Teaching & Health Coaching

This week on Nurturing Educators, we’re mixing things up! Instead of me hosting, my dear friend Catie takes over the mic and interviews me about my journey as a teacher, the struggles I’ve faced with burnout, and how I’ve found a new path in health coaching. 

As we celebrate Mental Health Week at school, I thought it was the perfect time to open up and share my personal story with you. From starting out as a PE teacher to discovering a love for teaching Spanish to reaching breaking point with stress, and finally finding balance and renewed purpose through health coaching — this conversation goes deep into the highs, lows, and lessons learnt along the way. 

Together, Catie and I talk about: 

• What inspired me to become a teacher and how my career has evolved
• The challenges of burnout and how it impacted my well-being
• The small, practical lifestyle changes that helped me feel better
• Why I’ve launched Nurturing Educators to support teachers everywhere
• My vision for creating a safe, supportive community where educators can thrive

This is also a special episode because it’s the finale of Season One. I’ll be taking a break to connect with more inspiring teachers and prepare a fresh season full of conversations, insights, and strategies to help you thrive in teaching and in life.
 
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey so far. Your support, listens, and feedback mean the world. I can’t wait to return with Season Two, but for now, I hope my story offers encouragement and a reminder that even small steps can make a big difference.
 
If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your fellow educators. Let’s keep the conversation going.
 

Hosted by Debbie Ross
Find us on Instagram & Facebook: @nurturingeducators

For more information, guest recommendations, and sponsorship opportunities 
or to chat, please email: nurturingeducators@gmail.com or visit  www.nurturingeducators.co.nz

Thanks for listening! 

Transcript

Debbie: Welcome to Nurturing Educators, the podcast that shares inspiring and insightful conversations with passionate teachers dedicated to education and well-being. I'm your host Debbie Ross. In each episode we will explore the personal stories, challenges and successes of educators from all walks of life. You'll hear practical tips and strategies to help them thrive both in the classroom and beyond. 

Debbie: Hi everyone, this week we're celebrating Mental Health Week at our school and I wanted to share a little bit of my own journey with you. To do this I've invited my dear friend Catie to interview me about my teaching career, the challenges I've faced and my path towards improving my well-being. 

Catie and I met in our late 20s and spent a lot of time together during those years. Even though we now live in different cities and our lives have taken different directions, reconnecting is always effortless and full of joy. When people began encouraging me to share my journey I couldn't think of anyone better to help guide this conversation than Catie. 

And just before we get started I wanted to let you all know that this is the final episode for season one. I'll be taking a wee break to connect with more teachers and prepare some wonderful interviews for season two. Thanks all for listening and supporting the journey so far. I can't wait to share what's coming next. 

Catie: Well Hi Debbie, I am so excited to be here today joining you on the Nurturing Educators podcast. I am absolutely blown away by the podcast that you have created and I feel very very privileged that you have asked me to share your journey as an educator, your teaching life, your teaching journey and a little bit about what you're doing with Nurturing Educators and what you're doing and what your plans are for the future. 

So I guess I should start by saying thank you for having me as the person to interview you. Now as you said in the intro we've known each other for a long time and it probably is nearly 20 years, maybe just maybe 15 actually, maybe I'm ageing myself and you're a little bit too much but obviously I've been there for quite a lot of your teaching journey anyway particularly you know in sort of 10 or so years ago and yeah like I said I'm absolutely like blown away by what you're doing at the moment so I would love to talk to you about your teaching journey, what's led you to this point and yeah a little bit about the future and what you're hoping to achieve. 

Debbie: Cool, let's do it. 

Catie: Let's do it. Okay so this podcast is all about you. So let's get a little bit of background. How did your journey in education begin? 

