Burnout therapy Copenhagen
Help to recover from burnout and return without crashing again
I help you rebuild slowly and change what wore you out in the first place
- Last updated October 23, 2026
What I want you to know when you have hit the wall
In this short video, I explain why rest alone rarely heals burnout, and what has to change in you before going back to work is safe.
You can also send me an email
At a glance
Burnout therapy Copenhagen helps you recover after you have pushed past your limits for so long that your body and mind have stopped cooperating. We meet one to one, in 1-hour appointments with 50 minutes of therapy, in English or Danish, at my practice in central Copenhagen or online, at a pace your energy allows.
I help you through the collapse itself, then into understanding why you kept going long after you should have stopped, and finally towards a return to work and life that does not repeat the pattern. This page sits under stress therapy within my psychotherapy. I am not a doctor, so your GP is the place for sick notes and medical checks.
Take whichever first step costs you the least energy today. Book a session, choose a free discovery call, read my client policy or simply send me a short message.
Is this the right page for you?
This is for you if…
Burnout therapy Copenhagen is for adults who have run on empty for so long that something has finally given way. You may be on sick leave, barely managing part-time hours or forcing yourself through days you cannot remember. You want to recover properly, understand how you got here and go back to your life without breaking down again.
- You sat down at your desk one morning and simply could not make yourself open the laptop or read a single email.
- You cry in the car, in the shower or at the supermarket, often without any clear reason you could name.
- You sleep 10 hours and still wake up feeling as if you have not slept at all.
- You forget words in the middle of sentences, lose your keys every day and cannot follow a film to the end.
- Your GP has signed you off work, and now you feel guilty, useless and strangely relieved all at once.
- Things you used to love, like cooking, running or seeing friends, now feel like tasks on a list you cannot face.
- You dread the conversation with your employer about coming back, and your heart races whenever their name appears.
- You have recovered once before, went straight back to the same pace and are now worse than the first time.
This is probably not for you if…
Burnout is the far end of a longer road, and not everyone who is exhausted is there yet. If one of these fits you better, the page linked will suit you better.
- You are still working and coping, but the pressure is building and you want to act before it breaks you. → stress therapy
- Your exhaustion comes mainly from standards you set yourself, and nothing you do ever feels finished. → perfectionism therapy
- You keep overworking because you fear people will discover you are not as good as they think. → imposter syndrome therapy
- You suspect ADHD or autism has made ordinary demands far more draining for you than for others. → neurodiverse psychotherapy
- You need help this week because you are not coping at all and cannot wait for a planned course. → acute psychotherapy
- You want to look at your life as a whole, with work only one part of what is wrong. → psychotherapy
- Low mood, hopelessness and emptiness are stronger than the exhaustion, even when you rest. → depression therapy
- You are in immediate danger, or you are thinking about ending your life. Please call 112, or 1813 for urgent mental health help in the Capital Region.
You can also send me an email
Client reviews
The reviews shown here are shared by clients who have worked with me in therapy and chosen to reflect on their experience. They are collected via Google and displayed through an independent verification service, offering an open and transparent picture of how my work is experienced.
Mark’s view
“In my clinical experience, the most dangerous moment in burnout is not the crash. It is the first week you start to feel better. That is when most people go straight back to the way of living that broke them, because some inner voice is asking ‘Will they forget me if I stay away much longer?’, while another insists ‘I just need to get on with it alone and stop being a burden.’ Some people are caught between both: ‘Please check on me’ and ‘Leave me completely alone.’ I disagree with the idea that burnout is a battery to recharge. It is a message about how you have been living, and recovery means listening to it before you return.”
Mark Colclough, MA, psychotherapist and EFT couples therapist
Meet Mark, psychotherapist and EFT couples therapist
I am Mark Colclough, MA, a psychotherapist and EFT couples therapist specialising in expats and international couples. I work in English and Danish, from my practice in central Copenhagen and online.
Practising since 2004, I bring a bicultural perspective to work with individuals and couples across languages and cultural contexts. My work integrates depth-oriented psychotherapy with approaches such as integral psychotherapy, Gestalt therapy, Jungian psychoanalysis, and object relations theory. I also have specialist training in attachment theory, narcissism, and borderline personality disorder.
For support with life between cultures, explore expat psychotherapy or expat couples therapy. My practice is supported by ongoing training and supervision. To read more about my background, training, and approach, visit About me.
