Braving the Burnout Epidemic: An Interview with Jacqui Sansom

An interview with Jacqui Sansom

We live in a world where the lines between professional and personal life are increasingly blurred, and the result is a crisis of chronic stress. Burnout isn't just a buzzword; it's a serious occupational phenomenon. Studies consistently show its alarming prevalence - with figures indicating that around 66% of employees report experiencing job burnout, and for high-earning professionals, nearly half (49%) report significant sleep issues and mental overload. Even at the highest levels, burnout is a major concern, with 25% to 38% of executives and leaders experiencing it.

This level of exhaustion has profound personal and financial costs, so we spoke to someone who not only understands this issue intimately but has dedicated her life to helping others overcome it. Jacqui Sansom is a dedicated Burnout Prevention and Recovery  Coach who transitioned from a high-pressure legal career to empowering professionals to achieve sustainable wellbeing. Having spent 27 years as a successful lawyer, specialising in Family and Childcare Law for local government, she intimately understands the demands of highly stressful roles. Her own experience of stress-related illness led her to a profound commitment to health and recovery.

66% of employees report suffering burnout at some point in their career

Jacqui uses her extensive training in coaching, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), Matrix Reimprinting (Matrix), Executive Business Coaching and Neuroscience to help C-suite executives and high-achieving professionals stop burnout and cultivate resilience. Through a variety of in-person and online programmes, she offers bespoke strategies and corporate workshops, guiding clients to transform exhaustion into vitality and flourish in their demanding careers without sacrificing their health.

You spent 27 years practicing law,  specialising in Family and Childcare Law for local government.  What initially drew you to such a demanding area of the legal profession, and what were the key pressures of that role?

I never planned a legal career; circumstances led me there. After leaving an abusive relationship in 1990, I spent seven years navigating complex family proceedings and was criticised for safeguarding my daughter when my former partner became involved in drug dealing. The injustice of that experience fuelled my commitment to improve outcomes for vulnerable families, which eventually  led me into child protection law. The role was demanding with high caseloads, urgent applications, competing priorities, and exposure to significant trauma. At the time, there was little awareness of vicarious trauma or burnout. Like many, I continued performing under pressure until my nervous system could no longer sustain the load.

As a long-standing advocate in family law, what metrics defined your success, and how did you manage the constant pressure of emotionally complex cases?

Success in family law is defined differently by every stakeholder. Firms prioritise financial performance, outcomes, and client satisfaction,  whilst  the judiciary valued timeliness, negotiation, and high-quality submissions.  The  clients simply wanted to feel supported through intense personal stress and to feel safe whilst achieving their outcomes.

In local government, success was demonstrated by juggling the competing needs of vulnerable children, clients and the demands of opponent lawyers and Judges, whilst preparing for hearings  and meeting immovable deadlines.  Whilst the facts and  emotional intensity of cases motivated me to keep going it did require strong boundaries, composure, resilience and objective  decision-making. Over time, the cumulative pressure of carrying that responsibility continuously was not sustainable and eventually became detrimental to my health.

When was the pivotal moment you first realised that what you were experiencing wasn't just stress, but burnout? Can you describe that moment and the initial symptoms you suffered?

My burnout developed gradually, long before I recognised the signs. It began in 2005 when my daughter became critically ill, triggering years of survival-driven overworking in private practice. Although the seeds of change were planted then, the breaking point came in 2017 after major surgery and months away from child protection law. My executive functioning declined, stress stopped improving performance, and the emotional load became unsustainable. By 2022, overlapping menopause symptoms and rapid weight gain revealed the deeper issue: chronic stress had disrupted my physiology. Burnout wasn’t sudden — it was the cumulative impact of years of unrelenting pressure.

Could you elaborate on your personal experience with burnout? How did it manifest physically, emotionally, and professionally, and what was the ultimate consequence for your legal career?

My burnout unfolded slowly, beginning after my daughter’s life-threatening illness in 2005. Returning to work too soon triggered a gradual decline in my immunity, cognitive capacity, and emotional resilience.  Recurring illness followed with  dramatic weight fluctuations, brain fog, and emotional detachment, all of which was dismissed as peri-menopause, then menopause. In truth, it was the physiological cost of years of chronic stress, poor nourishment, and pushing far beyond my limits. Eventually, the pace of child protection law became impossible to sustain. Stepping away wasn’t a collapse,  it was a planned turning point that allowed me to rebuild a career that allowed me to design a career that supports performance without sacrificing personal wellbeing

Burnout wasn’t sudden — it was the cumulative impact of years of unrelenting pressure that I ignored.

What was the biggest challenge in leaving a highly specialised, 27-year career in law to retrain and establish yourself as a Burnout Recovery Specialist?

The hardest part wasn’t the career change,  it was untangling my identity from a profession that had defined me for 27 years. When illness forced me to pause in 2016,  I realised how much of my worth was tied to being “the lawyer,” and letting go of that felt like losing the ground beneath me.  I decided to retrain for my new career.  The second challenge was the financial risk of walking away from security during economic uncertainty. Rebuilding my identity, re-training learning the science of burnout, and turning lived experience into meaningful work has given  me a purpose far more aligned to who I am than my legal career ever did.

