Helping your body remember how to heal, so you can keep helping the planet
Chiropractor, burnout coach and nervous system nerd for climate professionals
I'm Peter Bennett. I work with people who spend their days thinking about the climate crisis and their nights wondering how much longer their bodies can keep up.
My starting point is simple: your body is not broken. Underneath the insomnia, tension and exhaustion is a biology that is trying very hard to protect you. When we give it better conditions, it has a powerful tendency to move back towards balance on its own.
My job is not to push you harder or teach you to ignore your signals. It's to help you understand what your nervous system is trying to do, reduce the load where we can, and create enough safety that your natural resilience can return.
From lab coat to clinic to climate burnout
My working life started in molecular biology. I trained as a scientist, then went on to postgraduate research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. I loved understanding how things worked at a deep level.
Over time I moved from the lab to hands-on clinical work, spending more than 25 years working with spines, nervous systems and people whose bodies were quietly struggling under chronic stress.
Again and again I saw the same pattern: when we reduced interference and gave the body even a little more room, it would often do something remarkable. Pain would ease. Sleep would deepen. People would feel more like themselves again—not because I had “fixed” them, but because their own biology finally had space to do what it already knew how to do.
More recently, a growing number of the people in front of me were working in climate and social impact roles. Their nervous systems weren't malfunctioning; they were faithfully responding to a world full of urgent signals.
Trust nature. Trust the body. We don't have to bully your biology into behaving. We have to understand what it's trying to protect you from, and then make enough gentle changes that it can loosen its grip.
That's what my work with climate professionals is built on: deep respect for your mission, and deep respect for the wisdom of the body carrying it.
People who refuse to stop caring, even when they're tired
The people I work with are usually highly capable, highly committed and a bit allergic to the idea of “slowing down.” They include:
- Climate scientists, analysts and policy experts
- Campaigners, organisers and movement builders
- Communications and media leads in climate organisations
- People working in adjacent social and environmental justice roles
On paper, many of them look like they're coping. In reality, their nervous systems are working flat out, and the cost is starting to spill into their health, relationships and sense of hope.
Common themes I hear:
- “I'm tired but I can't switch off.”
- “If I rest, I feel guilty. If I don't, I feel resentful.”
- “I'm scared that if I keep going like this, I'll have to leave the work entirely.”
If this sounds like you, you're exactly who I had in mind when I designed the Climate Burnout Assessment and the 12-month restoration programme.
Take the Climate Burnout AssessmentWhat “trusting the body” looks like in practice
A lot of burnout advice is about pushing harder in a different direction: more hacks, more routines, more effort. My approach is quieter and more respectful of your biology.
In practice, that means we:
- Start with understanding: what state your nervous system is actually in.
- Reduce shame: framing your reactions as intelligent responses to overload, not failures.
- Change conditions, not character: small, realistic shifts that your body can accept.
- Honour your mission: no pressure to abandon climate work or pretend you don't care.
- What is your body trying to protect you from?
- Where has it had to override its need for rest, play and connection?
- What tiny changes would let it trust that it can stand down a little?
When your body feels just a bit safer, your mind clears, your creativity returns, and the work becomes more sustainable.
The best way to begin is with a clear picture of where you are now. From there, we can decide together what level of support makes sense—if any.
Start with the assessmentQuestions people often ask
If you're wondering about these, you're not the only one.
Who do you mainly work with?
I mainly work with climate professionals and activists who feel overloaded, overwhelmed or on the edge of burnout, and who want to find a way to stay in the work without breaking themselves in the process.
Do I need to live near Cumbria to work with you?
No. While I'm based in Cumbria, much of the burnout and nervous system support is offered remotely. The ideas, practices and programmes are designed to work wherever you happen to be on the planet.
Is this medical treatment or a diagnosis service?
No. The work is educational and supportive. We're looking at patterns in your nervous system and your life, not handing out diagnoses. It's designed to sit alongside, not replace, medical care where that's needed.
Do you tell people to stop working on climate to recover?
No. I'm not here to persuade you to leave the work you care about. The aim is to help your nervous system feel safe and supported enough that you can stay engaged without burning out.
What is your core approach in a sentence or two?
Trust nature, trust the body. Instead of forcing yourself to be different, we remove some of the overload and create better conditions so your system can move back towards balance by itself.
Where should I start if I'm not sure what I need?
A simple, low-pressure starting point is the Climate Burnout Assessment. It will give you a clearer sense of your nervous system state and point you towards the level of support that might help most—or reassure you that small self-guided changes are enough for now.
If you still have questions after reading this, you're welcome to take the assessment or get in touch. Sometimes the next step becomes clearer once you've seen your situation in a more biological light.
Take the Climate Burnout AssessmentCopyrights 2025 | Climate Burnout™
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