The importance of supervision
Good therapy begins with good supervision
I regularly meet with experienced senior psychotherapists in Denmark and abroad to reflect on my work, challenge my thinking, and continue developing my skills. This ongoing process supports the quality of my individual and couples therapy, helping me offer thoughtful, ethical, and effective care.
My focus is simple: excellence, integrity, and impact.
Connect with me:
If you want me to call you ASAP, or if you want to book me, use the buttons below.
You are welcome to get in touch. We can clarify what’s the right therapy for you.
You can also send me an email
A typical situation
Nadia is 38, a project lead at a pharmaceutical company who moved from Lyon 6 years ago. In March she fainted in a meeting. Her GP signed her off, and for the first weeks she slept most of the day. Now she can walk to the bakery, but reading her work inbox makes her shake. She feels ashamed when neighbours see her at home on a Tuesday, and her manager is gently asking when she might return.
I would start with how Nadia is living now, day by day, before we touch the story of how she got here. In our first session she would probably see that she has been trying to recover the same way she used to work, with targets and deadlines, and that this is part of what keeps her stuck.
I have presented this clinical example as a compound of 22 years of clinical practice.
This is when you need burnout therapy with me
You kept going until your body made the decision for you, and now you cannot find your way back on your own.
There is no right time or perfect reason to begin burnout therapy. If you sense that something in you has broken, that you are not recovering however much you rest, or that the thought of going back fills you with dread, that is reason enough. You do not need a diagnosis, a sick note or a full explanation before you come to see me. In 22 years of practice, I have worked with many people at the bottom of burnout, and I recognise when exhaustion has gone beyond an ordinary tired spell and needs proper support.
In sessions, I usually begin by helping you see where you are in the burnout, what your energy can carry right now and what keeps the exhaustion going. I will tell you clearly what I notice. Your GP remains the place for sick notes and medical checks, and I work alongside that. The 6 questions below name the signs I see most often in burnout, and they may help you judge whether to book now.
Have you stopped being able to do things you once did easily?
If you have, take it seriously. Burnout often announces itself through a loss of ordinary capacity. You cannot read more than a page, a phone call leaves you drained for the afternoon, and choosing what to buy for dinner feels impossible. Noise, light and other people’s voices can feel too much. Your body may ache, your stomach may be unsettled, and you may catch every cold going. Many people describe it as being behind glass, watching their own life from a distance.
I would look at how long this has lasted, how much has returned since you stopped and what still drains you fastest. That helps us tell the difference between a hard period that will lift with rest and a deeper exhaustion that needs a slower, guided recovery. If you want to compare what you feel with the common signs, my article on burnout symptoms may help. When you are ready, book a session with me.
Do you desperately need rest, yet feel you have no right to it?
Both feelings can be true at once, because they come from different places. One part of you is completely depleted and knows it must stop. Another part believes your worth depends on performing, and treats every day off as a moral failure. So you lie on the sofa feeling guilty, scroll through work messages you promised not to read, or plan your return date before you can climb the stairs without resting.
I do not side with the exhausted part against the driven part, or the other way round. Both have reasons. In my work, we treat them as inner figures with their own history, often going back to who you had to be as a child to be loved or noticed. I help you understand what the driven part fears will happen if you stop, so that rest becomes something you can actually allow, rather than something you endure.
Are you afraid people will give up on you while you are away?
Many people in burnout are. When you step back from work, the silence can feel threatening. You wonder whether colleagues are talking about you, whether your manager has written you off, or whether friends are tired of hearing that you are still unwell. You check your work phone for signs of how people see you. A kind message brings relief for an hour, then the worry returns.
Your need to know you still belong is completely legitimate, and I will not dismiss it. What I help you change is the alarm that turns every silence into rejection. Together we look at what the fear is really about, often a long-standing sense that you are only valued for what you deliver, and you practise asking for the contact and reassurance you need in plain words, without proving yourself first.
Do you long for support, then hide when people offer it?
This is very common in burnout. You feel terribly alone, yet when a friend suggests a walk or your partner asks how you are, you go quiet or make an excuse. Part of you wants to be held and looked after. Another part feels exposed, weak or ashamed to be seen like this. You may say yes to a visit and cancel on the day, or answer messages days late with a short “all fine”.
