The Antidote to Burnout: Why Play Belongs at Work

Burnout isn’t just a personal problem, it’s a cultural one. In today’s high-performance, always-on workplace, too many people are running on empty. What if the solution wasn’t another wellness app or time-off policy, but a bold return to one of our most powerful and underused tools for resilience: play?

In this research-backed keynote, Christina Cherry — burnout coach and founder of Camp Playstate — invites leaders and teams to rethink how we show up at work. Through a mix of science, storytelling, and light interaction, Christina shows how play can reduce stress, boost creativity, and *most importantly,* create cultures where people want to stay and grow.

This is not about ping pong tables or forced fun. This is about building work environments where humans thrive.

Takeaways & Learning Objectives

By the end of this keynote, attendees will:

• Understand the neuroscience of play and how it functions as a biological need (not a luxury) in combating burnout.

• Recognize the hidden costs of burnout on team performance, morale, and retention—and how workplace culture either fuels or alleviates it.

• Identify their own “play style” to better understand how different people recharge, collaborate, and contribute.

• Learn 3 practical, scalable ways to bring play into team dynamics and daily workflows—no budget or ping pong table required.

• Walk away feeling re-energized, inspired, and equipped to lead with joy—without sacrificing results.

Perfect for:

• Company off-sites and leadership retreats

• HR or People & Culture conferences

• Workplace wellness summits

• Corporate learning & development series

Add-On: Team Workshop

Make the keynote stick with a follow-up workshop where teams apply what they’ve learned through guided activities, play-style assessments, and real-time culture mapping.

Interested in booking me for your next conference or event? Email me HERE.