Women on the Frontlines: What We’re Really Carrying, and the Tools That Help
When we gathered at our last community event, we asked real questions and received real answers. The stories were raw, honest, and reflected exactly what so many women are holding today, burnout, resentment, invisible workloads, and a deep desire for something to change.
This blog pulls together the most common themes that surfaced and offers practical resources, tools, and next steps for anyone looking to lighten the load, find their footing again, or advocate for change in their community or workplace.
And as a reminder that many of us are navigating similar challenges, we’ve shared some of the real thoughts from the evening below.
Have important information that should be included?
Leave a comment or email us at info@campmentalhealth.com
✦
What We Heard: It’s Not Just You
Many women admitted they almost didn’t come. That they were dragged by a friend or didn’t think they’d hear anything new. But then the conversation started. And something shifted.
The questions that came up told a powerful story:
• “Why do I feel like I’m the one who always has to notice everything?”
• “How do I stop feeling guilty for putting myself first?”
• “What happens when I’m burned out - but still expected to be the one holding it all together?”
This blog exists because of you, your honesty, your questions, and your courage to show up.
✦1. Local Advocacy in Action:
Fernie Childcare Society:
If you’re in Fernie, the Fernie Childcare Society is dedicated to connecting families with professional child care providers in our community and supporting parents through resource sharing, community referrals, and learning opportunities. They offer dedicated programs that ensure each child gets the attention they need during their formative years. We work with the community to strive for quality inclusive and diverse child care services that meet the needs of local families and promote the healthy development of children.
Fernie Women’s Resource Center:
The FWRC is a non-profit community organization based in Fernie, British Columbia. Fernie Women's Centre. Its mission is to provide support, resources, advocacy, and programs to women, children, families, and the broader community in the Elk Valley region.
Not in Fernie? Check in with your local childcare society, municipal office or women’s centre. Ask what actions they’re taking to support families and what role you can play.
✦2. Rebalancing the Invisible Load at Home
Burnout in relationships came up more than once. One of our favourite tools for tackling this is Eve Rodsky’s Fair Play method. Whether you’re navigating household labour with a partner or co-parent, the Fair Play book and card game can help you make the invisible visible and start a real conversation about fairness. Check out the Fair Play Method and consider reading or listening to it with your partner.
✦3. Burnout and the Body: Support from Kate Powell
Physical burnout is real, and it lives in your body. We were so grateful to have Kate Powell, Mountain Life Movement, share her insights on how physiotherapy, core function, and body awareness can support nervous system regulation and reduce exhaustion…
Celebrate any and all movement - in ourselves, as well as with our peers. Meeting a friend for a walk instead of a sit-down; getting a quick tabata workout in in 4 minutes, because that's all you've got; changing your work position frequently throughout the day; getting some trunk rotation in while you take a zoom meeting (because we never rotate anymore!) - it all counts. And it all contributes to a more resilient body, so that it can tolerate the big workouts or big runs/bike rides when we're able to get them in.
What seems to be especially effective is taking moments to be big. For many of us, the more energy we give away, the more we tend to deflate under the weight of gravity/stress. Take a moment to inflate - imagine you're a balloon animal, and fill up all of your segments.
Personally, I take a moment between each client in my day to be big for a second. I reach up tall then circle my arms wide; take a couple of big breaths (with full exhales too). Or if I'm feeling especially tired, I just lie down on the floor to make myself long. —Kate
Listen to our podcast episodes together:
The Body Knows: Movement, Burnout & the Inner Coach with Physio Kate Powell
Small Movements, Big Impact: Rethinking Burnout for Women and Caregivers with Physio, Kate Powell (Post Event)
New moms especially, don’t miss her incredible resources on postpartum healing and sustainable strength-building over on her blog at Mountain Life Movement.
Books:
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma , by Bessel van der Kolk M.D.
Move Your DNA: Restore Your Health Through Natural Movement, by Katy Bowman
✦4. Tracking the Transition: Perimenopause, Menopause & Energy Levels
Another common theme was how energy, mood, sleep and productivity shift during perimenopause and menopause, especially for women on the frontlines. Many feel confused by changing patterns in their cycle, mood, hunger, and ability to show up in work or home life.
