One Nervous System. Many Expressions.
When Burnout, Disconnection, and Loss of Vitality Share the Same Root Cause
Most organizations treat burnout, disengagement, and even intimacy loss as separate issues.
They’re not.
They are often different expressions of the same nervous system overload especially in women carrying sustained responsibility, caregiving roles, leadership pressure, and midlife transition.
Dr. Julie Merriman delivers keynote conversations that help audiences finally understand what their bodies have adapted to and how nervous system regulation restores capacity, connection, and aliveness across work and life.
This is not motivational speaking.
It’s sense-making that changes behavior.
WHY DR. JULIE IS BOOKED AND INVITED BACK
Most burnout talks focus on mindset, resilience, or self-care.
Dr. Julie’s work reframes burnout and disconnection as physiological realities, not personal shortcomings. She gives leaders and high-achieving women the language they’ve been missing—and a framework that actually holds up under real pressure.
Audiences leave with:
Immediate relief: “This explains exactly how I feel.”
Clarity: “Now I understand why nothing else worked.”
Direction: “We know what needs to change—and what won’t help.”
This is why her work resonates across healthcare systems, leadership spaces, and conversations about midlife, identity, and intimacy.
WHO THIS WORK IS FOR
Dr. Julie speaks to:
Healthcare systems and hospital networks
Mental health, education, and human-services organizations
Women’s leadership conferences and professional associations
Corporate teams in high-responsibility roles
Media platforms addressing burnout, midlife, and women’s health
Her work is especially impactful for women over 40 navigating professional pressure, caregiving demands, and the physiological shifts of midlife.
THE UNIFYING FRAMEWORK: ONE NERVOUS SYSTEM
Burnout. Compassion fatigue. Emotional flatness. Loss of desire. Disconnection.
These are often treated as separate problems.
They are not.
The nervous system does not compartmentalize.
When the nervous system is chronically dysregulated:
Burnout persists even after time off
Empathy turns into resentment
High performers quietly disengage
Desire and vitality shut down as a protective response
When regulation is restored:
Capacity returns
Decision-making improves
Emotional availability increases
Engagement, creativity, and intimacy follow
Dr. Julie’s work gives audiences a coherent explanation for what’s happening—and a practical, trauma-informed framework that applies whether the struggle shows up at work, at home, or in the body itself.
CORE SPEAKING TOPICS
All talks are customized to the audience, industry, and context.
Each keynote is grounded in nervous system science and designed to create clarity, relief, and sustainable change.
Nervous System Regulation as the Organizational Advantage
Why burnout, disengagement, and attrition persist—and how physiology changes outcomes
Burnout is no longer a morale issue. It’s a capacity issue.
This keynote reframes nervous system regulation as a strategic advantage, showing organizations how chronic stress reshapes performance, decision-making, and retention—and what actually restores sustainable capacity.
Ideal for:
Healthcare systems, leadership summits, HR conferences, executive teams
Why High Performers Burn Out Quietly
The biology behind exhaustion in capable, committed people
Most high achievers don’t collapse—they keep functioning while slowly depleting.
This talk explains why burnout often goes unnoticed in top performers, how over functioning becomes a survival strategy, and why pushing harder makes things worse.
Ideal for:
Professional associations, leadership conferences, high-responsibility roles
When Performance Culture Overrides Physiology
Why productivity systems fail when the nervous system is ignored
Many organizations reward output while unknowingly eroding the physiology required to sustain it.
This keynote helps leaders understand how performance pressure interacts with the nervous system—and how to redesign expectations without sacrificing results.
Ideal for:
Corporate leadership, executive education, future-of-work events
Compassion Fatigue Is a Nervous System Injury
The hidden cost of caring—and how to stop the bleed
For clinicians, educators, caregivers, and helping professionals, compassion fatigue is not emotional weakness—it’s a biological response to prolonged exposure.
This talk provides language, validation, and a framework for protecting empathy without burning out the people who provide it.
Ideal for:
Healthcare, mental health, education, human services organizations
When the Nervous System Is the Real Caseload
Why burnout persists even after time off—and what actually helps
If rest alone worked, burnout would be rare.
