Unconventional Stress & Burnout Coaching for Professional Women Running on Empty
Your fuel supply changed, nobody warned you it was such a kick in the teeth, or what really helps.
This is for the professional woman navigating that fog that comes from late-diagnosed ADHD, perimenopause, chronic pain, or an invisible load nobody else can see.
Coaching that works with your realities with science-backed tools to help when you’re staring at it on a Tuesday.
You can fake "fine" for a remarkably long time.
Right up until your biology changes and faking stops working.
It starts to look like this…
You want a sandwich, someone offers to make a lunch run, and you forget the words and start crying.
Jack-ass Jerry repeats your idea back to the meeting two minutes after you say it, gets an “atta-boy” and where you normally would let it go, today you’re a rage monster.
You stared directly at the Post-it note that you just wrote and still missed the meeting you scheduled.
The name of the person you’re talking to that you’ve known for 10 years…you think it starts with a K…
Your keys. In the ignition. Of the locked car.
Seriously…I can’t be the only one! In fact, there are like 10 subreddit threads that tell me I’m not!
The short version of the biology…
Estrogen helps regulate dopamine.
Your brain uses dopamine to start tasks, hold a thought, manage an emotion, and find the right word.
When estrogen swings dopamine takes the hit.
AND if you also have ADHD, diagnosed or not, you were already running a tighter margin (lucky us! should we play the lottery?)
That machine you built your whole career on - adrenaline deadlines, perfectionism, hyper-vigilance - was quietly subsidized by a hormone that's now leaving in unpredictable ways.
When the subsidy stops, it’s not a slow brake - its’ a cliff.
This is a biological reality that you can’t willpower your way through.
And you already know the cost…
Your career can feel threatened, doubling your mental load and reducing your energy.
Words are more difficult to find, and emotions are harder to manage, increasing doubt and concern about precision
Relationships are harder to maintain with little hurts living under a microscope - and with ADHD its exponential due to Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria.
Your read on yourself and trust in your brain can waiver or erode.
Running your battery to zero hits your sleep, and sleep is when your brain does its repair work. When that goes, everything else gets worse.
Science, Not Self-Help
The Anti-Self Help Stance
Self-help psychology runs on a predatory model:
Manufacture a wound, then sell you the bandage.
Tell you you're “broken”, then offer to fix the anxiety created.
Spend a little time reading LinkedIn or Facebook Ads and you’ll see the AI messaging pattern quickly.
I reject that premise. Not everything that needs to change is inside you.
My approach: Together, we look at how your day already works, what you're genuinely good at, what drains you, what load are you carrying, and how is it impacting you. We use that to help you figure out what levers to pull to reduce your mental load because every day is going to look different.
Unconventional Stress Management
A lot of traditional stress management training, is really about teaching you to absorb “more” stress without changing anything that produces the stress.
Your capacity is treated as the variable and the work environment is treated as “fixed”.
From where I sit, that doesn’t do the trick. Instead we focus on three things
Candid Assessment: What is happening with your biology and in the “rooms” in which you move
Sorting the Load: What's genuinely yours, what isn't, and what you can set down today.
Preserving Energy: What are your strengths, energy windows and energy sucks, so you can stop wasting fuel on broken setups and can protect your time and attention for what matters most to you.
Resilience isn’t About Endurance
When the way your brain handles basic daily tasks shifts, pushing yourself to work longer hours only speeds up burnout.
In this short video, I break down why "toughing it out" is a myth, how high-functioning masking traps us, and how a candid assessment of your real-world reality gives you your energy back.
This video provides an overview of The Invisible Loop™.
Who I Work With
High-performing women, business owners, executives and academics who are tired of running on over-functioning and pure willpower just to keep their heads above water.
If you look completely capable from the outside but your internal systems are held together by caffeine, duct tape and quiet (or not so quiet) rage - and maybe a lot of swear words - especially while your body or your life is shifting under you, you're in the right place.
Areas of Focus
Late-diagnosed ADHD: support and unmasking
Perimenopause and Hormonal Brain Fog: systems and structures
Chronic Pain and Invisible Load: systems and advocacy
Targeted Resets
Organizational Education and Workshops
Ways To Work Together
Everything is designed to give you clarity and relief without adding more tasks to your to-do list.
Free 15-Minute
Chemistry Call
What it is: A short, low-friction conversation about what's actually happening right now, and whether how I work fits how your brain works.
Self-Guided
Tools
What it is: Digital tools, checklists and step-by-step guides you can open on your phone at the moment you need them. Each one solves one specific problem. Built on the Invisible Loop and EDGE frameworks.
Personalized One-On-One Systems & Strategy & Consult (One Session)
What it is: A single confidential strategy and systems session for women who need relief now. Book, pay, get your confirmation and pre-work.
Browse the schedule, enter your details, pay for your session, receive your confirmation and pre-work
Or - apply for the 3-Month coaching Extended one-to-one support. By application.
Let’s Get Started
Book Dr. Shans to be a Speaker at Your Event
Most corporate wellbeing talks tell exhausted people to fix their mindset, try a spa day, or dig deeper. I don't.
I bring 20+ years of psychological science and executive leadership to help organizations decode how people actually behave under stress, change and disruption, drop workplace expectations that were broken to begin with, and design conditions where people can do their best work without paying for it with their health.