Tracking your cycle, symptoms, energy levels and sleep can help you identify patterns, understand what’s really going on in your body, and have better conversations with your healthcare provider. For example, the Menopause Foundation of Canada offers a free “MenoPause Symptom Tracker” that helps you log symptoms like hot flashes, brain fog, changes in appetite and sleep. The Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research (CeMCOR) at UBC also provides the “Daily Perimenopause Diary”, a research‑based tool available in Canada for tracking changes during perimenopause.
What to track:
• Days of your period (if you still have them) and changes to flow or timing
• Mood changes (irritability, anxiety, low mood)
• Sleep quality and patterns
• Energy levels throughout the day
• Appetite changes, digestive issues or weight shifts
• Hot flashes, night sweats, brain fog, memory slips
How it supports your resilience:
When you treat your body and your nervous system as part of your work, as part of your capacity to show up in your career, your parenting, your caregiving, then tracking becomes a tool of empowerment rather than a chore. Recognizing a worsening sleep cycle, for example, signals when you might need to pull back or ask for support, rather than pushing through and risking burnout.
Apps & tools available:
• The Balance App is designed specifically for perimenopause and menopause symptom tracking and provides personalized reports.
• The Clue app features a “Perimenopause Mode” that helps track moods, sleep changes and irregular cycles.
• A paper diary or spreadsheet.
Next steps for you
1. Choose a tracking tool that fits your style, digital or paper.
2. Log key items daily (period/flow, mood, sleep, energy) for 1–2 weeks and reflect on what stood out.
3. If you see an ongoing pattern of low energy, disrupted sleep or mood changes, consider it a red flag that your nervous system might be overloaded , not just “stress.”
4. Bring your tracking data to your next healthcare appointment. Having information helps you advocate for targeted support.
5. Talk to your female relatives about their experience with perimenopause.
By embracing this as part of the resilience toolkit, you shift from wondering “What’s wrong with me?” to asking “What does my body need right now?” and responding with curiosity and care.
Podcasts for Women’s Health & Menopause
Mel Robbins Podcast: How to Balance Your Hormones: What Your Doctor Isn’t Telling You About Menopause
Mel Robbins Podcast: The #1 Menopause Doctor: How to Lose Belly Fat, Sleep Better, & Stop Suffering Now
Diary of a CEO: Hormone & Fertility Experts: We've Been Lied To About Women's Health! If This Happens, Call A Doctor
Diary of a CEO: Longevity Debate: SHOCKING Weight Loss Truth! They've Been Hiding This For YEARS!
Diary of a CEO: The No.1 Menopause Doctor: They’re Lying To You About Menopause! Mary Claire Haver
✦5. Elder Care: Resources for the Sandwich Generation
Many women shared that they are parenting young children while also supporting aging parents. This dual-caregiver role is one of the biggest contributors to emotional burnout, and it’s often overlooked.
Check out:
✦6. Burnout at Work? Let CAMP Help
If you know of a workplace that can benefit from a CAMP Mental Health needs assessment, coaching call or workshop, contact us here, see our offerings here or submit a workplace needs assessment request to nudge your company, or send your HR department straight to the Corporate Needs Assessment & 1-HR Coaching Call.
✦7. For Parents and Teachers Facing Big Behaviours
If your version of burnout is tied to kids’ big emotions or behavioural struggles, check out our CAMP Supporting Kids & Youth. It’s designed for parents, teachers, and caregivers who want to understand what’s underneath the behaviour and build connection-based solutions.
This is not another sticker chart. It’s a whole shift in how we approach emotional health in children—one that creates less stress for them, and less burnout for you.
Explore the CAMP With Kids Online Course
✦8. Nutrition, Burnout, and Family Stress: Fuelling Your Body with What You Can
One of the most requested topics at our event was how to maintain healthy eating during seasons of burnout—especially when you’re juggling childcare, shift work, elder caregiving, or postpartum recovery.
We highly recommend following Samara Ohm, Registered Dietitian whose Instagram is packed with realistic nutrition hacks for families, picky eaters, and overwhelmed adults alike. Her posts go beyond meal plans—she gives practical strategies for feeding yourself and your kids during chaotic weeks, offering shame-free tips grounded in both science and compassion.
