Tired of Being the Strong One: Burnout in Black Women
Maybe nobody would look at your life and think you're burned out.
You're still getting up. Still going to work. Still answering the emails. Still taking care of your family. Still remembering what everyone needs. Still checking on your friends. Still handling the problem.
Still showing up.
And when someone asks how you're doing, you probably still say: “I'm good.”
Maybe you even smile when you say it. Because what else are you supposed to say?
That you're tired of being needed? That you're tired of being the dependable one? That you're tired of always having to figure it out? That sometimes you want someone else to notice you're struggling without you having to explain it first?
That you don't want another person to tell you: “You're so strong.”
Because lately, being called strong doesn't always feel like a compliment.
Sometimes it feels like an expectation.
You'll handle it.
You'll figure it out.
You'll keep going.
You always do.
And you probably will. That's the problem.
Because when you're the woman who always finds a way, people may not notice how much finding that way is costing you. And maybe you've gotten so used to pushing through that you don't notice either.
Until one day you're sitting in your car for an extra ten minutes because you don't want to go inside yet. Or lying in bed exhausted but unable to turn your brain off. Or staring at an email you don't have the energy to answer. Or snapping at someone you love over something that normally wouldn't bother you. Or fantasizing about getting away somewhere, alone, where nobody knows your name and nobody needs anything from you.
And then comes the guilt.
I have a good life.
Other people have it harder.
I should be grateful.
I just need to get myself together.
So you do what you've always done. You push through. But what if pushing through is part of what has you so exhausted?
For many Black women, burnout isn't simply about having too much work to do.
It can be about the accumulated weight of work, family, caregiving, racism, sexism, expectations, emotional labor, code-switching, being responsible for everyone, and feeling like you have to hold yourself together no matter what is happening inside.
You can be resilient and exhausted.
Successful and overwhelmed.
Grateful and depleted.
Strong and still need somewhere to put everything you've been carrying.
Those things can exist at the same time.
What Does Burnout Look Like in Black Women?
Burnout can involve deep physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion after prolonged stress without enough opportunity to recover.
But burnout doesn't always look like falling apart. Especially when you've spent years learning how not to fall apart.
For some Black women, burnout looks surprisingly functional.
You keep working.
You keep parenting.
You keep producing.
You keep helping.
You keep smiling.
You keep showing up for everyone.
But inside, you feel like there is less and less of you available.
You may notice:
waking up tired even after sleeping
feeling mentally exhausted before the day begins
becoming irritated when people need something from you
struggling to concentrate
forgetting things you normally remember
feeling emotionally numb
losing interest in things you used to enjoy
feeling resentful about how much everyone expects from you
withdrawing because interacting with people feels like work
headaches, muscle tension, stomach issues, or other physical stress symptoms
having difficulty relaxing
feeling guilty when you aren't being productive
feeling like you always need to be “on”
wanting everyone to leave you alone
wondering why small things suddenly feel overwhelming
feeling disconnected from yourself
thinking, “I can't keep doing this,” while continuing to do it anyway
And that's part of what can make burnout so hard to recognize.
You may not look burned out. You may just look like a Black woman who has everything handled.
Can You Be Burned Out and Still Be Successful?
Absolutely.
Some of the women experiencing the deepest exhaustion are still performing exceptionally well. You're meeting deadlines. Getting promoted. Running the meeting. Taking care of your children. Supporting your partner. Helping your parents. Showing up for your friends.
Maybe you're the person everyone else considers the stable one.
That's sometimes informally described as high-functioning burnout.
It isn't a formal diagnosis. But it describes an experience many Black women recognize:
You're functioning, but functioning is taking everything you have.
Maybe nobody at work knows you're struggling because your work hasn't slipped. Nobody in your family knows because you haven't stopped taking care of them. Nobody knows how exhausted you are because you've spent years learning how to look composed while carrying a lot.
And sometimes the person you're best at convincing is yourself.
When “You're So Strong” Starts to Feel Heavy
There is nothing wrong with being strong.
Black women's resilience is real. It has helped families survive, built communities, created careers, protected children, changed institutions.
And helped generations make lives in circumstances that often demanded extraordinary strength.
The problem isn't strength. The problem is when strength becomes the only version of you that feels acceptable.
When strength means:
Don't need too much.
Don't complain.
Handle it yourself.
Keep your emotions under control.
Take care of everybody.
Don't let them see you struggle.
Work twice as hard.
Don't give anyone a reason to question you.
