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Attunigrate

  • Burnout & Exhaustion Therapy in Michigan

    Attunigrate offers virtual therapy for adults across Michigan who have run out of capacity. Not tired in a way a weekend fixes. Tired in a way that has changed how you feel about work you used to care about. Sessions are online, most major insurance is accepted.

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Does this sound like you?

You used to care about this work and you cannot locate that feeling anymore

The weekend does nothing. Neither did the holiday

You're still delivering, which is why nobody has noticed

Small requests land like large ones

You've become someone short with people you love, and you can watch it happening without stopping it

You cannot tell if you're burnt out or depressed, and you've looked it up

 more than once

What's actually happening

Burnout is what happens when demand outruns recovery for long enough that your system stops trying to keep up and starts conserving instead. The flatness, the cynicism, the loss of interest in work that used to matter: those are not character changes. They are what conservation looks like from inside.


This is why rest alone often does not fix it. A week off reduces the demand briefly without changing anything about the conditions producing it, so the system does not stand down. It has no evidence that anything is different.


It is also why burnout and depression are so hard to tell apart, including for clinicians. They share most symptoms. The useful distinction is usually about scope: burnout tends to be tied to a domain, most often work, while depression tends to flatten everything, including things you would still enjoy if you had the capacity.

How we treat it

Somatic Therapy​

Anxiety lives in the body before it reaches language. Somatic work builds the capacity to notice it and settle it without arguing with it first.

Internal Family Systems (IFS)

The part of you that performs and the part that resents performing are both trying to protect you. IFS gets them talking instead of fighting.

Mindfulness & Breathwork

Practical regulation you can use inside a working day, not only in session.

If you've tried therapy before and it didn't help

A lot of our clients are not new to therapy. They are new to therapy that did not require them to translate first. If you spent your last round of sessions explaining your family, your culture, or your community before you could get to what was actually wrong, the therapy was not the problem. The fit was. Tell us what happened last time in your first session. It is useful information, not a complaint.

What the first six sessions look like

Before you start

A free consult with the therapist you have been matched to. You are matched on what you are bringing, not on who has an opening, and you still have to feel safe with the person in front of you. We verify your insurance and tell  you your exact cost before session one.

Sessions 1 and 2

 History and what brought you here: the primary concern, and the life events that led to it. There is paperwork at this stage, and it can feel like a lot. No one is asking you to relive anything yet. By the end of session 2, you and your therapist set goals together, on a three- to six-month horizon.

Sessions 3 and 4

 You are both still getting acclimated, and you are deciding together how to approach the thing you came in for. Your therapist is mostly listening here rather than teaching. This is your time to talk and put things down.

Sessions 5 and 6

 If EMDR was part of the plan at intake, this is usually where it starts. If it was not, this is often where your therapist starts handing you language: words for patterns you have lived a long time without being able to name. By this point, the early doubts have been said out loud and dealt with, and it feels safe to work.

How long does this actually take?

Most clients notice something has shifted somewhere between three and six months in. Real, but not dramatic. The larger changes tend to arrive in year one and year two.


We would rather tell you that now than have you decide at month two that therapy does not work. Nishani, Shelby, and Desiree work psychodynamically, which starts from the position that people do not change quickly and there is no point pretending otherwise. Many of their clients stay for years because they want to. If you want something more contained, Dr. Leija works short-term, usually six to eight months.

Who you'd work with

Desiree Messina

LCSW

Eating disorders, body image, athletes, and performance pressure

What clients say

"Desiree gave me exactly what I needed to work on. My relationship with food has been changing for the better because of her. She gets it."  (J.P.)

Meet Desiree

Dr. Silvia Leija

PhD, LMFT

Bilingual Spanish. Couples, chronic pain, complex trauma, immigration evaluations

What clients say

"I love love love Silvia. She helps me alot. I can see different points of views when I'm stuck. And I love that we align on so much."  (A.T.)

Book with Dr. Silvia

Shelby McCliggott

LPC, ACS, EMDR-T

Sexual assault and domestic violence recovery, PTSD, veterans, Black women's mental health

What clients say

"Shelby has been incredible to work with. I am getting to process so much. She is direct but effective. So glad I found her."  (K.D.)

Book with Shelby

Insurance & Payment Options for Therapy in Michigan

We accept most major insurance plans. Attunigrate is in-network with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Blue Care Network, Aetna, Priority Health, and UnitedHealthcare.

Most clients using insurance pay a copay between $25 and $75 per session, depending on their plan. We verify your exact cost before your first session so there are no surprises.


Private pay is $150 per session with most of our therapists, $175 with Dr. Leija.
We do not accept Medicare or Medicaid.

Check your coverage
See full pricing

This doesn't get better by pushing harder

 Book a first session and tell us what's going on. We'll take it from there.

Start your becoming

FAQ's

They share most symptoms, so the honest answer is that it is often both. The useful difference is scope. Burnout usually attaches to a domain, most often work, and lifts somewhat when you are fully away from it. Depression tends to flatten everything, including what you would otherwise enjoy.

Yes, though it changes what the work is. When the conditions cannot move, the work is on recovery capacity, boundaries inside the role, and what the job is costing you, so the decision about staying becomes a real choice rather than one made by exhaustion.

Possibly not. If a genuine break restores you, that was depletion and rest was the right answer. If you have taken the break and came back to the same flatness within a week, rest is not the missing piece.

Most clients notice something has shifted between three and six months in. Dr. Leija works short term, usually six to eight months, which suits burnout better than most presentations.

It is a recognised occupational phenomenon rather than a mental health diagnosis, which matters mainly for insurance paperwork. Your therapist will work with what you are actually experiencing regardless of what it is called.

Usually. We are in network with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Blue Care Network, Aetna, Priority Health, and UnitedHealthcare. Most clients using insurance pay a copay between $25 and $75 per session. Private pay is $150, or $175 with Dr. Leija. We do not accept Medicare or Medicaid.