Career Guidance for Burned-Out Changemakers
When you work hard for social change, but burnout, conflict, or dissatisfaction make you want to leave… Can you fall back in love with your work? Or is it time for change?
Together, let’s make sense of what’s next.
You’re standing at a career crossroads.
The uncertainty feels heavy. You have doubts about creating the career you want, guilt about letting people down, and worry about how change might affect the rest of your life.
If you’re nodding along, know this: You don’t have to navigate this terrain alone.
Hi, I’m Katherine Golub, PCC, MBA (she/her).
I help community leaders shift from career confusion to fulfilling work aligned with their deepest values.
As a coach, city councilor, mother, and community organizer with over twenty-five years in social change work, I understand the pressures you face. I’ve guided hundreds of people who care deeply about the world through career transitions, combining professional expertise with lived experience.
Together, we will discern your next steps forward and create work you love without sacrificing your wellbeing.
In a quest for clarity, you may have tried many things:
- Therapy and conversations with trusted friends.
- Books, assessments, and online resources.
- Making small changes at your current workplace.
- Hoping things will somehow improve on their own.
These efforts may have helped somewhat, but they haven’t gotten you all the way there.
Why? Most approaches address either personal transformation or professional strategy, but rarely both. Yet lasting clarity requires integrating both.
Over a decade of coaching changemakers, I’ve discovered what works to help my clients find career clarity and create work-lives they love. My approach guides my clients to discover three essential elements for career clarity:
My approach guides my clients to discover three essential elements for career clarity:
1. The Inside View
Discerning what YOU need and want in your work life. This requires releasing patterns that lead to burnout, learning to tune into your inner wisdom, and clarifying your priorities.
2. The Outside View
Discerning what the world needs, what people are hiring for, and what is in the best interest of the whole. This involves gathering information, doing research, and having courageous conversations.
3. Gate-Crossing
Navigating the choice points where you must close one door to open another. This means soothing self-doubt, choosing one thing over another, and finding the courage to honor your deepest longings.
As your guide, I’ll help you develop the skills to get clear and confident about what’s next in your work life and keep getting clear long into the future.
Our work together includes:
1. Biweekly Coaching Sessions
We meet twice monthly for six months, starting with creating a personalized development plan. Each session builds on your progress, celebrates wins, addresses obstacles, and clarifies your next steps.
2. Weekly Written Check-Ins
You’ll reflect weekly on your progress, challenges, and questions. I’ll respond with insights to help you integrate what you’re learning, build new skills, and maintain momentum.
3. Guided Inside View Exploration
Early on, I’ll guide you through a structured process to clarify your values, ideal work conditions, and goals. Through written conversation, we’ll identify your key priorities and potential paths.
4. Unlimited Email Support
Ask questions whenever they arise. I respond to every inquiry, either in writing or during sessions. Many clients email often for accountability and guidance through challenging moments.
5. Career Clarity Resources
You’ll get lifetime access to my guidebooks and worksheets. They’re there to help you practice radical discernment, clarify what’s next, and align your life with your priorities.
This Approach Is For You If You:
Work hard to make a difference through progressive policy, community organizing, social entrepreneurship, higher ed, government, facilitation, ministry, or another field tackling today’s most pressing challenges.
Or, you long to make a bigger difference in the world.
Carry grief, rage, and fear about the state of the world—authoritarianism, racialized violence, genocide, climate change, and other heartbreaking, senseless harms.
Have learned to focus on others’ needs and struggle with patterns of overwhelm and overwork.
Feel exhausted, yet still worry you’re not doing enough—even as your health and relationships suffer.
Have invested in personal growth. But find something missing in approaches that separate the personal from the professional.
Seek a mentor with an aligned worldview—someone who understands systems of oppression and collective trauma.
This Approach Is Not For You If You:
Primarily want technical support—like market fit, interview prep, or resume writing—and aren’t focused on healing the emotional patterns that keep you stuck.
Cannot currently dedicate time to the reflective work of healing burnout and realigning your life with what matters most to you.
The Cost
I offer six-month coaching packages at a solidarity pricing scale of $3,000 to $6,000. Click to learn more about how my pricing structure works. You might also consider my Changemakers Mentorship cohort, a small-group program offering similar support at a lower price.
Frequently Asked Questions About Career Coaching
Who is this for?
People who work hard to make a difference — in progressive policy, community organizing, social entrepreneurship, higher ed, government, facilitation, ministry, or another field tackling today’s most pressing challenges — and who are standing at a career crossroads. If you’re exhausted, carrying grief or rage about the state of the world, and find that approaches separating the personal from the professional haven’t gotten you all the way there, this is for you.
Who is this not a good fit for?
If you’re primarily looking for technical support — market research, interview prep, resume writing — without wanting to do the deeper work of healing the patterns that keep you stuck, this isn’t the right fit. It’s also not the right time if you can’t currently make space for reflective work.