Keep going.
Eventually, strength can stop feeling like something you possess and start feeling like something you owe everyone. That's different.
You may even notice that people admire your strength while benefiting from it.
They know you'll take care of it.
So they let you.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Until you start wondering:
Who's taking care of me?
The “Strong Black Woman” Expectation and Burnout
Researchers have described a cultural expectation sometimes called the Strong Black Woman schema or Superwoman schema.
It can include expectations of strength, independence, emotional restraint, caregiving, achievement, and pushing through hardship. Some aspects of that identity can feel empowering. Strength can be a source of pride. Independence can be protective. Caring for others can be deeply meaningful.
The problem comes when there is no room for anything else.
No room to be tired.
No room to ask for help.
No room to say:
I can't do this today.
No room to admit:
I'm not okay.
You may know intellectually that everyone needs support.
But when it's you who needs it, something feels different.
You think:
I'll figure it out.
I don't want to burden anybody.
They already have enough going on.
I should be able to handle this.
It's really not that serious.
So you keep carrying it.
“I Don't Want Anyone to Think I Can't Handle It.”
This can be especially complicated for Black women in professional spaces.
Maybe you've worked incredibly hard to get where you are. You know you're capable. You also know you may not always be given the same room for mistakes, emotion, uncertainty, or imperfection that other people receive.
So you prepare.
You double-check. You make sure you're on time. You think carefully about how you say things. You stay professional when someone says something inappropriate. You decide whether something was worth addressing.
You wonder whether you're being perceived as assertive—or “angry.” You consider whether speaking up will make things worse. You wonder whether you're imagining the microaggression.
Then you go back to work.
All of that requires energy.
And much of it may be invisible to the people working beside you.
Workplace Burnout Can Feel Different When You're a Black Woman
Sometimes work isn't exhausting simply because there is too much work.
It's exhausting because of everything you're managing while doing the work. You may be the only Black woman in the room. Or one of very few. You may feel pressure to represent more than yourself. You may find yourself adjusting your language, expression, appearance, or behavior depending on the environment.
You may have to decide whether to correct someone's assumption.
Whether to speak up when you're interrupted. Whether to address the comment about your hair.
Whether to point out that your idea was ignored until someone else repeated it.
Whether feedback is actually about your performance, or about how someone experiences a confident Black woman.
Sometimes you address it. Sometimes you decide you don't have the energy. Either decision costs something.
And then you're expected to return to the agenda like nothing happened.
This is one reason generic burnout advice can feel incomplete.
Because “take more breaks” doesn't address the exhaustion of constantly monitoring how you're being perceived.
Code-Switching Can Be Exhausting Too
Maybe you don't even think about it anymore.
Your work voice. Your home voice. The way you speak in one environment versus another.
How much of yourself you show. How you wear your hair.
Whether you soften your opinion. Whether you change your facial expression so nobody thinks you're upset.
Whether you laugh at something that wasn't funny because explaining why it bothered you would take too much energy.
Code-switching can sometimes be strategic. It can help people navigate different environments. But constantly monitoring yourself can also be exhausting.
There can be a particular kind of fatigue that comes from spending eight hours being highly aware of how you're coming across and then going home to another set of people who need something from you.
“I Have to Work Twice as Hard.”
Maybe you heard this growing up.
You have to work twice as hard to get half as far.
For many Black children, that message isn't delivered to hurt them. It's meant to prepare them.
Parents and grandparents may be trying to protect their children from a world they know will not always judge them fairly.
And maybe that message helped you.
It taught you discipline.
Excellence.
Preparation.
Persistence.
It may be part of why you've accomplished so much.
But what happens when “work twice as hard” becomes the only speed you know? What happens when being average feels dangerous? When making a mistake feels like confirmation of somebody else's stereotype? When “good enough” doesn't feel safe? When rest feels like falling behind?
A survival lesson can remain in your body long after the immediate threat has changed.
And sometimes the very strategy that helped you succeed can also make it incredibly difficult to stop.
Burnout, Perfectionism, and Black Women
Perfectionism isn't always about wanting everything to be flawless.
Sometimes perfectionism sounds like:
I cannot give them a reason to doubt me.
I should already know this.
I can't make mistakes.
I don't want anyone thinking I'm incompetent.
I should be able to handle this.
That kind of pressure can be relentless.
You may prepare more than everyone else.
Work longer.
Check things repeatedly.
Take on extra responsibilities.
Struggle to delegate because you don't trust that mistakes will be viewed neutrally.
