Counselling for Engineers in Calgary

Psychotherapy with a psychologist with 25 years of clinical expertise and a background in engineering.

The demands of an engineering career

As an engineer, you work in a challenging profession.

You carry significant professional responsibility, where you’re expected to make high-stakes decisions and deliver results despite tight timelines, often inadequate resources, and complex personalities.

The sustained pressure of your job can affect your judgment, your performance, and your life outside the office.

You may find yourself caught between the needs of your team and the expectations of those above you.

For many mid-career and senior engineers, the workload increases over time, and expectations continue to rise.

You may be wondering how long you can continue at your current pace.

As a therapist who can understand both the technical and personal sides of your work, I offer a place to discuss your challenges and how they’re affecting you.

The engineers I work with in my private therapy practice

The engineers I work with include:

• Mid-career and senior engineers in complex technical roles
• Leaders who may recognize that aspects of their leadership style need to change
• Business owners managing day-to-day operations
• Professionals navigating complex partnership dynamics
• Managers without a second-in-command during intense work periods
• Executives involved in the buying or selling of companies
• Engineers working under demanding leadership
• Engineers managing job transitions

I understand engineering: it was my first career

Prior to becoming a psychologist, I held engineering positions in both applied research and consulting in Montreal, Vancouver, New York, and Atlanta for 13 years.

My experience included:

• Directing a research program at a world-class facility
• Completing market research and competitive analysis as a consultant
• Running a software project with 20 contributing professionals
• Giving technical presentations
• Chairing an international conference
• Managing impossible deadlines across multiple roles
• Surviving 8 rounds of job cuts and a commodity crash
• Working under both excellent and challenging bosses

My career shift: from engineering to psychology

As an engineer, in addition to my own experience, I saw capable people work under tight timelines with inadequate resources and cope with repeated layoffs. I witnessed how difficult it is to manage these conditions.

Because of these experiences, I decided to shift my career and train to become a psychologist. I wanted to help professionals thrive in high-pressure positions and not burnout.

Since then, I’ve worked as a psychologist for over 25 years.

My engineering background informs how I understand you and your work. My doctoral training in psychology allows me to help you explore your options and act strategically.

Work and career issues my engineering clients bring to therapy

At various stages, you may have to navigate important career decisions that affect your identity, financial stability, long-term direction, and your personal and family life.

You may no longer be satisfied with the direction of your career and be trying to determine what to do next.

You may be rising quickly in your field and be reluctant to disrupt your trajectory, even if you’re exhausted.

You may be struggling with personal issues that are stemming from your work.

Work issues that many engineers face:

• Dealing with burnout due to the exhaustion of long hours and the stress of the job
• Struggling to meet back-to-back deadlines
• Navigating office politics that pull you away from work that matters
• Coping with difficult or toxic people who drain your energy
• Keeping on top of an overwhelming workload
• Working with a boss you often can’t please
• Feeling unrecognized for your work despite delivering high-quality results
• Learning to pace yourself better and be more strategic about where your energy goes

Career issues and transitions engineers can come up against:

• Adjusting to a new leadership role
• Managing challenging employees
• Deciding whether to stay in your role or move elsewhere – within your organization or beyond
• Deciding whether you should take medical leave
• Weighing the impact of taking parental leave on your career
• Planning how and when you want to retire

Together, we can explore these concerns and evaluate your options. You define your own ambition and goals, and we’ll find the best path forward.

Personal issues that may be causing you stress

Burnout is one of the most common concerns engineers bring to my therapy practice, but it’s seldom the only one.

Other personal issues you may be struggling with:

• Depression, anxiety, or another mental health concern
• A distressing experience that is consuming your energy
• Relationship problems that are affecting your work and your wellbeing
• Drinking too much or trying to overcome another troubling behaviour

Sometimes the strain is quieter.

Perhaps your personal life has gone off track. Exercise has dropped off. Eating habits have deteriorated. Friendships have become neglected. Things that once mattered no longer hold your attention.

We can explore what has happened and what you’d like your life to look like.

Specific issues women in engineering can face

I know firsthand the challenges that women engineers encounter.

When I began my engineering career, only 0.5% of engineers in the workplace were women. I had to learn how to navigate and advance my career in a predominantly male culture.

Women engineers carry the same technical and leadership responsibilities as their male colleagues but often contend with different expectations and experiences.

In therapy, we can look at the dynamics you experience and how best to handle them.

How counselling can help engineers at work and at home

• Recognize when it’s appropriate to lower your standards
• Establish boundaries that protect your personal and family life while meeting your professional responsibilities
• Assess whether you can continue working while healing from burnout, or whether a medical leave may be necessary
• Manage workplace politics and challenging colleagues
• Decide when to push, when to step back, and when it may be time to move on
• Make critical career decisions when the stakes are high
• Address depression, anxiety, or another mental health concern
• Resolve relationship struggles with your partner

Our goal in therapy is to help you stay grounded as you continue doing work that matters.

You set your goals. I help you get there.

Together, we’ll work toward creating a more rewarding professional and personal life.

The next step

If you identify with any of the issues described on this page, we’re likely a good fit to work together.