Will coaching help me figure out whether to leave my job or stay?
Yes — that discernment is the heart of the work. About half of my clients who come to me convinced they need to leave fall back in love with their current work after healing the personal patterns that lead to burnout and transforming workplace factors as well. The other half gain clarity that they’re ready for something new and confidently head into their next chapter.
What's the difference between Career Coaching and the Changemakers' Mentorship cohort?
Career Coaching is one-on-one support just for you. Changemakers’ Mentorship is a small-group cohort offering similar support at a lower price point, with the added benefit of a community of peers on a similar path.
How much does career coaching cost?
I offer six-month coaching packages on a solidarity pricing scale of $3,000 to $6,000. You can read more about how my pricing structure works.
What does the coaching actually look like week to week?
We meet twice monthly for six months, starting with a personalized development plan. Each session builds on your progress, celebrates wins, and clarifies next steps. Between sessions, you’ll do weekly written check-ins — I respond to every one — plus you get unlimited email support whenever questions come up.
I don't even know what I want to explore. I’m not just deciding between two paths, but feel totally lost. Is this still for me?
Yes. You don’t need to arrive with a shortlist of options. Many of my clients start exactly where you are. They’re certain that something needs to change, but they don’t yet know what. Together, we’ll do the inner work first — tuning into your values, needs, and longings — before we ever get to comparing possible paths forward.
Do you help with practical job-search tasks like resumes or interview prep?
Yes, though that’s not the focus of our work together. My coaching helps you heal the patterns that lead to burnout and get clear on what you truly want, rather than focusing on technical job-search support like resume writing or interview prep. If that’s primarily what you’re looking for, I’m happy to point you toward other resources that specialize in it.
How is progress measured along the way?
We don’t wait until the end to find out if this is working. Early on, we get clear on what you’re hoping to discover and decide through our guided Inside View exploration. Together, we define competency-based outcomes in the first month. We do mid-term and end-of-program check-ins to assess your level of satisfaction with each outcome we articulate. Clients consistently report significantly increased satisfaction at both the 3-month and 6-month mark. If something isn’t moving the way you’d hoped, we name it and adjust.
What happens after the six months ends?
Some clients move forward with the clarity and tools they’ve gained and don’t need anything further. Others choose to continue into another chapter of coaching, especially as new questions or opportunities surface once they start putting their plans into action. Either way, you keep lifetime access to the guidebooks and worksheets from our work together, and before we wrap up, we’ll talk about what kind of ongoing support, if any, would serve you best.
Do you offer anything shorter than a six-month commitment, like single sessions?
Rarely. In my experience, lasting career clarity needs room to unfold — six months gives us enough runway to move through real ups and downs, not just a quick fix. I don’t typically compress that timeline, since rushing the process tends to shortchange the depth of change you’re looking for. That said, my contract allows you to end our work together at any time if coaching no longer feels useful to you — so if you reach clarity early, you’re free to wrap up.
Can my organization pay for this as professional development?
Often, yes. Many of my clients’ organizations cover all or part of the cost as professional development. If your organization offers funding for growth and development, I encourage you to ask — I’m happy to provide documentation or a short write-up explaining the value of this work to support your request. Also, because the work I do with career coaching and leadership coaching is so similar, organizations often fund this under the title of leadership coaching.
Is this confidential?
Yes. Your privacy matters to me, and everything we discuss stays strictly confidential. That includes your current employer, colleagues, or anyone else — I won’t share anything from our work together without your explicit consent.
What if it's not the right fit once we start?
If either of us senses, once we begin, that this isn’t the right support for you, I’ll tell you directly and help you find something that serves you better. My contract allows either of us to end the engagement at any time, though it’s rare for clients to step away before the six months are up. Usually, when something feels off, naming it early leads us to a good path forward together.
Do we meet in person or virtually?
All of our sessions take place over Zoom. If you’re local to Greenfield, MA, we may meet in person for a session or two along the way.
Do you work with clients outside Massachusetts?
Yes — I work with clients throughout the US, and sometimes internationally as well.
How do I get started?
We’ll start with a free, one-hour discovery call. I’ll ask questions to understand your needs, and you’ll leave clearer about your next steps — whether that’s working with me or something else. There’s no commitment required, and if I think another form of support would serve you better, I’ll tell you that. Schedule a discovery session here.
If you’re ready to discuss working with me as your coach, I invite you to schedule a discovery session.
Let’s explore if career clarity coaching is right for you. Schedule a free discovery call to discuss your challenges and determine your best path forward.
To get started, click the button below and complete the form below with as much detail as possible. Then, use the link to schedule a one-hour call. Please reach out via katherine@callingsandcourage.com to ask any questions.
I look forward to talking with you soon!
No commitment required. If I think another form of support would serve you better, I’ll make that recommendation.
Please Note: I respect your privacy. All information remains in strict confidence.