And when you succeed?
You may not even enjoy it.
You simply feel relieved.
Okay. I did what I was supposed to do.
Then you move the goalpost.
There is always another thing to prove.
Burnout Isn't Only Happening at Work
Then you go home. And maybe another shift begins.
Someone needs dinner. Someone has homework. Someone wants to tell you about their day. Your partner needs something. Your mom calls. Your sister needs advice. There's laundry. An appointment to schedule. A school email you forgot to answer. Something the family needs you to organize. A birthday you need to remember.
You might be managing the emotional climate of your home on top of everything else.
Who is upset?
Who needs encouragement?
Who hasn't been themselves lately?
What needs to happen this weekend?
What does everyone need tomorrow?
You may not call that work.
But your brain does not stop using energy simply because nobody is paying you for it.
“Everybody Comes to Me.”
Maybe you're the person in your family people call.
When there's a problem.
When somebody needs money.
When there's an argument.
When somebody needs advice.
When an older family member needs help.
When someone needs to vent.
When plans need organizing.
You know how to handle things.
You always have.
And maybe you genuinely love being there for your people.
But there's a question you may rarely ask:
Do I have anyone I can fall apart with?
Not someone you can call after you've already figured out the solution.
Someone you can call when you don't know what to do. Someone who doesn't need you to make the conversation okay. Someone who can hear that you're struggling without immediately reminding you how strong you are.
Someone who can simply say: That sounds like a lot. You don't have to carry it by yourself right now.
Burnout and the Invisible Work of Caring for Everyone
Caregiving doesn't only mean physically taking care of another person.
Sometimes caregiving is emotional. It’s remembering, checking in, anticipating, smoothing things over, keeping everybody connected.
Being the person who knows what's going on.
Maybe you're raising children while worrying about aging parents. Maybe you're helping siblings. Supporting friends. Showing up for your community. Mentoring younger coworkers. Being the one people come to because you make them feel safe.
Those relationships may be deeply important to you. But meaningful responsibilities can still be exhausting.
You can love people and need boundaries. You can care deeply and not have unlimited capacity.
“But That's Just What Family Does.”
Sometimes setting boundaries feels particularly complicated when family and community are deeply important to you.
You may worry that saying no means you're selfish. That choosing yourself means you've forgotten where you came from. That having different boundaries means you think you're better than everybody.
Maybe you've heard:
“Family is family.”
“That's your mother.”
“We take care of our own.”
“After everything I've done for you...”
So you say yes even when you want to say no. Then you feel resentful. Then guilty for feeling resentful. Then you show up anyway.
This is where burnout and family patterns can become deeply connected.
Sometimes you're not only learning how to rest.
You're learning that having limits doesn't mean you love people less.
Why Do Black Women Feel Guilty Resting?
There can be many reasons rest feels uncomfortable.
Maybe productivity has become tied to your worth. Maybe you grew up watching women who never stopped.
Grandmothers who worked and raised families. Mothers who kept everything together. Aunts who took care of everybody. Women who survived things nobody should have had to survive.
You may deeply admire them.
You may also have learned: This is what women like us do. We keep going.
So when you rest, there may be another voice in your head:
There are things that need to be done.
People are depending on you.
Your mother handled more than this.
Your grandmother survived worse.
You should be grateful.
But honoring the women who came before you doesn't require repeating every sacrifice they had to make.
Maybe their strength helped create the possibility for you to have something they didn't always get: rest without having to collapse first.
“I Don't Even Know What I Need Anymore.”
This is something that can happen after years of prioritizing everyone else.
Someone asks: What do you want?
And you don't know.
What would make you feel good? Not sure.
What do you enjoy doing? You used to know.
What would you do with an entire free day? Probably catch up on things.
You have become so practiced at noticing what everybody else needs that recognizing your own needs feels strangely difficult.
Sometimes burnout isn't only exhaustion.
It's disconnection from yourself.
You know how to be useful. You know how to achieve. You know how to take care of people.
But you may have forgotten what it feels like to simply be a person without a role to perform.
Why Am I So Irritable With Everyone I Love?
Because sometimes you're not angry at the person asking the question. You're exhausted from always being the person who has to answer.
Your child asks where something is. Your partner asks what's for dinner. Your mom calls because she needs something. Your coworker asks if you can handle one more thing.
And suddenly you feel disproportionately angry.
Then guilty.
Why am I acting like this?
They didn't do anything.
Maybe the request itself wasn't enormous.
