Explore how different professions can affect mental health and wellbeing. This interactive carousel highlights workplace pressures, signs of stress and burnout, and practical ways to support wellbeing across 13 professions.
Explore how different professions can affect mental health and wellbeing. Discover workplace pressures, signs to notice, and practical ways to support wellbeing across 13 careers.
High responsibility, emotional exposure, difficult decisions, staff shortages and shift work can create sustained pressure.
Emotional exhaustion • Detachment • Sleep problems • Anxiety • Guilt • Reduced empathy
Protected breaks, supportive supervision, opportunities to debrief, manageable workloads and genuine time away from work.
Teaching combines workload with constant emotional and social demands. Planning, marking and responsibility can also extend beyond working hours.
Irritability • Exhaustion • Sunday anxiety • Difficulty switching off • Feeling overwhelmed • Loss of enthusiasm
Clear workload boundaries, protected planning time, peer support and realistic expectations around availability.
Repeated exposure to emergencies, trauma and responsibility can keep the nervous system operating in a heightened state.
Hypervigilance • Disturbed sleep • Emotional numbness • Intrusive memories • Irritability • Increased alcohol use
Trauma-informed support, decompression after difficult incidents, peer support and a culture where asking for help is normalised.
Fast-paced environments, customer expectations, long periods standing and irregular or late hours can make recovery difficult.
Physical exhaustion • Irritability • Poor sleep • Anxiety before shifts • Feeling constantly rushed • Burnout
Predictable rotas where possible, adequate breaks, supportive management and sufficient recovery between shifts.
Regularly sitting alongside trauma, grief and distress can have an emotional impact, even when strong professional boundaries are maintained.
Emotional fatigue • Vicarious trauma • Reduced empathy • Difficulty concentrating • Carrying clients’ stories home
Good supervision, manageable caseloads, peer connection, boundaries between sessions and meaningful restorative time.
Supporting people through illness, disability, distress or loss requires considerable emotional labour, often alongside demanding workloads.
Compassion fatigue • Guilt • Exhaustion • Feeling emotionally drained • Detachment • Difficulty switching off
Reflective supervision, adequate breaks, emotional support, healthy boundaries and recognition of the emotional impact of caring.
Customer facing work requires people to remain polite and composed even when dealing with complaints, aggression or their own difficulties.
Emotional exhaustion • Dreading shifts • Irritability • Anxiety • Feeling undervalued • Masking emotions
Support following abusive incidents, fair scheduling, adequate staffing, regular breaks and managers who take employee wellbeing seriously.
Deadlines, meetings, constant notifications and pressure to remain productive can create stress even when work isn’t physically demanding.
Mental fatigue • Headaches • Difficulty concentrating • Working beyond hours • Anxiety • Feeling permanently “switched on”
Protected focus time, realistic workloads, movement breaks and clear boundaries around emails and availability.
Repeated difficult interactions combined with targets, monitoring and limited control over workload can be emotionally exhausting.
Anxiety before calls • Emotional numbness • Irritability • Feeling watched • Exhaustion • Dreading work
Recovery time after difficult calls, supportive managers, reasonable targets, regular breaks and protection from abusive behaviour.
High stakes, demanding workloads, conflict and exposure to distressing cases can create significant psychological pressure.
Perfectionism • Anxiety • Sleep disruption • Emotional detachment • Overworking • Difficulty switching off
Manageable caseloads, supervision, peer support, workload boundaries and space to process particularly difficult cases.
Creative work can involve rejection, criticism, comparison and unstable income while also being closely connected to personal identity.
Self-doubt • Perfectionism • Comparison • Creative burnout • Anxiety around feedback • Loss of enjoyment
Boundaries around feedback and social media, creative activities without performance pressure, supportive peers and genuine downtime.
Long periods alone, traffic pressure, responsibility for safety and irregular schedules can affect both mental health and sleep.
Fatigue • Loneliness • Irritability • Poor sleep • Reduced concentration • Feeling disconnected
Adequate rest, realistic schedules, regular contact with others and a workplace culture where fatigue can be reported safely.
Isolation, financial pressures, unpredictable conditions and responsibility for animals or crops can make it difficult to ever feel completely “off duty.”
Chronic stress • Poor sleep • Withdrawal • Low mood • Financial anxiety • Difficulty asking for help
Connection with other farmers, planned breaks where possible, practical financial support and accessible mental-health support.
Different professions carry different pressures. These examples are not a diagnosis; supportive working conditions and individual needs matter.
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