5 Ways Therapy Can Help Overwhelmed Moms Recover from Burnout
Being a mom can feel like you’re running a marathon in flip-flops - while carrying three backpacks, answering snack requests, and trying not to lose your cool in the school pickup line. If your days are a blur of mental checklists, emotional juggling, and the never-ending loop of “What’s for dinner?”, you’re not alone. For many moms, this kind of chronic overwhelm just feels like the norm. But when the exhaustion can’t be fixed with a nap or a manicure, you might be facing something more serious: burnout. The good news? You don’t have to white-knuckle your way through it. Therapy can help you pause, breathe, and find your way back to yourself.
As a therapist in Denver who specializes in working with moms, I see this kind of burnout all the time. Whether you’re navigating postpartum challenges, trying to meet the endless demands of parenting, or juggling multiple roles without a moment to breathe, therapy can help. In this blog, we’ll explore five powerful ways therapy supports overwhelmed moms in recovering from burnout and reclaiming their sense of self.
What is Mom Burnout?
Mom burnout is more than just feeling tired - it's a chronic state of stress and exhaustion that affects your physical, emotional, and mental health. Unlike typical fatigue, burnout doesn’t go away after a good night’s sleep or a weekend away. It builds over time and can leave you feeling numb, detached, resentful, or even hopeless.
Some common signs of mom burnout include:
Constant fatigue, even after resting
Feeling emotionally drained, irritable or grumpy
Lying awake in the middle of the night with racing thoughts
Inability to relax
Not feeling interested in things you used to enjoy
Increased anxiety, restlessness or feelings of panic
Beating yourself up about not doing “enough”, frequent feelings of guilt or feeling like a failure
Feeling like you're going through the motions instead of being truly present
Having difficulty focusing, or feeling scatterbrained and forgetful
Struggling to ask for help, worried that others will judge you
Feeling unfulfilled or regretting having children
Increasing resentment towards those closest to you
Mom burnout is often caused by a combination of factors: lack of support, unrealistic societal expectations, the invisible mental load of parenting, and the pressure to be “perfect.” The US government is even aware of this problem - in a 2024 surgeon general’s report, 48% of parents reported their day-to-day stress as feeling totally overwhelming (compared to the general population at 26%) . American parents were identified as being in crisis. Burnout is especially common during the postpartum period and early childhood years, but it can affect moms at any stage.
The good news? Mom burnout is not a life sentence. Getting support through therapy for mom burnout can help you heal, reset, and reclaim your life.
How Therapy Can Help Overwhelmed Moms Recover from Burnout
If you are a mom feeling burnt out, exhausted and totally overwhelmed, the idea of figuring out how to get help may just feel like one more thing to do. Or maybe you’ve even tried things like meditation, yoga or journaling - only to find that they’re impossible to stick with, or don’t give you the relief you’ve hoped for. Therapy for moms can help. Here are 5 ways therapy can help you heal from mom burnout and start putting your needs first.
Therapy creates a space that’s just for you
One of the most common things I hear from moms is, “I don’t even know who I am anymore.” When every moment of your day is focused on caring for others - feeding, cleaning, working, caretaking, comforting - your own needs can get pushed so far down they feel nonexistent.
Starting therapy means taking the time to set aside a space every week that’s just for you, even for an hour. A place where you don’t have to take care of anyone else. Where your thoughts, feelings, and experiences matter. Where you can be honest about how hard things really feel without anyone judging you.
This may sound ideal on paper, but for a lot of moms, making this a reality may feel uncomfortable, or even impossible. Our go-to response can be “there’s no way I can find time for that” or “I don’t need it that bad, I can make do without it”. But the consequences of not taking care of our needs are real - not just feeling burnt out or exhausted, but snapping at our kids, feeling distant from our partners, dropping the ball at work, or becoming estranged from long-term friends. When we neglect our own needs, it impacts not just us but everyone around us. Making space in your life for therapy is the best thing for you, and the best thing for your family too.
When you’re deep in burnout, having even one hour a week where the focus is solely on you can feel like oxygen. It gives you space to pause, exhale and begin reconnecting with yourself. As a therapist for moms in Denver, the beginning of our work together often involves giving yourself permission to take up space in your own life.
Therapy helps you make sense of the mental load
The mental load of motherhood can feel like being an air traffic controller for a busy airport. Every family member is a flight coming and going, each with different needs and schedules. Mom has to keep track of who's where, anticipate conflicts, and make split-second decisions—all while keeping calm under pressure and rarely getting to take a break from the control tower. And she does it all seamlessly, without anyone knowing how much brainpower it takes to juggle everything.