Maybe there was simply no room left for it.
When you've been functioning beyond your capacity for a long time, even small demands can feel intrusive.
Irritability can sometimes be your body's way of saying:
I need something too.
Why Do I Want Everyone to Leave Me Alone?
You may love your people deeply and still fantasize about being somewhere nobody can find you.
A quiet hotel room.
A solo trip.
Sitting in your car.
An afternoon when your phone doesn't ring.
A house where nobody says your name.
That thought can make you feel guilty.
But sometimes what you're craving isn't escape from the people you love. It's escape from being responsible.
For just a little while, you want to be somewhere where you don't have to anticipate.
Organize.
Respond.
Fix.
Comfort.
Decide.
You want your brain to be off duty. That doesn't make you uncaring. It may mean you've been on duty for too long.
Is It Burnout or Depression?
Burnout and depression can overlap, but they are not the same thing.
Burnout is generally associated with prolonged stress and exhaustion, while depression is a mental health condition that can affect mood, motivation, pleasure, sleep, concentration, self-worth, and other areas of life.
Sometimes burnout begins to spread beyond the situation that originally caused it.
You don't just dread work. You don't enjoy weekends either. Things you normally love feel flat. You feel disconnected from everybody. You're having trouble imagining things getting better.
If you've noticed persistent sadness, hopelessness, worthlessness, emotional numbness, loss of pleasure, or significant changes in your daily functioning, it's important to talk with a qualified mental health or medical professional.
You don't have to figure out the correct label before asking for support.
Burnout or Anxiety? Sometimes It's Both
You can be completely exhausted and still unable to turn your mind off.
That's one of the cruelest parts.
Your body says:
Please stop.
Your mind says:
You forgot something.
So you lie in bed exhausted while mentally going through tomorrow. You replay the conversation from work. Think about the email. Remember the appointment. Wonder whether your child has everything they need. Think about something you said three days ago.
Then wonder why you can't sleep.
Anxiety can keep you moving when your body desperately wants to rest. And over time, that cycle can become exhausting.
Why Generic Self-Care Advice Can Feel So Frustrating
Take a bath.
Buy yourself flowers.
Practice gratitude.
Get your nails done.
Have a glass of wine.
Take a mental health day.
There's nothing inherently wrong with doing things that feel good.
But sometimes “self-care” advice can feel insulting when you're drowning. Because you don't need another thing to add to your schedule.
You need something to come off of it.
You don't need a prettier planner. You need fewer things you're responsible for.
You don't need somebody telling you to meditate before work. You may need to talk about why work requires you to spend the entire day bracing yourself.
You don't need to become better at surviving an unsustainable life.
Sometimes you need permission to ask: Why am I carrying all of this in the first place?
What Does Burnout Recovery Look Like for Black Women?
There isn't one formula. And recovery shouldn't become another thing you have to do perfectly.
It may begin with recognizing that your exhaustion deserves attention before you reach your breaking point.
It may look like:
Letting rest happen before everything is finished
Because everything may never be finished.
Asking for help before you're desperate
You don't have to prove you've exhausted every possible option before someone else gets to support you.
Setting boundaries even when people don't like them
A boundary doesn't become wrong because someone is disappointed by it.
Questioning what actually belongs to you
Every problem you can solve isn't necessarily yours to solve.
Allowing “good enough”
Not everything requires your highest level of performance.
Making space for joy that serves no purpose
Not networking. Not exercise because you're supposed to. Not an activity for the kids. Something that exists simply because you enjoy it.
Paying attention to your body
Noticing tension.
Fatigue.
Headaches.
Sleep.
The moments your body is saying enough before your mind gives you permission to listen.
Finding places where you don't have to code-switch
Relationships and spaces where you can simply exist without constantly monitoring how you're being perceived.
Receiving care
Not only giving it.
This one can be surprisingly hard.
What If I Can't Just Stop Doing Everything?
You probably can't.
You may need your job. Your children still need you. Your family responsibilities are real. Your bills aren't going anywhere.
And telling a burned-out Black woman to simply “choose yourself” can completely ignore the reality of her life.
The goal isn't necessarily to walk away from everything.
Sometimes the question is: Where can we create more room?
Could someone else own a responsibility instead of “helping” you with it?
Could something be done less often?
Could something be done less perfectly?
Is there a boundary you've been avoiding because someone won't like it?
Are you volunteering for emotional labor nobody actually asked you to perform?
Are you saying yes automatically?
