When helping others is so deeply woven into who you are that you can't imagine doing anything else — and yet you're exhausted, disillusioned, and wondering if the only logical next step is to give everything up entirely — something more complicated than simple burnout is happening. Les, an LCSW who reached out to Dr. Kat considering leaving her social work career to become a nun, opens up about a lifetime shaped by caregiving: an adoptive family that raised her to serve, a profession she pursued with genuine integrity, and a growing disenchantment after watching fraud and ethical shortcuts endanger the clients she fought to protect.

Dr. Kat gently surfaces the pattern running through all of it — that each path Les has chosen, including the one she's considering now, places self-sacrifice at the center. Rather than directing her toward or away from any decision, the conversation explores what it means to mistake burnout for a calling, how to use pro-and-con lists as a living document rather than a one-time exercise, and why pen-to-paper processing works differently than thinking in your head. By the end, Les remembers a possibility she'd forgotten entirely. If you've ever felt so depleted that the only options you could see were extreme ones, this episode is worth your time.

I want to hear from you!  To submit show ideas or be considered as a guest, visit https://chatwithdrkat.com/contact/

Follow Chat with Dr. Kat:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/chatwithdrkat

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chatwithdrkat

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@chatwithdrkat

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chatwithdrkat

X:  https://x.com/ChatwithDrKat

Health & Wellness Programs:

https://mindbodyseries.com/