Work was not designed with women’s bodies, caregiving realities, or full lives in mind. And mothers have been quietly carrying the cost—for generations. I partner with leaders and institutions to rethink how work is structured, so women and families are not depleted by the very systems they sustain.
Reimagining how work is designed so women, mothers, and families can thrive in the workplace.
For Leaders & Institutions
Pathways
There are a few distinct ways to engage my work:
Redesigning work systems so women, mothers, and families can stay, lead, and contribute fully.
Centering YOU® Card Deck
A postpartum support tool grounded in perinatal mental health, used by healthcare and community systems.
Therapy
Individual psychotherapy offered in a clearly bounded clinical setting.
A Different Way Forward
I bring decades of clinical experience in perinatal and maternal mental health into systems-level work with organizations.
Rather than asking women to adapt to broken structures,I help leaders examine and redesign the conditions that shape how work is done.
This work is not about wellness initiatives or individual resilience.
It’s about structural change that makes sustainable contribution possible.
Who This Work Is For
Leaders responsible for retention, culture, and policy
Organizations struggling to retain women and mothers
Healthcare, nonprofit, and mission-driven institutions ready to rethink work design
If you’re looking for quick fixes, this may not be the right place. If you’re ready to address the real drivers of loss and possibility you’re welcome here.This work is especially relevant for organizations struggling with the retention of women and working mothers.
How This Work Shows Up
Consulting and advisory partnerships
Workshops and leadership sessions
Speaking and facilitated conversations
Project-based collaborations focused on systems change
Each engagement is shaped to context, and grounded in the belief that when systems work for women and mothers, they work better for everyone.
The Problem We Need to Name
Burnout is often cited as the issue but it’s only a symptom.
What’s really happening is systemic depletion: workplace systems that rely on invisible labor, ignore caregiving realities, and erode the capacity of women and mothers over time.The cost shows up in retention, health, and strained family systems and in the quiet loss of creativity, leadership, and cultural impact.
Burnout among working mothers and women in the workplace is often treated as an individual issue, when it is actually a signal of systems that are not designed for caregiving realities
Elizabeth O’Brien, LPC
This is therapy. This is consulting. This is your Shift.
I’m Elizabeth—a psychotherapist, consultant, and founder of The Shift Shop.
My work sits at the intersection of nervous system science, feminist business design, and systems-level care. I bring over three decades of experience working with women, families, leaders, and organizations navigating trauma, transition, and change. I believe business, healthcare, and leadership are cultural practices and that how we design them matters.
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Reimagining Business as a Practice of Care and Cultural Change
At The Shift Shop, feminist business design is the framework guiding how we work, lead, and grow. It begins with the radical belief that business can be a space of repair — a place where empathy, equity, and imagination shape every decision.
We integrate the intelligence of the body, the interdependence of living systems, and the wisdom of community into business strategy. This approach moves beyond traditional, extractive models of success toward ones rooted in regeneration, reciprocity, and collective well-being.
Here, success is measured not just in output, but in alignment — in how our work sustains people, purpose, and the planet. Feminist business design invites us to institutionalize empathy, build structures that hold emotional truth, and design enterprises where everyone can flourish.
