Erica Cuni, LMFT: The Burnout Professor Spills All the Secrets on the Aftermath of Trauma, Healing Burnout, and the Power of Breathing

Erica Cuni’s burnout story begins with a Mack Dump Truck, which hit her as she was on her way to work as a licensed therapist. In the ensuing months, Erica not only had to learn how to walk again after almost losing her foot, but she also lost her job, ended a long-term toxic relationship, found herself in extreme debt, and ended up living with her parents again in her mid-thirties. But this is not where Erica’s story ended. Instead, she used this stress-inducing time in her life to reevaluate her priorities, get back into her body and kick start her journey towards mental, physical and spiritual health.

 

Now, Erica works as a full-time burnout recovery and prevention educator, a podcast host and a Reiki practitioner. She is living her #UndeniableTruth and has made a career out of helping others do the same. According to Erica, #UndeniableTruth is what she wished she had in her life when she was falling apart and didn’t have a roadmap to help her rediscover who she was or what she needed to thrive. Now, Erica uses wisdom from her own burnout experience to guide her clients as they heal from burnout, find their truth and learn to live with intention.

 

Tune into this week’s episode of FRIED. The Burnout Podcast to hear more about Erica’s journey from burnout victim to Burnout Professor. Learn about the things Erica wishes she was taught in grad school, the importance of working with a trauma-informed therapist if you are in the throes of burnout and why breathwork is absolutely essential for grounding yourself and navigating stress. Most importantly, learn how Erica refused to let her burnout get the best of her and instead capitalized on her burnout to positively reshape her future.

 

Quotes

• “Anyone that experiences burnout knows that it’s not just related to work. It affects every piece of your life.” (4:37-4:44)

• “I lost myself somewhere, and I didn’t know when I lost myself. I didn’t understand because I thought I was doing everything right….I had a Master’s degree, I was helping other people figure their stuff out, I was trained in all these different types of modalities on how to help people get there, but I was like, ‘I’m still missing something!’” (8:22-8:40)

• “In order for us to get success out of talk therapy, our brains have to be in a calmer state, our bodies have to be in a calm state. And so when you do the body work first...and you get someone back into the body, back into the present moment, that opens up the brain so that they can start to self-reflect because talk therapy’s all about self-reflection.” (16:00-16:20)

• “When you get burnt out, it’s about learning a new lifestyle afterwards….Find something that engages your body back into the present moment, and that sends signals up to your brain that, ‘Hey, I’m back here in this world!’....because ultimately we want to have people understand that it’s safe to take risks and enjoy life. It’s safe to enjoy your life. You don’t have to stay in this stressed state where you’re afraid to do anything.” (27:16-27:55)

• “If for whatever reason you don’t believe in meditation, I do believe you believe in sitting still and being in the moment and learning how to do that because you know that you feel better and calmer.” (34:50-35:00)

• “Knowing my breath is what helped me get in tune with my body, so that I could listen to it so that I could make decisions that were aligned with me versus my mind trying to dictate what I was supposed to be doing.” (38:18-38:33)

 

Links

https://www.theburnoutprofessor.com

https://www.instagram.com/theburnoutprofessor 

https://www.linkedin.com/theburnoutprofessor 

https://www.facebook.com/theburnoutprofessor

https://www.theburnoutprofessor.com/burnout-quiz

 

XOXO,

C

 

If you know that it’s time to actually DO something about the burnout cycle you’ve been in for too long - book your free consult today: bit.ly/callcait

 

Podcast production and show notes provided by FIRESIDE Marketing

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