My Story
My Breaking Point
In 2020, during the height of the COVID pandemic, I found myself at the centre of a large-scale redundancy process. As part of the HR team, I was managing the very system that could have decided my own future. Every day was filled with uncertainty. Each restructure and every meeting came with the quiet dread that my job could be next. I survived those cuts, but the months of not knowing were draining. I kept my professional face on while inside I was crumbling. At the same time, my personal life was falling apart. My mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer and I was trying to balance caring for her with the relentless demands of work. She passed away, and only a year later, I lost my dad to cancer too. There was no real time to grieve, only pressure to keep going.
When the next wave of redundancies came, I was spared again. But instead of feeling relieved, I felt empty. Survival was not empowering. It left me hollow, anxious, and disconnected. I was delivering bad news to others, holding their emotions, and holding workplaces together while I was falling apart privately. My confidence began to unravel. I was exhausted, disengaged, and burning out, though no one around me could see it.
The Breakdown
Eventually, the pressure broke me. It was not just a dip in motivation, but a complete collapse of body and mind. Panic attacks became frequent. My anxiety spiralled out of control. I was not simply tired. I was lost. As an HR professional, I had spent so long supporting others and keeping up the appearance of strength that when I finally broke, I had no idea what to do next. The lack of support and the silence around what burnout really does to people only made the fall harder.
And yet, that breakdown became the turning point. It forced me to reassess how I lived, how I worked, and what I truly needed in order to feel like myself again. I turned to coaching, hypnotherapy, NLP, and deep reflective work. I began unpicking the patterns that had driven me into burnout and slowly started rebuilding. It was not a quick fix. It was a process of grounding myself, becoming self-aware, and allowing myself to be human.
Why I Coach Men
That experience shaped everything I do now. I coach men who have been through upheaval, whether professional or personal, and who may still be functioning on the surface. They go to work, support their families, and appear capable, but inside they feel disconnected, drained, and overwhelmed. They are the men others call strong and reliable, yet they are carrying the weight of unprocessed grief, loss, or disappointment. Many have never been given the space to talk about it, so they hold it in until it burns them out.
I do this work because I know what it feels like to be that man. The one who keeps saying “I’m alright” when he is not. The one who carries shame and grief in silence because he has never been shown another way. My coaching is not about fixing men, because they are not broken. It is about helping them reconnect with their energy, their identity, and their values so they can stop surviving and start living again. Holding it all together is not the same as living, and every man deserves a life that feels like his own.
Let's work together
Begin your journey towards a happier and more fulfilling life by taking the first step today.
© 2025 Matthew Line-Hayward. Burnout Recovery Coaching for Professional Men All rights reserved.