Stacey Steele Psychology

04/08/2026

What the Self-Sacrifice schema does is make you believe that your needs are genuinely less important than everyone else's. Not intellectually, you know better intellectually. But somatically. In the way your stomach drops when you think about saying no or your chest tightening at the thought of letting someone down.

So when someone tells a clinician with this schema to "set better boundaries," here's what actually happens internally:

"I should be able to do this. Other people can do this. What's wrong with me that I can't?"

The boundary advice becomes another source of shame. Another should. Another way to fail.

04/08/2026

Schema Therapy, developed by Jeffrey Young, identifies schemas as "broad, pervasive themes regarding oneself and one's relationship with others, developed during childhood and elaborated throughout one's lifetime, and dysfunctional to a significant degree." 

Of them, there are a few that continue to show up in the research as being prevalent in the helpging professions and the Self Sacrifice schema is one.

Those with a self-sacrifce schema  may have disproportionate focus on meeting the needs of others at the expense of their own needs to prevent someone else from feeling pain and discomfort, out of fear that the relationship won’t be maintained without self-sacrificing, a desire not to appear as “needy”, and to avoid guilt from feeling selfish.  

If you carry these schema, learning to identify your needs, have them met, and setting relational boundaries are important. But boundary advice about workplace structures may actually activate this schema and create a double bind.

For clinicians with this schema,  boundary-setting is more about safety than skills and the qualities that make you effective in this work are the same ones that can make you vulnerable.

I share more about this in this week's blog and podcast. Go to the link in bio to learn more.

04/04/2026

It's cold out there, bring your jacket.

Therapist to therapist, I see how hard you are working and even though sometimes it feels like you can't possibly make a difference, you are.

"Look for the helpers"

I write more about this in this week's blog, go to the link in bio and read more.


Reposted from

04/03/2026

04/02/2026

These are distinct experiences that have different pathways to recovery. Burnout reponds when workplace resources increase or demands decrease. Secondary traumatic stress and vicarious taumatization needs trauma processing. Healing from moral injury works with acknowledging the harm, collective action and support, and making meaning.  

When these distinct variations of occupational distress are collapsed into one word and interventions aren’t targeted, real recovery and change is bottlenecked. Having a name for your experience is not only validating, but it is also a necessary part of recovery

🔥About The ReLit Practice™
ReLit Practice exists because I believe in the work we do and that clinicians deserve better than the current narrative and an opportunity to be supported.

As a part of that, I am inviting you to the Reset Circle, a free, monthly gathering for clinicians to have a space to land, connect, and share.

April's theme is "Being Good Enough." and I hope to see you there!

Link in bio to register.

03/31/2026

Therapist's, you know the story most of us have been told about burnout.
The story goes like this: burnout is what happens when you don't take care of yourself well enough. You worked too hard. You didn't set good enough boundaries. You forgot to do your self-care. And if you just get better at those things , more yoga, more boundaries, more weekends off, you'll be fine.
Now, I want to be clear, self-care matters. Boundaries matter. Rest matters. I'm not dismissing any of that. But what I am saying is that this narrative has a fundamental problem: it locates the cause of burnout inside the individual clinician. It says: the system is fine, you're just not managing it well enough.

And if you've been in this field for more than a few years, you know, in your bones, even if you can't articulate it, that's not the whole picture. It might not even be most of the picture.

What is the narrative missing?

If this resonates,

03/26/2026

If someone asked you to name the core tool of your clinical practice, what would you say? EMDR? CBT? Your favourite assessment measure?

Maybe it's none of the above. And maybe it’s you.

The caring self, who you are in the therapy space, is the primary therapeutic instrument. And like any instrument, it needs tending and tuning.

The Cycle of Caring is a four-phase framework that maps the rhythm we move through as the caring self with every client: empathic attachment, active involvement, felt separation, and re creation.

Have you ever closed a session, opened the door, and realized you’re still carrying the last client’s material into the next room? Has “self-care” has started to feel like another thing on the to-do list. Maybe you’ve been wondering whether the weight you’re carrying is burnout, or something more structural.

You hold space for others but where do you go when you need it held for you?

Join me at the ReLit Reset Circle™

A no cost, monthly gathering for therapists who want to stay in this work without losing themselves, while navigating burnout, moral strain, and the emotional weight of practice inside demanding systems.

Next gathering is April 14th 7pm EST where our topic will be “Being Good Enough”.

Link in bio to register.

03/25/2026

After traveling & remote work, today is a low energy day. When I got back to the Air BnB after a meeting, the last thing I wanted to do was any kind of physical activity and even breath work felt like too much.

But I took a tentative baby step onto my mat, started with one breath, and ended in Sun Saluatations with some high lunges to utkatasana 🪑 🔥iykyk!

There was a period of several years when I went through burnout, grief, traumatic events, and family crisis all while tending to chronic illness.

The only pathway out was through and those experiences
taught me to rest when I needed to rest.

But after a while when I would experience a little twinge of fatigue or the echoes of an ache it would honestly freak me out.

I would ruminate about my schedule, scramble to conserve energy, cancel plans, and worry about having enough fuel to get through the next day.

I was trying to prevent a crash by doing less and sometimes there was a crash anyway, sometimes a quick recovery, and sometimes I kept myself trapped in the confines of fear and did nothing.

But what was I afraid of? Being tired? If I was tired I could rest. It didn't make sense.

It took some soul searching and guidance but that fear was unlocked and inside that Pandora's Box was fear of failure, shame of not being good enough, guilt for what I did and didn't do, and a deep aching grief that started in my bones and radiated throughout my entire being.

I was grieving the lost parts of myself that held unrealized potential, the times when safety was denied, the support I needed that was withheld, and what was lost in the act of necessary survival.

So now, if I'm tired and feel the urge to shut down, I listen first to see if my body is telling me "I'm tired" or "I'm scared".
Whatever the answer is, I tell it "I got you".

Then keep moving forward.

🙏🏼💫

03/20/2026

What my clients share stays with me. Always.
Therapists, we don’t need to turn sessions into content to make an impact.

Our work speaks through how we show up, not what we disclose. With more and more of us showing up on social media, there can be pressure to have hot takes and viral content....and sometimes lines get crossed.

Ethical restraint is an act of care for clients, and for ourselves. Every time we choose to protect a story instead of post it, we strengthen the sacred container of therapy.

Fellow clinicians & therapists let’s normalize privacy, nuance, and professional boundaries as part of burnout prevention.

If you're craving connection in this work, join me the first Tuesday of every month for the Reset Circle, a free online gathering for therapists and helpers. You hold space for others, this is a place for space to be held for you.

Link in bio tor more information and to register

TherapistBurnout psycholgistsofinstagram

03/12/2026

It's been over 24 hours since our first Reset Circle gathering and still surfing those vibes!

My heart is full and my brain at ease. So many of us in the helping professions have similar experiences; diverse roads to travel but one destination 💛 from new clinicians to experienced, from Australia to New Brunswick!

Last night we examined how the Cycle of Caring shows up in our relationships with this work and what parts are often missed.

I invite you to join at our next one on April 14th where we will be exploring "Being 'Good Enough'"

Link is in the bio or DM me "reset" to register!

03/09/2026

Does this resonate? I share more on my podcast, check out the link in bio to listen!