Professional burnout is often misunderstood as a personal shortcoming. Indeed, hustle culture tends to characterize it as a failure of stamina, commitment, or grit. But as author, mental health leader, and Amen Clinic’s certification facilitator Barbara Gustavson demonstrates in her work, the truth is far more compassionate, brain-based, and solvable.

In her new book—Regroup: How to Reset Your Mind so You Can Unlock Hidden Energy, Enjoy Productive Peace, and Feel Like Yourself Again—Gustavson reframes the physical and emotional exhaustion leaders experience with burnout as a signal rather than a personal weakness. Learning how to constructively and effectively respond to this type of red flag is the book’s guiding theme.

Here at Amen University, Barbara Gustavson guides professionals through the science and practice of brain health. Her depth of experience and calm authority make her both an excellent educator and guide for professionals.

In this blog, we celebrate Gustavson’s book and the important brain-health message it sends to leaders everywhere.

A New Type of Leadership

Gustavson specializes in supporting people who carry a high level of responsibility, such as caregivers, healthcare professionals, executives, and community leaders. These individuals often have a natural instinct to serve others first and themselves last—an approach that can lead to depletion over time. Her work teaches leaders to cultivate resilience rather than endurance at all costs. She helps them learn to see the warning signs before depletion turns into breakdown.

In a recent LA Weekly article titled, “The Brain Behind the Caregiver: How Barbara Gustavson Is Helping Leaders Reset Before They Break Down,” Gustavson articulates what so many professionals feel but struggle to name. Rather than viewing burnout as a failure of personal willpower, she reframes chronic stress as a nervous-system-level challenge that requires intentional, science-backed intervention. Her approach blends psychology, neuroscience, and humanity, offering not just insight but practical tools leaders can actually use.

This philosophy comes to life most powerfully in Regroup. The book sheds light on why leaders often fail to recognize burnout until it has already taken a toll. It also articulates how small, intentional resets can restore energy, focus, and emotional balance. Ultimately, Regroup is about sustaining the capacity to lead, care, and contribute with intention.

The Culmination of Education and Experience

Gustavson’s credibility is grounded in both education and lived experience. With a master’s degree in psychology and decades of work in leadership development and mental health, she understands the internal tension of caring deeply while running on empty.

In Regroup, she explains that sustainable leadership begins with self-awareness, self-compassion, and an understanding of how the brain responds to prolonged stress.

At Amen University, Gustavson brings these principles directly into the professional training space. Her teaching empowers others to integrate brain health into their work, ensuring that care for others never comes at the cost of personal well-being.

At a time when burnout is increasingly normalized, Gustavson challenges unhealthy lifestyle habits in leadership and offers real solutions geared toward lasting well-being. Her work reminds us that resilience is not about pushing through pain but about recognizing limits, honoring the brain, and choosing restoration. A healthy leader is a better leader.

For overstressed professionals, Gustavson is both a mirror that validates their exhaustion and a guide who shows them how to move forward with strength, balance, and purpose. As Gustavson herself so wisely reminds us: “Even anchors need something to hold onto.”

To learn more about brain-based solutions for sustainable leadership without burnout, order your copy of Regroup: How to Reset Your Mind to Unlock Hidden Energy, Enjoy Productive Peace, and Feel Like Yourself Again today.