Debbie: I always wanted to be a teacher but I felt like I needed to get a few years experience behind me first so I went to university, did a range of roles in after-school care programmes, daycares etc, sports coaching and then these gave me the experience I needed but I also did quite a bit of travelling and worked in the tourism industry for a few years before starting on my teacher journey. What did you study at university? I actually did a Bachelor of Sports and Recreation so that was a lot around health and PE, bit of personal training etc. So I actually started out working as a PE teacher and then switched over to Spanish after about four years. 

Catie: It's amazing how your love of Spain, Spanish you know like you've got such a rich experience with that country, well with Spain but also with the Spanish language. It's actually been amazing to watch that part of your journey. So when was that Debbie? When was university for you and then when did you add that teaching diploma in? 

Debbie: I did the Bachelor of Sports and Rec. Must have been early 2000s. And then my best friend and I went travelling for a year. We came back and I worked in the tourism industry for a couple of years and then decided I was about ready to move across so I did the one-year diploma at AUT, in 2008. I started teaching after that. 

Debbie: Ultimately you've been teaching about 15-16 years at this point right? So you started off in PE, did that for four years and then did you move primarily into Spanish only then or what did you, were you still doing a bit of PE? 

Debbie: No, not PE but I did dabble a little bit in French for the couple years there but yeah mainly Spanish just because there was a high demand for it so I didn't really have any time to do any of the other subjects. It must have been so wonderful for your own Spanish language. 

Catie: I know you learned it growing up and it's been a part of your life but obviously we're so far away from Spain or Spanish speaking countries over here so that's probably really helped your own language over the years I'm imagining. 

Debbie: Yeah it has. I mean with the little ones you do lots of vocab games and stuff like that but yeah I'm always learning. Girls are always asking me how do you say this or how do you say that and plenty of times I have no idea so I'm getting the Google translator out to have a wee look so yeah it's definitely learning daily with them and then obviously connecting with other Spanish teachers around New Zealand and stuff has been very helpful as well. 

Going back to what you were saying before though there is a huge number of South Americans that now live in New Zealand and that's been great practise for me but also my students who often come into class saying that they got to practise their Spanish on the weekend with someone who came into their work or who's someone that they met out and about. It's really cool. 

Catie: When you travel to Spain do you find like you speak really really fluently when you're there or do you feel like? 

Debbie: Yeah I feel like the first few days are a little bit of a culture shock and then I think within I don't know three or four days you start dreaming in Spanish again and then you're back into it. 

Catie: Yeah that's when you really know that you can speak a language right when you're dreaming in that. I don't know what that feels like but I can imagine it feels really really weird. Okay so let's get into health coaching and your move towards health coaching. What has inspired you to pursue health coaching? 

Debbie: Well obviously I've always had a passion for health, exercise, just being fit and all that. I did my degree at AUT in health and wellness as well but I think just maybe in the last five years or so I've noticed the stress and burnout of teaching and so in working with how I could improve my health and well-being I came across well actually it was through my counsellor we came across a couple of options for me to do health coaching because I just really saw the need for being able to help teachers and if it was helpful for me which it's been amazing just learning really good lifestyle and behaviour changes and I thought well if it's helped me then can really help a lot of other teachers out there. 

Catie: Do you feel like you experienced burnout for yourself notably and if so what did that feel like? 

Debbie: Yeah good question I got to the point where I knew that something had to change I was you know pretty much at breaking point I was exhausted I had no passion for teaching anymore and it was just becoming a real drag every day to go to work and just no energy and finding that everything was just too much too many meetings too many hours of marking and moderating and all the extra crap that comes with it so yeah I realised that I really needed to to make some small changes in order to help myself and so by doing that I was able to find a new passion for teaching and start to enjoy the little things again. 

Catie: In your experience do you think a lot of teachers experience burnout? Yes for sure I mean the workload that is expected by teachers these days is insane you know we've got meetings we've got all this extra stuff that's piled on top of us that it's not even really about teaching anymore because we spend more time trying to prepare new documents to go with the new procedures and the new NCEA criteria and this and that that it's actually taking the joy out of teaching so yeah there is a lot of teachers that are getting to that point where they're like if something doesn't change soon then they wanting to get out of teaching as well so hopefully my job will be to help people not get to that stage and be able to help them find a passion again. 

