How can I be doing everything right and still be burning out?
That was the question I asked myself in 2004 when I found myself having regular meltdowns in private after a day of teaching.
I loved my job. Work made me happy – I loved the energy of middle schoolers, the creativity, the connection, the collegiality and the kids. I thrived on being a teacher – it was a joyous expression of my being. I was on track for a principalship, in the middle of my masters, co-facilitating social justice education workshops for teachers at the district, running lots of extra-curriculars that lit me up.
I was on fire.
I never expected to burnout.
The summer of 2004, after a 2 week meditation retreat, I crumbled with the realization that I could not go back into the classroom. I could not keep on this path of loving my job, yet feeling so awful.
I finished out my year with a beautiful class at a wonderful school while I went to counselling.
As it happened, that year my class was reading Paulo Coelho’s book, The Alchemist. The first time I read it I was inspired by the main character who left his regular life to pursue his dream of seeing the pyramids. This time around I saw myself in another character: the crystal merchant who dreams of going to Mecca but never actually gets around to going. I could not let that be me. I resigned for the end of the school year to focus on myself, my healing and my life path.
I took a year to heal, travel and re-build my life. Then as a fresh start I moved across the country and went back to teaching fulltime. As I continued on my healing journey I took certification courses in yoga, EFT, hypnosis, and core belief work. What I discovered transformed how I approached not only my work, but my life. I began to give workshops at annual teacher conferences to share what I learned.
Fast forward to today and I am fully immersed in working with people to heal their stressed out lives and empower them to carve out a life path that feeds their soul, and does not lead to burnout.
I feel blessed that I was guided to do the work I do. I firmly believe, no one, no teacher should have to burnout as a result of being passionate about their career. If you are reading this, you are reading it for a reason. I firmly believe there are no accidents. Teaching Wellbeing is designed to support teachers to prevent burnout – with loving, teacher-focused strategies that work in the real world.
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A portion of proceeds from coaching, courses and workshops is donated to Shannen’s Dream. Shannen Koostachin was a youth education advocate from the Attawapiskat First Nation in Ontario. She advocated for safe, comfy schools and culturally-based education for First Nation Children. She passed away in a car accident in 2012 at the age of 15. Shannen’s Dream reconciliation and equitable funding in education for indigenous children in Canada through the First Nations Caring Society. In 1988, I had the opportunity to visit Attawapiskat as part of a school-exchange program when I was a grade 8 student. Many First Nations schools receive less funding per student than provincial schools, and zero dollars for things like libraries, computers, languages or extracurricular activities. Inequitable funding often results in unsafe learning environments that may pose serious health concerns. In fact, the new school built in Attawapiskat in 2012 replaced the previous school that had been built on contaminated ground (a diesel spill) and was deemed a serious health hazard. The impact of that trip has stayed with me. Reconciliation is a journey that has just begun for Canada. To learn more about Shannen’s Dream and the work towards equity in education funding for Indigenous youth in Canada please visit
Joanna Krop
MA, B. Ed
Joanna was a K-12 teacher for a decade before a battle with burnout led her to the path of healing. After healing herself through various modalities, she re-trained, starting a healing centre for people with chronic burnout conditions. She taught preventing teacher burnout at OISE-UT while she completed her MA in Teacher Development. Joanna coaches teachers to reclaim the spirit of teaching from a toxic culture of burnout.