You now work with C-suite executives and high-achieving professionals - the same demographic you once belonged to. What specific challenges do these successful individuals face when confronting burnout that others might not?

High-achieving leaders face a unique kind of burnout because it collides directly with their identity. They’re conditioned to be invulnerable, to carry impossible workloads, and to outrun their own symptoms with performance. When burnout hits, it brings shame, denial, and a fear of being seen as “not coping.” Their nervous system shifts into chronic survival mode, driving exhaustion, irritability, and cognitive decline — all while they’re still making high-stakes decisions. The real challenge is that their greatest strengths become their blind spots. Once they understand burnout isn’t failure but a signal to recalibrate, their entire trajectory changes.

Your methods include coaching, EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), Matrix Reimprinting, hypnotherapy, NLP and Neuroscience. How do these diverse, science-based techniques work together to address the root causes of burnout, rather than just the symptoms?

Burnout isn’t caused by workload; it’s driven by outdated subconscious wiring. My approach blends health coaching to uncover the physical drivers of stress, executive business coaching to stabilise performance and create a sustainable plan forward, and therapeutic techniques to rewrite the deeper patterns formed years earlier. This integrated method supports clients emotionally, physically, and professionally without disrupting the safety of our working relationship. Together, these approaches rewire the brain at the identity level, helping high achievers operate at a high standard without sacrificing their health, clarity, or long-term wellbeing.  The goal isn’t to fix people, it’s to empower them so they can lead, perform, and live in a way that no longer costs them their health or career.

How do you convince high-achievers that slowing down and prioritising well-being—the opposite of their conditioned behaviour—will actually make them more productive and happier in the long term?

High-achievers don’t slow down because they “should”   They change when they finally see the evidence their body has been collecting for years. I show them the neuroscience and physiological data behind their exhaustion, and suddenly wellbeing stops looking optional and starts looking strategic. Through prevention and recovery programmes grounded in health coaching, lifestyle diagnostics, and therapeutic rewiring, they realise slowing down isn’t losing their edge — it’s sharpening it. When they understand that sustainable performance requires a regulated nervous system, restored energy, and a healthy body, prioritising wellbeing becomes the smartest business decision they can make.

Jacqui Sansom supports professionals at risk of burnout

Could you give an overview of what your coaching programmes include? What is the core process you take a client through from initial crisis to sustainable recovery?

I’ve created a framework which I use in all my programmes blending skills from my own lived experiences and training over the years.   It’s a neuroscience-led system which takes clients from overwhelm to sustainable high performance. Every pathway, from corporate masterclasses, online workshops to my 1:1 programme, follows the same core process, calm the nervous system, restore capacity, stabilise health, rewire patterns, and rebuild resilient performance. By blending high-performance coaching with nervous-system regulation, subconscious rewiring and practical behavioural tools, clients move from crisis to clarity with a structured, evidence-based approach. A free Burnout Assessment will soon be available to help professionals identify where they sit on the burnout scale and the best route forward.

Having worked with clients, what is the single most common piece of advice you give to a professional starting their burnout recovery journey with you?

The advice I give every professional at the start of burnout recovery is that you cannot outperform a nervous system in shutdown. Burnout isn’t a mindset problem;  it’s a physiological collapse, and the first step is stabilising the system before demanding performance. When clients slow down enough for their brain and body to recalibrate, clarity, resilience, and strategic thinking return. Recovery isn’t about stopping; it’s about rebuilding the internal capacity that makes high performance possible. Those who honour this process don’t just recover — they come back stronger, more grounded, and far more effective than before.

Based on your background, what specific advice would you give to current solicitors and barristers in the legal profession to prevent the high rates of burnout common in that field?

My advice to every lawyer is simple, stop treating burnout as a badge of honour and an inevitable part of practice. The lawyers who thrive long-term are the ones who protect their nervous system as fiercely as their caseload. Build recovery into your daily workflow, recognise early red flags, and treat clarity, emotional capacity, and rest as professional assets. You can’t litigate your way out of a dysregulated system. When legal professionals prioritise nervous-system regulation, strategic recovery, and evidence-based stress management, performance rises, judgement sharpens, and wellbeing becomes sustainable. Burnout isn’t weakness — it’s a signal to work smarter, not harder

Where do you see your mission evolving next? Are there any specific corporate partnerships or advocacy work you plan to undertake to help shift the culture around burnout in high-demand industries?

My mission is shifting from individual recovery to industry-wide cultural change. I’m expanding strategic partnerships with law firms and high-pressure organisations to embed burnout prevention into leadership development and operational strategy. Alongside this, I’m amplifying advocacy through keynotes and media to redefine burnout as a biological issue, not a resilience gap. I’m also scaling discreet executive-level recovery support for senior leaders carrying hidden strain. Long term, my goal is to help establish industry standards for burnout prevention so high performance becomes sustainable — without the personal cost.