I help you slow this pattern down, so we can see what happens in the moment between wanting company and pulling away. Often it is shame about needing help, or fear of being a burden. I have real compassion for those reactions, because they usually protected you once. I will also ask you to take responsibility for the moments you shut out people who want to help, and we practise letting a little support in at a time.
Do you withdraw from everyone because every contact costs energy?
In burnout, even people you love can feel like a demand. A partner who wants to talk about the future, a child who needs attention, a parent who phones with advice: each one takes energy you do not have. So you go flat, answer in single words or stay in the bedroom. It feels like the only way to protect what little strength is left. The cost is that you become more isolated, and the people around you feel helpless.
My view is that some withdrawal is necessary in burnout, and I will not shame you for it. I help you understand what the distance is protecting, so you can choose it rather than disappear into it. You learn to say “I can manage 20 minutes today, then I need to rest” before you shut down completely. Protecting your energy is wise. Vanishing without explanation usually makes recovery lonelier and slower.
Without your work, do you still know who you are?
For many people, burnout removes the thing that held their identity together. You were the capable one, the expert, the person who could always be relied on. Without that role, you may feel empty, lost or worthless, and the question “what do you do?” at a dinner party becomes painful. If you came to Denmark for your career, losing it for a while can feel like losing your reason for being here. This does not mean you are damaged. It means your sense of self was resting on one pillar.
I help you look at which parts of your identity are truly yours and which grew around what work, family or culture expected of you. If your burnout came through research or a doctorate, my article on PhD burnout speaks to that. I will offer direction and challenge you when you rush to rebuild the old self unchanged, but I will not decide who you should become. The aim is a life that rests on more than one thing.
If this is where you are, request a free call if talking feels like enough for now, or book a session if you are ready to begin.
You can also send me an email
Contact me
Request a personal call
Your journey is unique, and you do not have to walk it alone.
Fill out your contact information and I will call as soon as possible.
Support when you need it most.
Your message is treated confidentially and used only to respond to your enquiry. It is not sold or used for advertising. Please avoid including detailed or highly sensitive clinical information in this form. Information about processing, service providers and retention is available in the privacy policy.
Get in touch
What burnout therapy with me will help you do
Understanding how you burnt out matters, but you also need to change how you rest, how you return and how you work from now on.
Burnout therapy with me will help you understand what happened to you, recognise the patterns that drove you past your limits and make concrete changes so that recovery lasts. Insight is important. Many people already know they worked too hard. But knowing it, without changing how you respond to pressure, usually leads straight back to the same place.
In my 22 years of experience, burnout recovery goes better when I play an active part. I will not only listen. I will guide your pace, tell you when you are pushing too soon and challenge the beliefs that make rest feel forbidden. These 6 questions describe what we work towards.
For men: burnout in men.
How will I help you understand what really burnt you out?
I help you separate the core of what happened from everything around it. The workload, the difficult manager and the reorganisation were real. But beneath them there are usually inner patterns that made you carry on: a belief that stopping means failing, a deep wish to be needed, difficulty saying no, or loyalty to a family in which exhaustion was a sign of virtue.
I bring structure to this. I tell you what I see, what deserves attention first and which explanations keep you stuck, such as “it was just a bad job”. I work with conscious and unconscious patterns, and with your body, because burnout lives there as much as in your thoughts. When you are ready, book a session with me and we will start to piece it together.
How can you spot the early signs before you slide back?
You can learn to recognise them, and that is one of the most protective things burnout therapy gives you. The slide usually follows a pattern: you skip a rest you promised yourself, you start answering emails in the evening, your sleep shortens, you stop noticing your body. Each step seems small. Once you know your own sequence, you can stop it at the first step rather than the last.
In sessions, I help you slow the sequence down and look at what sets it off, what it protects you from and what it costs. Recognition is only half of the work. We practise a different response, in the room and in your week, until stopping at the first sign is something you actually do, not just something you know.
How can you calm a nervous system that has been on alert for years?
Calming down after burnout does not mean switching off your feelings or forcing yourself to relax. It means gradually teaching your body that it is no longer under constant threat, so you can be present and choose how to respond. A system that has run on adrenaline for a long time often feels restless when it finally stops, and that restlessness is part of recovery, not a sign that you are failing.