This keynote explains why vacations and reduced hours don’t resolve chronic exhaustion—and how nervous system regulation restores capacity across work, relationships, and identity.
Ideal for:
Healthcare systems, clinician conferences, leadership retreats
Midlife, Capacity, and the Cost of Over Functioning
Why women over 40 are burning out differently—and what restores agency
This talk addresses the intersection of chronic stress, perimenopause, identity strain, and sustained responsibility in women leaders.
It reframes midlife burnout not as decline—but as a physiological reckoning that requires a different approach.
Ideal for:
Women’s leadership conferences, professional associations, corporate women’s initiatives
The Nervous System of Desire
Why intimacy, vitality, and connection shut down under chronic stress—and how they return
Loss of desire is often treated as a personal or relational problem.
This keynote reframes intimacy as a nervous system function—explaining how chronic stress, overfunctioning, and survival mode suppress aliveness, and how regulation restores connection safely.
Ideal for:
Women’s conferences, wellness summits, media platforms, retreat settings
From Over Functioning to Sustainable Leadership
How organizations stop losing their most experienced people
Over functioning looks like commitment—until it leads to disengagement and attrition.
This talk helps leaders recognize over functioning as a nervous system pattern and shows how to create cultures that support longevity, wisdom, and sustainable leadership.
Ideal for:
Executive teams, leadership development programs, organizational strategy events
WHAT MAKES DR. JULIE DIFFERENT
Dr. Julie brings together:
Academic authority as a PhD-prepared counselor educator and researcher
Clinical depth from decades working with professional helpers
Lived experience leading, teaching, and burning out inside the system
Clear frameworks leaders can immediately apply
Her delivery is grounded, intelligent, and deeply human—warm without being performative, direct without being shaming.
This work doesn’t just resonate emotionally.
It changes how people interpret their experience—and that’s where real change begins.
THE BOOKS THAT ANCHOR THIS WORK
Author | Podcaster | Soul Joy Fanatic
Dr. Julie’s speaking is grounded in two complementary books that apply the same nervous-system foundation to different lived experiences:
In Pursuit of Soul Joy
A clinically grounded guide to understanding burnout and compassion fatigue—and restoring capacity without dismantling your life.
Are We Gonna Have Sex or What? (Coming Spring 2026)
A nervous-system-informed exploration of desire, embodiment, and intimacy in midlife—without pressure, performance, or self-betrayal.
Together, these works reflect the full arc of her message:
When the nervous system is supported, women don’t just function better—they live better.
MEDIA & NATIONAL APPEARANCES
Dr. Julie has been featured on national podcasts and television platforms focused on women’s health, leadership, and burnout recovery, including:
I’ll Have What She’s Having, Shine In Shine Out, Dance to Heal, Wellness Growth, Soul Loom, High Vibe Mom’s Club, The Practice of Therapy, SoulShift, The Meredith Patterson Show, The Daily Influencer, Butterfly Days
Television appearances include:
WHO TV – Hello Iowa
North Dakota Today
Great Day Washington
KATU Television
WHAT EVENT PLANNERS NOTICE
Audiences stay engaged no mass phone-checking
People feel seen, not blamed
Leaders hear what their teams haven’t had language for
The conversation continues long after the event
This work doesn’t offer quick fixes.
It changes the frame and that’s why it sticks.
BOOKING DR. JULIE
Dr. Julie accepts a limited number of speaking engagements each year to protect the depth and integrity of her work.
She is a strong fit for organizations seeking:
Research-grounded, trauma-informed insight
Nervous-system-based frameworks
Conversations that move beyond surface solutions
A speaker who can hold complexity without overwhelm
NEXT STEP
If you’re looking for a speaker who can:
Name what others are missing
Shift how people understand burnout and disconnection
Protect your most valuable people from quiet attrition
Then this is a conversation worth having.
Please include:
Organization or event name
Audience type and size
Event goals
Date and location
Purposeful inquiries receive priority consideration.