Are there relationships where you're always giving and rarely receiving?
Is there one place in your life where you could stop proving yourself?
Sometimes the first change is enormous.
Sometimes it's five percent.
Five percent still matters.
Can Therapy Help Black Women With Burnout?
Yes.
Therapy can give you a place to explore burnout without reducing your experience to “you need better coping skills.” Because sometimes you already have excellent coping skills. You've been coping for years. The question may be whether you should have to cope with quite so much.
Therapy can help you explore:
perfectionism
workplace stress
racial stress and microaggressions
difficulty setting boundaries
family expectations
caregiving
relationship patterns
trauma and generational patterns
guilt around rest
self-worth tied to achievement
difficulty asking for help
always being “the strong one”
feeling disconnected from yourself
Culturally responsive therapy also means you shouldn't have to spend half the session explaining why something mattered.
Why that comment at work stayed with you.
Why family expectations feel complicated.
Why simply “saying no” isn't always simple.
Why being the only Black woman in the room changes how you think about making a mistake.
Why being called “strong” can feel both affirming and exhausting.
Your therapist doesn't need to assume every difficulty in your life is about race.
But you should have room to talk about race when you know it matters.
Do I Need to Be at My Breaking Point Before Starting Therapy?
No.
You don't have to wait until you can't get out of bed. You don't have to wait until you're crying in the bathroom at work. You don't have to wait until your relationship is suffering. You don't have to wait until your body forces you to stop. And you don't have to convince anyone that you're struggling enough.
You can start therapy while you're still functioning. While you're still successful. While everyone else still thinks you're doing fine.
Sometimes that's exactly when support can be most helpful. Because the goal isn't to see how much more you can carry before something finally gives.
The goal is to notice: This is costing me too much.
And take that seriously.
Frequently Asked Questions About Black Women and Burnout
Why are Black women at risk for burnout?
Black women can experience many of the same burnout risk factors as anyone else, such as heavy workloads, caregiving, financial stress, parenting, and lack of rest. But racism, sexism, workplace bias, code-switching, family and community expectations, and pressure to appear strong or self-sufficient can create additional sources of chronic stress for some Black women.
No two Black women have the same experience, but these overlapping demands can make genuine recovery harder to find.
What does high-functioning burnout look like in Black women?
High-functioning burnout can look like continuing to succeed while feeling increasingly exhausted underneath it.
You may still be meeting deadlines, taking care of your family, supporting other people, and appearing confident and capable. But maintaining that level of functioning may require enormous effort, and you may feel depleted, irritable, disconnected, anxious, or unable to relax when you're finally alone.
What is Strong Black Woman syndrome?
“Strong Black Woman” or “Superwoman” schema refers to cultural expectations that can emphasize strength, independence, caregiving, achievement, and emotional restraint among Black women. It is not a mental health diagnosis.
Strength itself isn't the problem. It can become exhausting when you feel like you must always be strong and have little room to need help, express vulnerability, rest, or prioritize yourself.
Why do I feel guilty resting as a Black woman?
Rest can bring guilt when you've learned that being hardworking, helpful, productive, or resilient is part of being responsible or valuable.
You may also come from generations of women who had to keep going under extremely difficult circumstances. Honoring their strength doesn't mean you have to deny yourself rest. You are allowed to recognize that your body and mind have limits without viewing those limits as failure.
Why am I tired of everyone needing me?
Constantly being responsible for other people's practical or emotional needs can become exhausting, even when you deeply love those people.
If you're always the problem-solver, caregiver, organizer, emotional support person, or dependable one, you may have very little time when nobody needs anything from you. Feeling resentful or craving solitude may be a sign that you need more support, boundaries, or opportunities to recover.
Why can't I ask for help even when I'm overwhelmed?
Asking for help can feel uncomfortable if you've learned that being independent keeps you safe, that other people may not come through for you, or that needing support means you're failing.
Sometimes independence has been genuinely necessary.
Therapy isn't about taking that away from you. It can help you decide when independence is serving you and when it has turned into having to carry everything alone.
Can racism at work contribute to burnout?
Yes. Experiences such as discrimination, microaggressions, being underestimated, code-switching, tokenization, or feeling pressure to carefully manage how you're perceived can create additional stress at work.
The emotional energy required to navigate those experiences can contribute to exhaustion, particularly when they happen repeatedly.
How do I recover from burnout when I can't take time off?
Recovery doesn't always require leaving your job or taking an extended break.
