Beyond Burnout: Building Resilient Teams for Long-Term Success

In an exclusive interview with CanadianSME Small Business Magazine, Aanchal Vash, Mental Health Speaker, High-Performance Wellness Expert, and 5x Bestselling Author, shares her insights on achieving success without burnout. After the tragic loss of her twin brother to suicide, Aanchal dedicated her life to breaking mental health stigmas and helping individuals and organizations develop resilience. As the founder of Reach Out Together, she has impacted countless lives through mental health education and wellness training. In this conversation, she discusses the importance of mental fitness, strategies for preventing burnout, and how leaders can foster a workplace culture that supports both well-being and peak performance.

Aanchal Vash is a Mental Health Speaker, High-Performance Wellness Expert, and 5x Bestselling Author on a mission to help people achieve success without burning out. After losing her twin brother to suicide in 2016, she made it her life’s work to break the stigma around mental health and teach people how to build resilience. She founded Reach Out Together, a nonprofit that provides mental health education and wellness training, and has worked with corporations, schools, and communities to help people develop real strategies to manage stress. She’s been featured in SiriusXM, CBC, Yahoo Finance, Thrive Global, and Women Entrepreneur India, and speaks on mental fitness, leadership, and avoiding burnout.

How do you believe training mental fitness can lead to long-term success, especially in high-pressure environments, and what strategies do you recommend for implementing this approach?

Mental fitness is just as important as physical fitness—especially in high-pressure environments. Without it, stress accumulates, decision-making suffers, and performance declines. Training mental fitness helps individuals develop emotional agility, resilience, and the ability to adapt under pressure, ultimately leading to long-term success.

A key strategy is proactive mental conditioning, which involves daily habits that strengthen emotional endurance, much like a workout strengthens muscles. I recommend the 3R Framework: Recognize, Reframe, Release—recognizing stress triggers, reframing negative thoughts, and releasing tension through movement, mindfulness, or professional support.

For organizations, mental fitness should be embedded in leadership development and workplace culture. This means providing mental health first aid training, integrating microbreaks and recovery strategies, and normalizing conversations around stress. Leaders who model these behaviors set a standard that helps teams sustain high performance without sacrificing wellbeing.

You often discuss how top performers are particularly vulnerable to burnout. Can you elaborate on why this is the case and share some practical advice on how they can break this cycle?

Top performers are wired to push limits. They thrive on achievement, often tying their self-worth to productivity. This “high-performance trap” creates a cycle where success leads to more responsibility, leaving little room for recovery. Over time, stress compounds into burnout; making it difficult to sustain excellence.

To break this cycle, top performers must redefine success to include sustainability. I advise them to follow The 4P Method: Pause, Prioritize, Protect, and Perform:

1. Pause – Regular check-ins on stress levels prevent burnout from creeping in.
2. Prioritize – Not every task requires urgency; focus on high-impact activities.
3. Protect – Set non-negotiable recovery time (e.g., digital detox, sleep, movement).
4. Perform – A well-rested, mentally fit individual outperforms an exhausted one.

Organizations must also shift from a “always-on” culture to performance cycles—balancing intensity with strategic recovery. This ensures longevity in success rather than short bursts followed by burnout.

What steps can leaders take to create a work culture that supports both performance and well-being, and how do you see this impacting business outcomes?

A culture that balances high performance with wellbeing is not a luxury—it’s a business advantage. Companies that prioritize mental fitness see lower absenteeism, higher engagement, and stronger innovation.

Leaders play a crucial role in this transformation. They must:

1. Lead by Example – Model healthy behaviors, such as taking breaks and setting boundaries. When leaders prioritize their wellbeing, it normalizes self-care for employees.
2. Train for Mental Resilience – Equip teams with mental health first aid training to recognize and address stress before it escalates.
3. Redefine Productivity – Encourage focused, high-impact work over long, draining hours. Performance thrives when recovery is built into the process.
4. Foster Psychological Safety – Create spaces where employees feel safe discussing challenges without fear of stigma or repercussions.

The impact? Stronger retention, increased creativity, and a workforce that doesn’t just survive—but thrives.

Your work is deeply personal, inspired by your brother’s struggles. How has your personal journey influenced your approach to mental health advocacy, and what lessons do you hope others can learn from your experiences?

Losing my twin brother, Tushar, to suicide in 2016 was a turning point in my life. I witnessed his struggles with self-harm and untreated stress, and it made me realize how many people suffer in silence. His passing ignited my mission to break cultural stigma around mental health and advocate for proactive intervention.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that stress and mental health struggles don’t always look the way we expect them to. Tushar was charismatic, intelligent, and outwardly successful—yet he was suffering internally. That realization forced me to look inward, and I discovered that I, too, was coping with stress in unhealthy ways—masking emotional pain through overworking.

Now, I focus on recovery strategies—for individuals and organizations—to prevent others from reaching a breaking point. My message: You don’t have to wait for a crisis to prioritize mental health. Prevention is the best intervention.

As a mental health advocate and wellness expert, what final advice or insights would you like to share with small and medium-sized businesses looking to prioritize mental fitness and resilience in their operations?

SMBs are the backbone of the economy. They often operate in high-pressure environments with limited resources. This makes mental fitness a critical investment, not just a “nice-to-have.” A resilient workforce leads to higher retention, increased innovation, and sustainable growth.

Here’s my advice for SMBs:

1. Start with Leadership Buy-In – If leaders prioritize mental wellness, employees will follow.
2. Implement Small but Impactful Changes – Flexible work hours, clear communication, and structured recovery time can prevent burnout.
3. Train Teams on Mental Fitness – Mental health first aid, stress management workshops, and peer support systems can make a measurable difference.
4. Create a Culture of Psychological Safety – Employees should feel safe discussing challenges and seeking help without fear of repercussions.
5. Measure Impact – Track wellbeing indicators just as you would performance metrics. A mentally fit team is a high-performing team.

Stress Awareness Month is a perfect time to make these shifts—not just for April, but for long-term business success.

CanadianSME

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