This constant mental juggling, tracking and reminding is exhausting and can quickly lead to emotional burnout. Therapy can help you identify the patterns that are contributing to overwhelm and find more sustainable ways to cope. In therapy we will focus on giving yourself permission to ask for help, let some things go and focus on prioritizing. We often explore boundaries, perfectionism, people-pleasing, and deeply rooted beliefs about what it means to be a “good mom.”
In counseling for moms, we gently explore the roots of these patterns and shift your narrative to focus on your values in the present, rather than your fears in the past. You don’t have to carry it all, and working with a therapist can help you truly believe that.
Therapy gives you the tools to handle stress
Burnout and anxiety often go hand in hand. When your nervous system is constantly in “go mode,” it’s almost impossible to feel calm, present, or in control. Many overwhelmed moms experience symptoms like racing thoughts, trouble sleeping, irritability, physical aches and pains, or panic attacks.
Therapy helps by providing practical tools to regulate your nervous system and bring more calm into your daily life. In supporting women to manage stress and anxiety, I often integrate mindfulness, relaxation tools, and cognitive techniques to help moms manage stress in real time, and feel less controlled by their anxiety.
Therapy will not eliminate all of your stress (because, let’s be real, being a parent will always involve a bit of chaos), but it will help you increase your capacity to navigate it without losing yourself in the process. These tools can be life-changing for overwhelmed moms, and help you to finally feel like yourself again.
Therapy helps you heal from guilt and perfectionism
Sometimes it can feel like guilt and motherhood go hand in hand. You feel guilty for not spending enough time with your kids. You feel guilty for not giving 100% at work. You feel guilty for making mac and cheese for dinner again. And, you feel guilty to even think about acknowledging that you’re struggling.
When many moms think about asking for help, they feel overwhelmed by guilt, feeling like they’re failing or ashamed that motherhood doesn’t feel as blissful as they expected. These feelings are both common and painful - and they also keep moms from reaching out for the help they need.
In therapy, we work to dismantle the unrealistic expectations that are behind this guilt. We explore where these beliefs come from - often places like family relationships, cultural pressures and social media - and replace them with more compassionate, realistic narratives that focus on your true values rather than unrealistic messages that aren’t serving you.
You are allowed to have a hard time. You are allowed to be imperfect. These things are normal and natural parts of motherhood. Therapy gives you space to feel all the emotions that you bottle up throughout the week - to grieve, to rage, to cry, and to laugh again. To go easier on yourself, stop letting guilt drive your behavior and find compassion for where you are right now in your motherhood journey.
Therapy helps you connect to your identity and values
Burnout doesn’t just drain your energy—it can make you feel like a stranger to yourself. You might wonder, “Where did I go? Who am I?” or feel so disconnected from the passions, dreams, and personality traits that used to define you.
Therapy for moms helps you reconnect with who you are—not just as a mom, but as a whole person. It’s a space to rediscover your voice, your values, and your vision for the future. Becoming a mother inevitably changes your identity - and therapy can help you integrate your pre-parent self with who you are now, as a mom. You don’t have to completely abandon your former self, but you are also not going back to who you were before you had kids. Therapy can help you connect the values and interests that have made you who you are throughout your life with the new values that have been shaped by your experience as a parent. In therapy we will honor where you’ve been, support where you are, and nurture where you’re going. When you feel connected to your identity again, burnout begins to lose its hold.
Healing from Mom Burnout is Possible
If you’re an overwhelmed mom coping with burnout, know this: your struggle is real, your needs matter, and getting help is possible. Therapy isn’t about fixing you - it’s about supporting you, as you find your strength, your voice, and your value. It is possible to not feel so drained every minute of every day. It is possible to get a full night’s sleep again. And it’s possible to feel more present in your life, with yourself and with your family.
Therapy for Moms in Denver, Colorado
Victoria at Root to Rise Therapy in Denver specializes in helping moms move from burnout to balance through compassionate, holistic care. Whether you're dealing with postpartum anxiety, chronic overwhelm, mom guilt, or feeling lost in the demands of motherhood, we’re here to help you heal and feel like yourself again. Get in touch to learn more about counseling for moms in Denver, Colorado today.
Other Services at Root to Rise Therapy:
Other mental health services at Root to Rise Therapy include Therapy for Anxiety, Therapy for Perfectionism, Therapy for People-Pleasing, Cultural Identity Counseling, ADHD Therapy, Counseling for Moms and Postpartum Counseling. I see clients located inColorado, New York and New Jersey. Contact me to learn more about how I can help you overcome anxiety and reclaim your life!