I help you notice activation earlier and understand what your nervous system is still bracing against. We find small, specific ways of settling that fit your energy right now, which may be as simple as a short walk at the same time each day. I will be clear that this needs practice between sessions. Recovery is built in small daily steps, not in one weekly conversation.
How can you tell your employer what you need without apologising?
Before you can tell anyone what you need, you have to notice how depleted you really are and which tasks were never yours to carry. Burnout makes this hard. You may agree to a return plan that is too fast because you feel guilty, hide how tired you still are, or say nothing until you suddenly cannot go on. Unspoken limits then turn into resentment or a second collapse.
I help you find words that are honest, specific and proportionate, whether you are talking to your manager, HR, your partner or your family. I will challenge you when you shrink your needs to seem less trouble, and I will also challenge you when you expect others to guess what you cannot say. We often rehearse the real conversation about returning, so that you can walk into it steady.
How can you decide about your job without fear deciding for you?
Clearer decisions become possible when you separate fear, guilt, financial worry and other people’s expectations from what you actually know and need. In burnout, it is tempting either to resign in despair or to rush back to prove you are fine. Both are often decisions made by exhaustion rather than by you.
I help you look at your options, their likely consequences and what each one would ask of you, at a time when you have enough energy to think. I will give you my professional view and point it out when you are avoiding the question, but I will not make the choice for you. Big decisions usually wait until you are steadier, unless there is a real reason they cannot.
What does a working life look like that will not burn you out again?
Lasting recovery has to reach beyond the therapy room and beyond your sick leave. The real test is your third month back at work, the first stressful deadline and the week your child is ill. You may need different working hours, firmer boundaries, a different role, fewer commitments outside work or more people you can lean on.
Together we work out which demands in your life must shrink and which parts of how you work are worth protecting. Your commitment, your care and your ability to work hard are not the problem, and I will not try to remove them. The aim is a way of living in which those qualities serve you, with clear limits and real choice, so your work fits your life instead of consuming it.
You can also send me an email
What happens when you begin burnout therapy with me
You do not need to explain it all or have the energy to tell your whole story. I begin with how you are today and what you need first.
When you begin, I listen carefully, help you name what feels heaviest and give the work a clear direction that respects your energy. I do not expect you to arrive with a diagnosis, a timeline or the full story of how you got here. If you can only manage a short conversation at first, we start there.
Burnout therapy is a focused form of psychotherapy, structured individual work on your recovery, your patterns and your relationships. If the burnout has put real strain on your relationship and your partner is willing to come, couples therapy offers long-term relational development and healing. When you know recovery will take time, therapy discounts and bundles give you real savings and the safety of a plan you do not have to renew every week.
What happens in our first burnout session?
In our first session, I ask what brought you here now, how your days look, what your energy is like, whether you are working or signed off and what you most need to change. I ask whether you are in touch with your GP. You do not need to tell me your entire working life before useful work can begin.
By the end, I give you my first understanding of where you are in the burnout and propose a direction and pace. You decide whether my way of working feels right. If a full session feels like more than you can manage right now, a free 30-minute discovery call is a gentler place to start.
When should you choose individual therapy for burnout?
Individual therapy is right when the burnout lives mainly in you: in your exhaustion, your beliefs about work and worth, your history and the way you treat your own limits. That is true for nearly all burnout, even when a job or a manager played a big part. We can explore your relationships fully without anyone else attending.
In individual work, I give you direction, continuity and honest challenge, at a pace that suits your recovery. If you want to look at your life more broadly, beyond the burnout, Psychotherapy Copenhagen describes my structured individual work as a whole.
When is couples therapy a better choice than burnout therapy?
Choose couples therapy when the months of exhaustion have worn down the relationship and it now needs attention of its own. Burnout often puts a heavy load on a partner, and if you are now stuck in resentment, distance or the same painful argument about who carries what, working on it together usually helps more than working on it alone.
In couples work, I help you both see the cycle between you, take responsibility for your own part and build more secure ways of relating. That is more than sorting out one disagreement. Couples therapy Copenhagen is long-term relational development and healing, and many people first recover their own footing and then bring their partner in.
How often should you come while you recover from burnout?
The right pace depends on how depleted you are, how much energy a session takes and how much continuity your recovery needs. In the deepest phase, a session can be tiring in itself, so we keep the rhythm steady but manageable. Later, as your strength returns, the work can go further and sometimes faster.
