Clinical psychologist Lara Kocijan has come full circle. Last year, she took three months off to recalibrate after quitting her job. She was, she told Future Women’s Sydney Social Club at The Indigo Project last week, “feeling completely annihilated” by work. Now, Lara is helping women in the same position recognise the psychological and physical impact professional burnout can have.

“I am a perfectionist and I’m a people pleaser,” Lara told Future Women’s members. “I did everything that was asked of me [in my last job], and I did really well. I got promoted to the point where I would say, ‘I’m going to resign now and I’m going to go travel’ and they would say, ‘Come back and we’ll give you a more senior position’. I left there as the clinical director of the hospital – and I was completely burnt out. I did nothing for three months. I went to the beach and I meditated and I tried to get myself back. The work was amazing, so meaningful, but it was so exhausting by the end. So this topic feels incredibly moving for me. I now work less and I have a lot more free time. I have rearranged my entire lifestyle.”