Trauma therapist Kristen Plake launches Women Under Pressure on 15 September — a podcast for high-performing women who can handle a crisis at work but can’t switch off when they get home.
Plake is a licensed clinical social worker and the founder of Frontline Wellness Group, a virtual therapy practice for first responders and frontline professionals. She brings 20 years in healthcare and mental health to the show, plus a personal understanding of frontline life: she’s the daughter of a police officer.
The podcast is aimed at women in healthcare, emergency services, leadership and other roles built on sustained judgment — the person everyone relies on in a crisis, whose workday quietly follows her home. Its angle isn’t burnout as collapse. It’s the long stretch before that, when a woman is still performing and getting it done while feeling less and less like herself.
“I created Women Under Pressure because I noticed conversations around burnout often began only after a woman can no longer keep going,” Plake said. “I don’t think the answer is asking women to care less about their careers or become less driven. I want to help women learn to build a version of success that doesn’t require their wellbeing to pay the price.”
Across the series Plake takes on questions like why work keeps affecting you after the day has ended, why you’re exhausted while still performing well, and why understanding your stress doesn’t automatically change how you respond to it.
The first three episodes arrive together on 15 September and set up the show’s approach before it widens into interviews with experts and women in demanding careers. Weekly episodes follow on all major podcast platforms. The launch is timed to National Recovery Month in the US and the run-up to World Mental Health Day on 10 October.
More on Plake and her practice at frontlinewellnessgroup.com.
