Our Registered Clinical Counsellor in Victoria BC, Simon Smith, knows this question from both sides. Before he trained as a counsellor, he led wildfire initial attack crews, the teams sent out first when a new fire starts. Today he sees adults, youth and families at our Fort Street office in Victoria and online, and chronic stress and burnout are a big part of his work.
How tiredness and burnout differ
Tiredness responds to rest. A few early nights or a quiet Sunday, and you feel like yourself again.
Burnout comes from stress that has gone on longer than your ability to recover from it. Rest stops working the way it used to. You come back from a week off and feel flat again by Tuesday.
The World Health Organization describes burnout as a result of chronic workplace stress that hasn't been managed, with three features: exhaustion, a growing distance or cynicism toward your work, and feeling less effective at it. The WHO definition only covers work, but the same pattern shows up outside of career or work, too. Parents, caregivers and people going through a long stretch of upheaval often describe it in almost the same words.
Signs it might be more than tiredness
- Sleep and days off don't refill you anymore.
- Small tasks, like answering one email or booking a dentist appointment, feel strangely heavy.
- You're short-tempered with people you love, or you feel numb where you used to feel something.
- Work or caregiving that once mattered to you now feels pointless.
- Your body is keeping score: tension headaches, a clenched jaw, waking at 3 a.m., catching every cold going around.
- You've quietly dropped the friends, hobbies and time outside that used to keep you steady.
Several of these overlap with depression and anxiety, so it helps to talk it through with someone trained to tell them apart. If physical symptoms are part of the picture, check in with your doctor as well.
What Simon learned on the fire line
As an Initial Attack Crew Leader, Simon was responsible for getting a crew in fast, working hard in heat and smoke, and getting everyone home. The job taught him a lot about leadership and resilience. It also showed him, up close, how acute stress and chronic stress land differently in the nervous system.
A single hard day is one thing. Season after season of being on alert is another, and it can leave people wired and exhausted at the same time. Simon draws on that experience with clients who are running on empty, whether their fire is a demanding job, a family crisis or years of holding everything together.
What counselling for burnout looks like with Simon
Simon's style is relational and collaborative, and he adjusts it to the person in front of him. Some sessions are about processing pain that has built up. Others are about figuring out what to change, or remembering what you used to enjoy before everything got so heavy. When it helps, he brings in breathing techniques to settle the nervous system, something you can take home and use between sessions.
Burnout rarely arrives on its own. Simon also works with trauma, grief, anxiety, depression, ADHD and autism, relationship strain, career changes, and the stress of settling into life in Canada as a newcomer. If your exhaustion is tangled up with any of these, you can bring all of it.
Outside the office, Simon recharges outdoors. He was born in London, England, moved to Vancouver Island at five, and has travelled to more than 30 countries. He describes himself as adventurous, sensitive and still curious about the world.
Getting started
You don't need to be sure it's burnout before you reach out. A free 20-minute consultation with Simon is a low-pressure way to talk about what's going on and see whether he's a good fit. If he isn't, we'll match you with someone else on the team at no cost.
Individual and youth counselling with Simon is $150 per hour, and family counselling is $185 per hour. You can also text us 1 (888) 520-9151 or email admin@strengthinheart.ca.
