Career Health Institute
Advancing a New Way of Understanding the Relationship Between Work, Health, and Human Flourishing
For decades, we've recognized that sleep, nutrition, exercise, relationships, and mental health shape our well-being.
Yet we've largely overlooked one of the most influential parts of adult life: Our careers.
The Career Health Institute exists to advance a simple but transformative idea:
How we work is a determinant of health.
The careers we build shape far more than our income or professional success. They influence our physical health, mental health, relationships, identity, longevity, and overall quality of life. Yet career health has never been recognized as a formal area of research, measurement, education, or practice.
We believe it's time to change that.
Why Career Health Matters
Modern work has changed.
People are working longer hours, carrying greater responsibility, navigating constant technological change, and remaining mentally connected to work long after the workday ends.
At the same time, rates of burnout, anxiety, depression, stress-related illness, disengagement, and career dissatisfaction continue to rise.
We've spent decades asking:
"How do we help people become more successful?"
The Career Health Institute asks a different question:
How do we help people build extraordinary careers that also support healthier, richer lives?
Because career success and personal well-being should never have to compete.
Our Mission
The Career Health Institute advances the science and practice of Career Health through research, measurement, education, and public engagement.
Our work brings together psychology, medicine, organizational science, leadership, and career development to better understand how careers influence human health—and how healthier careers can improve individual and organizational outcomes.
We are committed to building the evidence, language, tools, and professional standards needed to establish Career Health as an essential dimension of human well-being.
Our Work
The Career Health Institute advances the science and practice of Career Health through eight interconnected areas of work.
Clinical Frameworks
We develop conceptual frameworks that help clinicians, researchers, and organizations better understand the psychological processes that connect careers and health. This includes the Career Distress Response (CDR) framework, which describes how chronic career-related distress develops and manifests across emotional, cognitive, physical, relational, personal, and behavioral domains.
Measurement
Meaningful change begins with meaningful measurement. We develop and validate evidence-based assessments that help individuals, clinicians, researchers, and organizations recognize, measure, and monitor career health over time. This includes the ongoing development and validation of the Career Distress Inventory (CDI).
Intervention Approaches
Understanding career distress is only the beginning. We develop evidence-informed intervention approaches that help people build healthier relationships with work and make sustainable career decisions. This includes Career-Focused Therapy (CFT), a psychologically grounded treatment modality, and the Career Harmony Framework, which provides practical pathways for redesigning, expanding, and reinventing careers in ways that support long-term well-being.
Research
We conduct and support research that expands our understanding of how careers influence physical health, mental health, relationships, performance, and long-term well-being. Our goal is to build the scientific foundation for Career Health as an emerging field of study while continually evaluating and refining the frameworks that guide the field.
Professional Education
Career Health cannot grow without professionals who understand it. We develop educational programs that equip psychologists, physicians, coaches, HR professionals, organizational leaders, and other practitioners with the knowledge and skills to recognize, prevent, and address career-related distress.
Certification
We are developing certification pathways that establish standards of competence for professionals who want to integrate Career Health principles into clinical practice, leadership, organizational consulting, and career development.
Organizational Innovation & Partnerships
Healthy careers are shaped not only by individuals but also by the systems in which they work. We partner with organizations, healthcare systems, universities, and professional associations to improve workplace well-being, leadership practices, organizational culture, and career sustainability through evidence-informed consulting, education, and strategic initiatives.
Public Thought Leadership
We bring Career Health into the broader public conversation through books, speaking, media, research translation, and strategic partnerships. By making this work accessible beyond academic and clinical settings, we aim to reshape how individuals, organizations, and society understand the relationship between work, health, and human flourishing.
A Different Conversation About Success
For generations, we've measured careers by promotions, titles, compensation, and achievement.
Those things matter.
But they tell only part of the story.
The Career Health Institute believes we should also ask:
Is your career supporting your physical health?
Is it strengthening or eroding your relationships?
Does it allow you to be present for the people who matter most?
Is success expanding your life—or quietly consuming it?
Can you continue working this way for another ten years?
These questions deserve the same attention as salary, status, and advancement.
Because the healthiest career isn't simply the one that looks successful.
It's the one that allows you to build a meaningful life.
Looking Ahead
Career Health is still an emerging field.
Our vision is to help establish the research, measurement, education, and institutional partnerships that will shape its future.
Current and upcoming initiatives include:
The Career Distress Inventory (CDI)
Scientific research on Career Distress Response
Professional education and training
Organizational partnerships
Public thought leadership
Annual insights and future reports on the state of Career Health
This is only the beginning.
About the Founder
The Career Health Institute was founded by Dr. Angelica Perez-Litwin, a clinical psychologist, executive career advisor, researcher, and author of The Great Unraveling.
After more than two decades working with accomplished professionals, she recognized a pattern that traditional approaches to burnout, stress, and career development did not fully explain. That work led to the development of the Career Distress Response framework and a broader vision for Career Health as a new way of understanding the relationship between work and well-being.
She founded the Career Health Institute to lead and advance this emerging field through research, education, measurement, and public engagement.
Collaborate With the Career Health Institute
Career Health is an emerging field that will require collaboration across disciplines, institutions, and industries.
The Career Health Institute welcomes opportunities to work with researchers, universities, healthcare systems, professional associations, organizational leaders, clinicians, journalists, podcast hosts, and others interested in advancing a healthier and more sustainable future of work.
You may be reaching out about:
Research collaborations and academic partnerships
Speaking engagements, keynotes, panels, and workshops
Podcast, media, and interview requests
Clinical education and professional training
Organizational consulting and strategic partnerships
The Career Distress Inventory and related research
Career Health Institute initiatives
Other opportunities to advance the field of Career Health
Whether you are exploring a research partnership, planning an event, developing a story, or interested in bringing Career Health into your organization, we would be glad to hear from you.
Let’s Start a Conversation
Please share a few details about your inquiry below. A member of our team will review your message and respond as appropriate.