can also explore the underlying patterns that make it difficult to step away from unsustainable ways of working, such as perfectionism, over-responsibility, difficulty setting boundaries, attachment patterns or the need to derive self-worth from achievement.

The aim isn't simply to get you functioning again. It is to understand what happened and develop a more sustainable way of living and working.

I offer both ongoing counselling/psychotherapy for working towards your goal or goals, and Single Session Therapy for when you have a specific issue that you'd like to get unstuck without committing yourself to longer-term work.

If you're concerned that work has become unsustainable, or that you're beginning to lose the energy, motivation or sense of effectiveness you once had, please get in touch.

I offer a free 20-minute phone or Zoom conversation before you decide whether to book a session. This gives us an opportunity to briefly discuss what is happening and whether I might be the right person to help.

You can call, text or WhatsApp me on 0749 573 5189, or book a preliminary conversation online at https://calendly.com/francis-norton/preliminarychat

In our first session we will begin to map what is happening to you rather than simply asking "How stressed are you?"

We will look at the demands you are facing, how you are coping, what is happening in your relationships and working life, how your capacity has changed, and what has happened to your sense of effectiveness, agency and purpose.

This will help us see what keeps your individual burnout cycle spinning, and target an initial focus for change.

You don't need to know in advance whether what you're experiencing is burnout, anxiety, depression or simply the consequences of prolonged stress. We can work that out together.

By the end of the first session, my aim is that you have a clearer understanding of what is happening, and a sense of what meaningful change might look like.