Therapy for layoff anxiety, and for the layoff itself.
For people in tech watching the org chart, and for people who already got the calendar invite with no description.
Two versions of the same problem
Some people come in before anything has happened, because the waiting has become its own problem. Others come after, months later, still not sleeping. Things I hear:
- You check the layoff tracker sites before you check Slack.
- You read every all-hands for tone and every reorg announcement for what it isn't saying.
- You're working sixty-hour weeks to make yourself un-layoff-able, and you know that isn't a thing.
- Your next vest is fourteen months out, so you can't leave, and you can't relax either.
- You were locked out at 9am with a two-line email, and you still flinch at calendar invites with no description.
- The job search feels like a daily performance review with no feedback.
- You haven't told your parents. Either because you're fine financially and it's embarrassing, or because you're not and it's worse.
- You're on a visa, and the sixty-day clock sits under all of it.
None of this is an overreaction. It's still worth treating.
Why layoffs hit harder in tech
For a decade, tech companies told people the company was a family and the work was a mission. Then they cut a fifth of the org in a morning with a Slack shutoff and a form email. Part of what people are recovering from is the gap between those two messages.
There's also how it's done. Locked out before you've been told, cut off from colleagues mid-conversation, learning the news from a spreadsheet someone posted online. People describe it less like losing a job and more like being ejected.
Since 2023 a lot of people have been through this twice, or have watched friends go through it while waiting for their own turn. I've worked with people on both sides of that line.
How I work with it
If you're still employed, the first task is separating the question from the loop. There's a legitimate question about how exposed you are and what you'd do if it happened. Then there's the loop that runs the same scenario four hundred times without answering it. We answer the question and then work on the loop.
If it's already happened, the work looks more like grief than career coaching. There's usually anger and shame to deal with, an identity that was more attached to the badge than you realized, and a job search that needs to be paced for months rather than sprinted for three weeks.
In both cases I use cognitive-behavioral work for the anxiety and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for the question of what you want next. For some people that turns out not to be the same job at a different company.
More About MePrivate, out of network, and less complicated than it sounds.
I don't bill insurance, so nothing about your therapy reaches an insurer, an employer, or a background check. Most of my clients use out-of-network benefits. I provide a superbill after each session, and the plans common at tech companies often reimburse a large share of the $200 fee. Sessions are HSA and FSA eligible.
In person in Midtown Manhattan, or by secure video from anywhere in New York State. See fees and a worked reimbursement example.
Questions people ask before reaching out
No. Waiting for it is often harder on people than the event itself. If you've been in low-grade alarm for months, that's worth treating whatever happens to your job.
Ask me. I offer a reduced fee in some circumstances, severance packages often include continued health coverage that reimburses out-of-network care, and sessions can be spaced out. The consultation is free either way.
I'm not a career coach. What I can do is keep anxiety, shame, and burnout from running the search, which is what usually derails it.