It may involve smaller but meaningful changes such as setting boundaries, delegating, reducing unnecessary responsibilities, asking for support, changing expectations, creating opportunities for real rest, addressing perfectionism, or finding ways to reduce chronic stress where possible.
The goal is not to make your life perfect. It is to create more opportunities for your mind and body to recover.
Can therapy help with burnout in Black women?
Yes. Therapy can help you understand what's contributing to your burnout and explore patterns such as overfunctioning, perfectionism, people-pleasing, difficulty resting, family expectations, workplace stress, racial stress, caregiving, anxiety, trauma, and difficulty asking for help.
Culturally responsive therapy can also give you space to explore these experiences without separating your mental health from the cultural and social context of your life.
Online Therapy for Black Women Experiencing Burnout in Chicago & Illinois
Maybe you came to this article because you searched:
“Why am I so tired all the time?”
“Burnout in Black women.”
“Why am I tired of being the strong one?”
“Why does everyone depend on me?”
“Why can't I relax?”
or:
“Why do I feel like I have to do everything myself?”
Maybe you've spent years being the woman people can count on. And you're proud of that.
You don't have to stop being strong. You don't have to become less ambitious. Less caring. Less dependable. Less successful.
Therapy isn't about taking away the parts of you that helped you become who you are.
It's about making sure you don't disappear underneath everything you do for everybody else.
At Mindful Healing Counseling, our psychologist-led practice provides culturally responsive, trauma-informed online therapy for Black women and adults throughout Chicago and Illinois.
We work with concerns including burnout, chronic stress, anxiety, trauma, perfectionism, people-pleasing, difficult family relationships, motherhood, life transitions, relationship concerns, and the pressure of constantly being the person who holds everything together.
Because therapy is online, you can meet with your therapist from a private location anywhere in Illinois, including Chicago, Hyde Park, Bronzeville, Beverly, South Shore, West Loop, Oak Lawn, Palos Heights, Orland Park, Tinley Park, Homewood, Flossmoor, Oak Park, Naperville, Joliet, Evanston, and surrounding communities.
And you don't have to arrive knowing exactly what you need.
You can start with: “I'm tired of being the strong one.”
That's enough.
You Are More Than What You Can Carry
Maybe strength has been part of your story for a very long time. And maybe it always will be.
But strength doesn't have to mean silence.
It doesn't have to mean doing everything yourself. It doesn't have to mean being everyone's emergency contact while having nobody to call yourself. It doesn't have to mean working twice as hard forever. It doesn't have to mean swallowing every feeling. It doesn't have to mean waiting until you physically cannot continue before allowing yourself to stop.
There is another kind of strength.
The strength to say:
I need help.
I don't have capacity for that.
That hurt me.
I need a break.
I don't want to carry this anymore.
I want something different.
Maybe you've spent years learning how to survive pressure. How to perform under it. How to smile through it. How to make something happen even when you're exhausted.
You don't need therapy to teach you how to endure more. You've already proven you can endure.
Maybe now the work is learning that you deserve a life that doesn't require you to constantly prove how much you can withstand.
You deserve relationships where care moves in both directions.
You deserve spaces where you don't have to monitor yourself.
You deserve to make mistakes without believing they define you.
You deserve joy that doesn't have to be productive.
You deserve to rest before everything is finished.
You deserve support before you're at your breaking point.
And you deserve to be more than the strong one.
If you're a Black woman in Chicago or Illinois who feels exhausted from constantly holding everything together, online therapy can give you space to put some of that weight down.
Mindful Healing Counseling provides culturally responsive online therapy for burnout, chronic stress, anxiety, trauma, perfectionism, people-pleasing, and other concerns affecting Black women throughout Illinois. Reach out to get matched with a therapist today.
About the Author
Dr. Aretha Steele, PsyD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and founder of Mindful Healing Counseling, a psychologist-led practice providing online therapy throughout Illinois. Dr. Steele specializes in supporting women and mothers navigating anxiety, overwhelm, perfectionism, people-pleasing, trauma, relationship challenges, and the emotional demands of motherhood.
Mindful Healing Counseling's team also supports adults, teens, couples, and families with concerns including anxiety, depression, trauma, burnout, relationships, life transitions, grief, ADHD and neurodivergence, identity, and other emotional and mental health concerns.
Dr. Steele's approach is warm, culturally responsive, and trauma-informed, with a focus on helping women better understand themselves, feel less alone in what they're carrying, and make space for their own needs while caring for the people they love.