Catie: Well I was gonna say that like hearing you talk about your own experience it's actually amazing that you didn't just throw in the towel that you actually you were able to like discover what you say through your counsellor you know oh actually maybe if I make these changes I can rediscover that love but I'm imagining for so many teachers that get to that point they just leave and then that is has a huge impact on the education system, the education for our children, for our tamariki so actually it shows how important like this work that you're doing and that you're hoping to do more of is and what an impact it will hopefully have. 

Catie: For someone like me that is not in the education world and is not in the coaching world what does coaching involve for someone new to it? 

Debbie: It's basically just looking at how we can support and be accountable really it's not me telling you what to do we'd be working together collaborating together we'd be setting realistic goals helping you to build healthy habits and little lifestyle changes because it's not about making big drastic changes where you get overwhelmed and then ditch the idea pretty soon after because it's just too much it's just little things like cutting down on carbs or looking at your pantry and working out how much ultra processed food you're eating should we get more stuff out of your pantry and try and fill your fridge up more with you know whole fresh foods it's things like looking at your sleep and have you got good sleep routines and exercise and how can we implement little things to improve your life without suddenly being overwhelmed. 

Catie: Okay so you're on this mission and you have made this decision from your own experience that you'd like to get into this space look at health coaching for your future you started studying and you're studying through pre-cure how did you find out about PREKURE and what does the training involve? 

Debbie: Well PREKURE is all about evidence-based lifestyle medicine so the training is well it depends I've got different certificates depending on what you want to do but I've been doing the two-year master coach programme so it's involved things like nutrition movement sleep mental health and behaviour change it's all with experts in those areas they really go into depth and give us a really good understanding of all that so you come away with a health coach certificate mental health coach certificate do a whole lot of papers in nutritional science and yeah it's just a really good programme oh plus we do a hundred hours coaching throughout the two years we get lots of practise of working with different people from different backgrounds and yeah really get to her now coaching style which is great how many hours a week does that look like for you like so I'm probably doing about two and a half hours of study minimum and then normally we have two hours of coaching and then an hour or two when the labs are on as well yeah probably another five to eight hours a week and is this just for people in the education world or is this people from all walks of life doing yeah right you know that would be really fascinating yeah so we work with a lot of different people there are nurses, nutritionists, business people, retirees all sorts.

 Catie: what have you loved most about the study in this process so far what parts of it have you really enjoyed doing?

Debbie: Definitely learning that just little things that I can apply into my own lifestyle I've really enjoyed learning all the evidence-based lifestyle medicine and working out what little things I can tweak in my life and it's really made a big difference I'd feel a lot healthier and fitter and mentally good so yeah it's been 

Catie: Awesome it's actually so great for you that almost through this process you've coached yourself you know that will make you such a valuable coach to those in the education industry you know going forward because you're not just someone that's a passionate coach you're someone that has lived and breathed this you know you're an educator you've been doing this for a long time so it's actually so valuable for the people that you will hopefully get to coach in future to have someone with your experience.

Debbie: Yeah it's cool and it's been such a great experience for me too because I've got lots of free coaching along the way.

Catie: so must be hard now with your current colleagues you know if someone just oh I'm tired you'd be like well why is it like everyone can be coached. okay so what is your vision for nurturing educators what would you love to see once you've finished your course and you start to grow this business what's your vision for nurturing educators?

Debbie: hmm I think I'd like to build a place where teachers can come and feel supported and safe community where they can learn feel connected with others and build little healthy habits I think I'd love to be able to go into schools and do small workshops which I've already been doing this year practising at my school and that's been really good a lot of people have really enjoyed and benefited from that and then yeah I'd love to do some group coaching where teachers can connect together and share ideas and experiences and strategies for coping with stress and burnout and all of that that's the area where I'm hitting and yeah I'd love to work with other health coaches who have also been teachers as well and liaison with them and yeah see what happens.