My recommendation is to start weekly or every second week, with the same day and time if possible, because predictability helps a tired nervous system. I will tell you honestly if sessions are too far apart to support you, if you need closer support around your return to work, or when it is safe to meet less often.
When does a bundle make sense for burnout therapy?
A bundle makes sense when you know recovery will take several sessions and you want continuity without deciding after each appointment whether you can face another. In burnout, every decision costs energy. A planned course removes that decision, protects the time and lets you put your strength into recovering.
A bundle is also cheaper per session. Once I know where you are in the burnout, I will tell you honestly whether a bundle is likely to match the recovery ahead. The bundle sizes are on therapy discounts and bundles, and you will see them again in the cards lower down, so you do not need to work anything out today.
How will we know when burnout therapy has done its job?
Therapy has done its job when you have your energy and your judgement back, when you understand what drove you into burnout and when you can handle pressure without the same support. You recognise the early signs and you act on them. Work has a place in your life, but it no longer decides your worth.
We look honestly, at agreed points, at how far your energy has returned, and I have no wish to keep you in therapy longer than recovery requires. Sessions can become less frequent, pause or end once you are back on your feet. If you return later with something new, that does not mean the earlier work failed. Life simply brought something new.
How it works with me
- If your energy allows only one small step, make it a free 30-minute call, or book your first session straight away. Tell me briefly where you are, whether you are working or signed off, so I can check that burnout therapy is the right place to begin.
- Your first session is a 1-hour appointment with 50 minutes of therapy, just you and me, at my practice at Møntergade 4 in central Copenhagen or online if travelling is too much right now, in English or Danish. You can choose a time that suits your energy on any day, from 08:00 to 21:00 Copenhagen time, depending on availability.
- At first we usually meet weekly or every second week, at a steady rhythm your energy can manage. Between sessions you practise small, realistic steps, and your GP stays your point of contact for sick notes and medical checks.
- Every few sessions, we review your energy, sleep and daily life, and later your plans for returning to work. Together we decide whether to keep the pace, add support around your return, space sessions out or finish.
- If you expect several sessions, a therapy bundle saves you 10 per cent and gives you a clear plan from the start. You can see the bundles just below.
Save with a prepaid session bundle
How the bundle works
- Current bundle savings are shown on the Pricing page.
- Your bundle is valid for 180 days from the date of purchase.
- The bundle can only be used for the type of session stated on your invoice.
- If you request a refund, sessions already used are recalculated at the standard single-session price.
- The administration fee applied to a bundle refund is shown on the Pricing page.
- VAT follows the type of therapy included in the bundle: VAT-exempt sessions remain VAT exempt, while VAT-liable sessions include applicable VAT.
Compare with nearby options
Not sure burnout therapy is the right starting point? Here is how it compares with the options people who are exhausted most often consider.
| Option | Choose it when | Pace |
|---|---|---|
| Burnout therapy (this page) | You have crashed, or are close to it, and need to recover and return safely. | Steady 1-hour sessions at your energy level |
| Stress therapy | You are still coping, but the pressure is building and you want to act early. | Weekly 1-hour sessions at first |
| Perfectionism therapy | Your own impossible standards are what keep exhausting you. | Weekly or every second week |
| Depression therapy | Low mood and hopelessness are stronger than the exhaustion. | Weekly 1-hour sessions at first |
Frequently asked questions
What is burnout therapy with you?
Burnout therapy with me is individual psychotherapy for adults who have reached the point of collapse after a long period of overload, and who need to recover and return without repeating the pattern. It combines support through the exhaustion with deeper work on why you kept going past your limits. You can have it in English or Danish, at my practice in central Copenhagen or online on the days when travel is too much. I am not a doctor, so your GP is the place for sick notes and medical checks.
I work integratively and in depth, with your body, your emotions, your history and the expectations you grew up with. Burnout therapy is a sub-branch of stress therapy within my psychotherapy, and the place to start when exhaustion has already taken over.
When should I come to you about burnout?
Come when rest is no longer restoring you, when ordinary tasks have become impossible, or when you are signed off and do not know how to recover. Come too if you have returned to work once already and feel yourself sliding again. Your own sense that something has gone badly wrong is reason enough.
