In her career, Susanna has worked with many individuals suffering from impostor syndrome, perfectionism and burn-out, such as university students, adults in high achieving jobs, NHS staff, and people in the media industry. Susanna uses an integrative approach, mainly drawing from Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help people identify unhelpful thoughts that are contributing to their problems and ways to break negative cycles.
Do you feel like a fraud in your workplace? Does it feel like you are just winging it and you have been lucky to have got as far as you have in your career? Are you just waiting to be ‘found out’ and for people to realise that you actually don’t know as much as they think you do? These are very common feelings in people suffering from impostor syndrome.
Suffering from impostor syndrome makes work highly stressful and it can also impact on career progression as people may not feel confident to apply for new positions. Whilst many people recognise that they are suffering from impostor syndrome, fewer people seek help for this, as they feel that there is nothing that can be done about it, being so convinced of their own lack of skills. However, with the help of psychological strategies, people can start recognising their true skills and achievements, and as a result, reduce work-related stress, increase enjoyment in their work, and potentially further their careers.
Perfectionism is often related to performance, and is often associated with work or studies. However, it can also affect the home environment, relating to the home and family life. Perfectionism is draining to live with as only the best is good enough and the moments of ‘perfection’ rarely gives happiness and do not last long. As it is impossible to be perfect all the time, it goes hand in hand with negative feelings related to feeling upset or like a failure when the highest standard has not been achieved, and anxiety about how to ensure that the standards are upheld in the future.
Many perfectionists don’t seek help as they are worried that letting go of their perfectionism will stop them from achieving. However, psychological techniques can help people reframing their goals in a way where high ambition is maintained but anxiety is reduced.
Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It often leads to vicious cycles, as the exhaustion makes it hard to focus and keep up with work, meaning people work longer days, evenings and weekends to compensate, and subsequently feel even more exhausted.
There are many job-related factors that contribute to burnout, such as the nature of a person’s job (for example having a job that involve emotionally demanding interactions) or the work environment (including working in an authoritarian workplace and experiencing too many demands). However, personal characteristic such as perfectionism, finding it difficult to ask for help and saying ‘no’ to demands also contribute. In addition to building confidence to set boundaries in the workplace, therapy can also help reevaluate work-related goals and address characteristics that make people more vulnerable to burnout.
Susanna has worked in a physical health context for much of her career. She has significant experience of working with people who are adjusting to the shock of a new diagnosis, coping with an illness journey, adapting to a ‘new normal’ following a life-changing illness or who are at the end of life. She also works with family members throughout these stages, as well as offering bereavement support, ensuring continuity throughout the illness journey. Whilst Susanna is unable to offer sessions for under 16s, she is able to provide support and advice to parents related to serious or terminal illness in the family.
Susanna’s approach mixes general counselling skills with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Mindfulness to help people through these very challenging and life changing times.
Susanna has worked in the media sector with TV productions, films, online content and podcasts since 2015, previously working as an associate at Mindzone Media. She has worked on around 300 different productions. Recent large productiones include Physical 100: Sweden (Meter/Netflix), Big Brother (Initial/ITV), Dating Naked S2 (Nest/MTV) and Love Is Blind: Sweden (Mastiff/Netflix).
Susanna has experience of working with production teams throughout the production process (pre-production consultation, screening of participants, on-location support, pre- and post-transmission support, crisis management and crew support). She offers support for both adults and children, including vulnerable people with complex health and mental health (including trauma) needs, neurodiversity diagnoses and brain injuries/learning needs.
Susanna has worked on programmes spanning all genres, including reality TV, challenge programmes, true crime, dating programmes, cooking competitions, talent shows, game shows, property shows, children’s programmes, documentaries, news/current affairs programmes, podcasts, online campaigns and feature films.
Susanna has worked on programmes airing on all major UK channels as well as streaming services, including Netflix, Apple TV, Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+. Susanna also works with Swedish production teams.