Catie: Are there many people in the space, like are there many people like you that are educators?

Debbie: There is a few small things out there but I think there is a great need for it yeah.

Catie: You mentioned community before as do you foresee like outside of kind of one-to-one or group coaching that you would hopefully be able to bring teachers together like you said in a safe place .

Debbie: yeah definitely and I think I'd love to be able to I mean there's just nothing out there in terms of nutritional training or health and well-being for teachers so even to be able to organise some events where we get together and have different speakers on topics like that I think would be very beneficial.

Catie: Well yeah I imagine there's lots of educator type forums you know learning more but not so much in that health and well-being for educators space yeah and how cool for someone like you that is passionate about both you know to be able to move into that space okay so final question for an overwhelmed educator what would you say is the first step to feeling better?

Debbie: I reckon just start small you know take five minutes a day to do one small change so maybe a quick walk at lunchtime or mindful breathing exercise or just stepping outside on your break to just breathe and get out of the classroom for a little bit or bringing your lunch so you're eating a little bit healthier all these small steps can make such a big difference but it's not about changing everything all at once it's just focussing on one or two little things that you can do and then you build on those habits and they say that by stacking habits you can really make a difference over time but yeah start small and then work your way from there.

Catie, it's such great advice because like you say when you think oh something's not working but the idea of change seems so big if you just resolve to every lunchtime I will go for a three-minute walk outside it's such a small thing but if you consistently do that for three weeks you know that is going to have an impact and then you can start the next thing and it's your new normal and it's your habit and you might go for five minutes or ten or whatever you know I'm sure there's a you know that's a sort of a high level view of it but you're exactly right I think sometimes everything seems too much so we'd stall and we don't do anything but yeah that's cool so I'm gonna leave you with the final question I ask on my podcast which is what does success look like to you personally professionally or both?

Debbie: I think just being able to make a difference in the lives of teachers in New Zealand there's such a huge demand for teachers at the moment that overworked underpaid we can't get enough relievers we can't get enough teachers especially in the lower decile schools so if we're burning out and you know more and more teachers are just finding it too hard then there's going to be a huge demand for teachers in the next few years so I think success for me would be being able to make a small change in that and by being able to help teachers come up with strategies that can really help them live better lifestyles so that they can really do well both in the classroom but also in their own lives as well so yeah I think that's what I'm aiming for.

Catie: I love that and I have to say you know as you know I've got an eight-year-old and a six-year-old and before that my last experience of the education system was when I was at school which was 26 years ago 28 years ago and I have to say the love and care that teachers show our children is absolutely phenomenal I have been blown away by the level of education but also just the extra mile the level of care and I mean you know like many things this is one of those industries that should be nurtured excuse the pun and protected and not you know teachers shouldn't be getting to burn out because they're doing one of the most important jobs of all and that's caring for our future isn't it so I really hope that this endeavour that nurturing educators and all of the work that you're doing I just wish you all the best and I just hope that it goes from strength to strength and I will be looking on very proudly as you grow your new business.

Debbie: Thanks Catie yeah I think I am looking forward to watching the space and see what comes of it.  I just wanted to also say thanks very much for being on the podcast today it's been really nice having you interview me and I think just for my listeners out there if you love candid conversations about inspiring women that are thriving in creative business I'd say check out Catie's podcast which is super creative and she'll take you behind the scenes clever woman that are making a living doing what they love so highly recommend. 

Catie: Oh you're very kind thanks Debbie 

Debbie: Take care see Catie bye thank you so much for listening 

If you enjoyed today's episode don't forget to hit the subscribe button leave a review and share it with your fellow educators let's keep these important conversations going for more information follow us at nurturing educators on Facebook and Instagram until next time take care.