In 22 years of practice, I have learned to look at how long the exhaustion has lasted, what has and has not come back, and how strongly you feel pulled to return before you are ready. The earlier you get support in burnout, the less likely you are to crash a second time.
Can therapy help me recover, or do I just need more rest?
You need both. Rest is essential, but on its own it often does not address why you burnt out, so the same pattern returns once you feel better. Therapy can help you recover more fully and protect you from going back to the way of living that broke you. I cannot promise a timeline, and I do not offer quick fixes.
In my clinical experience, people who only rest often feel ready to return weeks before they really are, and then relapse. I would focus with you on the inner pressure that drove you, and on a return plan your body can actually sustain.
Can you give me a sick note or tell my employer I am unwell?
No. I am a psychotherapist, not a doctor, and I do not issue sick notes or medical certificates. Your GP is the place for sick notes, medical checks and any tests to rule out physical causes of your exhaustion, and it is wise to see them if you have not already.
What I offer is the psychological side of recovery: understanding what happened, rebuilding your capacity and preparing for conversations with your employer. Many of my clients see their GP for the medical side and me for the therapy, and both kinds of help work well side by side.
Why do I either cling to work contact or cut everyone off?
Both are ways of trying to feel safe when your life has been turned upside down. Some people keep checking their work email and messaging colleagues, so they do not feel forgotten. Others switch off their phone and see nobody, because every contact feels exhausting. Many people swing from one to the other. Neither is a weakness. Each is a way you learned to cope with uncertainty.
I help you recognise which way you move when you feel vulnerable, what each move is trying to protect and what it costs you. Then we work on steadier choices: staying in touch on your own terms, asking for the contact you need and resting without disappearing.
What will we actually do in the first burnout session?
We start with how you are right now. I ask about your energy, sleep, body and mood, what a typical day looks like, where things stand with work and what you hope will change. I also ask a little about your history and how you have always related to work and duty. By the end, you will have my first understanding and a suggested pace and direction.
You do not need to prepare anything. If you are very tired, we can keep it gentle, and online is fine if leaving home is hard. On a day when you have a little energy, book your first session or ask for a free discovery call.
How many sessions will I need to recover from burnout?
My recommendation is to plan for a course of several months rather than a handful of sessions, because burnout recovery is slow and the return to work needs support too. The time depends on how deep the burnout is, how long you pushed before it and whether this is the first time.
Based on 22 years of practice, I would rather you commit to a clear first stretch and review it honestly than stop the moment you feel a little better, which is the most common reason people relapse. We look together at what has changed, and you decide with me whether to continue, space sessions out or finish.
Should I come in person or have burnout therapy online?
Come in person if you can manage it, because a calm room away from home can itself be restful, and the short journey becomes a small step back into the world. If you are too exhausted to travel, or live outside Copenhagen, start online. Online sessions last just as long and work well.
Both formats are part of my psychotherapy practice, in English or Danish, and you can switch as your energy changes. If you are unsure, we can decide together on a free call.
What does burnout therapy with you cost?
Burnout therapy is booked in the same way as my other individual work, in 1-hour appointments with 50 minutes of therapy. You can find the current price on my prices page. Payment is by invoice and bank transfer.
Since recovery from burnout usually takes a run of sessions, a bundle can help, cutting the cost by 10 per cent and fixing a plan you do not have to keep deciding on. The options are on therapy discounts and bundles. If you pay by transfer from a Danish bank account on the same day, a further 3 per cent comes off.
How do I book burnout therapy with you?
Book your first session directly, or request a free 30-minute discovery call if talking first feels easier. Tell me briefly where you are, and whether you are working or signed off.
If you cannot find a time that suits you, or you feel you are not coping at all, contact me directly. I set aside some time for people who cannot wait, so I can usually offer you an appointment within days. Take the first step now, however small it feels.
You can also send me an email
My approach and values
My mission
My mission is to help individuals, couples and families rediscover connection, communicate with understanding, and build a stronger, more loving relationship that can thrive through any challenge.
My vision
My vision is to create a world where every person in my therapy room feels supported, connected, and empowered to grow, and to step one step closer to your Self.
Explore other services I offer
Individual psychotherapy
Join the newsletter community
Join the newsletter and receive five practical tips for nurturing healthy relationships – with yourself and the people around you.
No spam. Just mindful insights.