Stay tuned for an upcoming podcast episode with Samara, where we address our community has brought to the surface. (If you join our mailing list you will be the first to hear it)
Whether you’re looking for fresh lunchbox ideas, trying to reduce sugar crashes in your house, or wondering how to nourish yourself while parenting a newborn, Samara’s work is a great place to start. Ohm Nutrition
✦9. Focus on Yourself
Across the responses, people are expressing deep exhaustion and overwhelm as they juggle work, family, caregiving, and personal expectations. They’re struggling with chronic stress, compassion fatigue, and the guilt that comes from feeling like they can’t keep up or meet everyone’s needs. Many are having trouble sleeping because their minds won’t shut off, carrying work home mentally, or worrying about complex caseloads, limited resources, and the emotional weight of helping others. Setting boundaries—saying no without guilt, recognizing what is and isn’t theirs to carry, and choosing where their energy is best spent—feels incredibly difficult. They also want tools to recognize burnout before it fully sets in, strategies to let go of intrusive thoughts, and clarity on what true self-care and balance actually look like. There is a strong desire for more joy, energy, space, and meaning in daily life, along with a yearning for connection, community, and conversations—especially among women—about mental health, resentment, anger, and the realities of living and serving others without burning out.
CAMP for Personal Resilience & Well-Being was built specifically to meet these challenges with compassionate, practical, and evidence-informed tools. CAMP helps individuals understand their stress responses, identify early warning signs of burnout, and create realistic strategies that support rest, grounding, and emotional regulation—especially for those whose minds run at night or carry the weight of others’ needs. Through simple, achievable frameworks, CAMP teaches boundary-setting without guilt, helps people prioritize energy based on values, and offers clear steps for letting go of thoughts and responsibilities that aren’t theirs to hold. It supports participants in rebuilding motivation, reconnecting with what brings joy and space, and learning how to navigate high-pressure roles with more confidence and less emotional strain. Most importantly, CAMP creates a community of connection, honesty, and shared experience—reminding people they are not alone, and giving them a supportive place to explore women’s mental health, resilience, and the realities of modern caregiving and leadership.
Join the Movement
If any part of this post resonated with you, know you’re not alone. We are building something together—more honest conversations, more tools that actually help, and more collective care that doesn’t leave anyone behind.
Want to stay in the loop about upcoming workshops and resources? Join Our Mailing List
Want to request a workshop or workplace training? Get in Touch
Together, we can shift the weight and build communities that support women, caregivers, and change-makers from the inside out.
Want to see all the Thoughts and Questions?
These thoughts and questions received on event night that were not discussed are shaping future content, future speaking events and guests on our podcast. We value your input.
Foods to help stress?
How sleep affects burnout/how to ease a running mind?
Compassion, fatigue do you have strategies on how to approach this without the guilt associated with it?
I struggle with saying no setting boundaries.
If it is a systematic issue, where do we start to illicit change? Do you think Moore should be done to provide strategies at a younger age to normalize the things we’re going through - Resentment, anger like to identify the challenges of ahead of time?
How do you stand up for the systemic change in our daily life so that we can stand up collectively?
How to deal with guilt of not being able to do everything?
Strategies for letting go of work related thoughts/worry so I can fall asleep better?
Work stress, limited funds, large, caseloads, complex, complexity of referrals
Collaboration and to see what services are available
Learn tricks to reduce stress, feel fulfilled and feel like I am able to make a difference
To learn techniques to bring energy, joy, and space back to my busy life
Ways to set boundaries while also building community?
Women in the front line front line worker/public service - hard to be able to solve everyone’s problems carrying the weight of it
Build resiliency, physical and mental connection
Information on nutrition support for burnout
Sense of community around some of the struggles and challenges of trying to live an amazing life without totally burning out
Advice and tools on how to try and find more balance what does self-care actually look like?
How to self guide on where your energy is best spent for your values we can’t give to all people equally, but we also need connection
To learn about recognizing burnout coming instead of when it has already set in
Juggling all the things while taking care of myself - food, mom, friend, job, etc.
Connecting with other women
Women’s mental health Moore convos about this
Tips and tricks on how not to stress so much
How to realize not all everyone else’s problems are not mine
Curiosity about burnout how to recognize it how to address it?
How to actually let things go
Comments:
Future events - talks about aging parents
Will there be more of these events in the future? So Needed!
Thanks for having this! Great Space!
