Career Crisis: How Loved Ones Can Support — Without Making Things Worse

A career crisis doesn't only affect the person going through it. Partners, parents, and close friends find themselves caught in a state of sustained tension, anxiety, and helplessness. Dr. Saulitis emphasises: the people around someone in crisis need support and attention in their own right — sometimes just as urgently as the person themselves.

Why "just being there" isn't enough

The impulse to help a loved one is natural. But without understanding what is actually happening, that help can turn into pressure, overprotection, or withdrawal. Family members sometimes end up in a worse emotional state than the person in crisis — and at that point, their presence becomes an added burden rather than a resource.

Your role is to complement professional help, not replace it

A career crisis calls for professional support: a psychotherapist, a coach, a physician — depending on the severity of what's happening. The role of a loved one is not to carry all the weight alone, but to be part of a support team. In practice, this means maintaining connection, not dismissing the difficulty, not rushing the person toward a "solution" — and seeking help for yourself when needed.

When loved ones need their own support

Dr. Saulitis makes a particular point of this: it is not uncommon for family members and partners to arrive at a consultation in a state that requires its own separate work. This is not weakness — it is a predictable pattern. Witnessing someone else's suffering continuously, feeling responsible for their choices, fearing that anything you say might make things worse — all of this depletes. Reaching out for help yourself is not abandoning your loved one; it is what makes sustained support possible at all.

What actually helps

• Avoid demanding explanations or immediate decisions
• Accept that you are not expected to have all the answers
• Support the person's contact with professionals without trying to replace them
• Monitor your own state — and don't postpone getting help for yourself