Show Notes
Are you a high-performing woman working in healthcare, emergency services or another demanding leadership role? Maybe you can handle the crisis, make the difficult decision and be the person everyone relies on, but when the workday ends, you have a much harder time leaving it behind.
Women Under Pressure is a podcast for ambitious women who want to succeed at a high level without sacrificing their mental health, physical health, relationships or the rest of their lives in the process.
Hosted by Kristen Plake, a licensed trauma therapist and founder of Frontline Wellness Group, the show explores what demanding careers ask of women and how to build a life that can sustain both ambition and wellbeing.
Through practical solo episodes and honest conversations with experts and women doing demanding work, Women Under Pressure goes beyond traditional conversations about stress management and self-care. You'll learn more about how your experiences affect you, why it can be so difficult to switch off even when the crisis is over, and what can help you recover without asking you to become less driven or walk away from work that matters to you.
You’ll also hear answers to questions such as: 👉 Why can't I switch off after work? 👉 Why am I exhausted even when I'm still performing well? 👉 How do I stop bringing work home with me? 👉 What are the signs of burnout in high-performing women? 👉 How does trauma exposure affect me over time? 👉 How can I regulate my nervous system after a difficult shift or high-pressure day?
Follow Women Under Pressure wherever you listen to podcasts and learn how to keep pursuing the work and ambitions that matter to you without sacrificing yourself in the process. Connect with Kristen: 🌐Frontline Wellness Group 📋Free High Pressure Leadership Assessment 🎙️Work with Kristen 📱Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Women Under Pressure
Too tired to relax after work, and too depleted to even know what you need? Kristen answers a listener's question with the recovery paradox: the harder the day, the more recovery you need, and the less capacity you have left to get it. She comes back to last week's hospice social worker and looks at what happens when you leave a job where people depend on you and walk straight into a home where they depend on you again. Some takeaways: The harder the day, the harder it is to decompress Even decompressing asks for energy you may not have left Most rest advice assumes an after-work you with energy to spare Judge the whole day, not the last five minutes at home Signs a better transition after work isn't enough on its own Decide ahead of time how your first few minutes home go
This episode unpacks psychological detachment, the ability to mentally leave work once the day is over, and why getting home doesn't always mean you're off duty. Kristen uses a hospice social worker's story to show how caring about someone can look the same as still feeling responsible for them. She keeps the research on work-related rumination separate from her own clinical read, then asks a question worth sitting with: are you still feeling something about what happened, or still trying to take care of it?
This episode is about emotional labor and the gap between what you feel and what you actually show when a job requires composure. Kristen looks at why staying steady for others has a cost, even when you look calm on the outside. She separates the research on display rules, surface acting and expressive suppression from her own clinical view, then asks a simple question: did you calm down, or did you just look calm?
In this episode, Kristen talks with Chelsea Ryckis, a business owner, wife, and first-time mom of a one-year-old. She shares how she learned to stay accountable as a leader by deciding where her involvement is necessary.
This episode unpacks why even in the moments when you choose to delegate, you still can't stop yourself from taking the work back. Kristen shares the story of Danielle, an emergency management director who is over-functioning and why this pattern is damaging.