Who is taking care of the teacher?

The teacher-retention crisis is real. A 2026 national analysis by the Learning Policy Institute found that nearly 1 in 7 public school teachers moves schools or leaves the profession each year, with Black teacher turnover more than 20% higher than that of White teachers.

Without meaningful teacher support, schools risk high turnover, staffing shortages, declining performance, and low enrollment.

We expect educators to create emotionally safe, relationship-centered, regulated classrooms—but how often are we intentionally supporting the emotional wellness of the adults responsible for creating them?

Research also tells us that supportive leadership, workplace satisfaction, compensation, and working conditions matter when it comes to whether educators stay.

You can love teaching and still be tired of the way teaching feels.

The emotional weight of the profession doesn't always stay at school. It can show up in your confidence, patience, relationships, classroom practice, boundaries, and even how you feel about a career you once couldn't imagine leaving.

Maybe lately...

✓ You find yourself replaying conversations long after the school day has ended.

✓ You're giving so much to your learners that there's very little left for you when you get home.

✓ Your patience isn't what it used to be, and sometimes you don't recognize the educator you're becoming under the stress.

✓ You're tired of being told to practice “self-care” when what you really need is meaningful support.

✓ You're doing good work, but you're still questioning yourself, feeling overlooked, or waiting for someone to recognize what you bring to the table.

✓ You're navigating workplace dynamics, difficult leadership, unrealistic expectations, or conflict that has nothing to do with why you became an educator.

✓ You're pouring into everyone else's growth while wondering, “Who's pouring into mine?”

Maybe you've even thought about leaving.

Not because you stopped loving teaching. Because you're tired of what you've had to carry in order to keep doing it.

SHOW ME WHAT'S POSSIBLE

THERE IS ANOTHER WAY

What if teaching didn't have to feel this heavy?

You may not be able to change everything happening around you—but you can change how you experience, navigate, and grow through the work.

Maybe you're...

Taking the day home with you. The difficult interaction ended hours ago, but you're still replaying it in your head. Imagine being able to process what happened, put it down, and be present for the life waiting for you at home.
Second-guessing yourself. Constant demands, criticism, or lack of support have started chipping away at your confidence. What would change if you could trust yourself again—while still remaining open to reflection and growth?
Watching stress enter your classroom. You're less patient, more reactive, or simply don't have the energy to show up as the educator you know yourself to be. You can reconnect with that educator and respond with greater intention, even when the day is difficult.
Feeling professionally stuck. You're pouring into everyone else's growth while your own strengths, interests, and goals keep getting pushed aside. It's time to invest in your own growth, recognize what makes you uniquely effective, and use those strengths to strengthen your classroom practice.
Exhausted by workplace dynamics. You're spending too much emotional energy navigating personalities, politics, expectations, and situations that have little to do with why you became an educator. You can learn to navigate what you need to navigate, establish stronger boundaries, protect your peace, and keep your energy focused on what actually matters.
Feeling alone in work that was never meant to be carried alone. Sometimes you need somewhere to say, “This is what's happening. Help me make sense of it.” Imagine having a collective you can turn to for perspective, ideas, problem-solving, encouragement, and support from people who understand the work.

The challenges may not disappear. But the way you experience them can change.

You don't have to keep carrying the work the same way just because you've learned how to survive it.

Yes, teaching can feel different.

Not because every challenge disappears, but because you become more intentional about how you respond, what you carry, how you grow, and who you allow to support you along the way.

I'M READY TO EXPERIENCE TEACHING DIFFERENTLY

In the next 12 weeks, you could...…

Feel more centered and confident in how you navigate the emotional demands of teaching.

Strengthen your classroom practice in ways that feel authentic to who you are as an educator.

Reconnect with your purpose while developing the boundaries, self-awareness, and support you need to keep growing.

You don't need everything around you to change before something within you can.

Heart Work gives you the space, support, tools, and community to begin experiencing the work differently—without giving you another job to do.

We'll do the Heart Work together.

INTRODUCING

Put the Heart Work in Teaching™

Are you ready to experience teaching differently?

This 12-week mental-wellness-centered coaching experience was created for educators who still love teaching but want to feel more centered, supported, confident, and intentional in how they experience the work.

Heart Work focuses on you as a whole person while connecting your wellness to your classroom practice, professional growth, and purpose.

Over our 12 weeks together, you'll have space to:

Prioritize your mental wellness and develop practices that help you reset, regulate, and reconnect with yourself.
Strengthen your classroom practice through reflection, practical support, coaching, and meaningful feedback.
Recognize and develop your unique strengths so you're not waiting for someone else to define your growth.
Navigate workplace challenges with greater confidence, clarity, and healthier boundaries.
Connect with a community of educators who can support, challenge, encourage, and learn alongside you.

This isn't another program to complete. It's support designed to meet you in the moments you actually need it.

THE HEART WORK FRAMEWORK™

A different kind of growth starts from within. Heart Work is built around three areas of development that help you care for yourself, strengthen your practice, and navigate the profession with greater clarity and confidence.

Phase 1

CENTER YOURSELF

Mental Wellness • Mindset • Self-Awareness • Regulation • Alignment

When you're used to...

Carrying the stress of the school day home with you.
Holding back tears, pushing through, and telling yourself you'll deal with your emotions later.
Giving so much to your job that there isn't enough of you left for yourself or your family.
Feeling guilty when you take time for yourself because there's always something—or someone—else that needs you.
Reacting from stress and exhaustion instead of responding the way you want to.

Center Yourself is about learning to put some of that weight down.

You'll begin reconnecting with yourself, recognizing what you're carrying, understanding your triggers and needs, and developing practices that help you reset, regulate, and protect your mental wellness.

Phase 2

Own Your Craft

Relationships • Practice • Reflection • Feedback • Strengths • Niche

When you're used to...

Second-guessing yourself even though you know you're good at what you do.
Letting stress affect your patience, confidence, energy, or classroom practice.
Sitting through professional development that has little to do with what you actually need.
Pouring into everyone else's growth while your own keeps getting pushed aside.
Waiting for someone else to recognize your strengths, talents, ideas, or leadership capacity.
Knowing there's more in you but not having the space to figure out what it is.

Own Your Craft is about remembering who you are as an educator—and intentionally developing who you're becoming.

You'll reflect on your practice, receive meaningful feedback, recognize your strengths, develop your educator niche, and take greater ownership of your professional growth.

Phase 3

PROTECT YOUR PURPOSE

Boundaries • Workplace Navigation • Professional Agency • Confidence • Growth

When you're used to...

Spending too much energy navigating workplace politics, personalities, and unspoken rules.
Trying to figure out when to speak, when to stay quiet, and how to navigate just enough so people leave you alone to do your job.
Taking workplace conflict home and replaying conversations long after they're over.
Feeling like you have to fit into environments that don't always feel like they were built for you.
Struggling to set boundaries because you're afraid of how they'll be perceived.
Thinking about leaving—not because you stopped loving teaching, but because you're tired of everything surrounding it.

Protect Your Purpose is about learning how to stay connected to what you love without allowing everything around it to consume you.

You'll strengthen your boundaries, navigate workplace challenges with greater clarity, become more intentional about where you place your energy, and make decisions that protect both your wellness and your purpose.

THROUGHOUT THE JOURNEY

STRENGTHEN THE COLLECTIVE

Because one of the hardest habits to break is trying to figure everything out alone.

You need somewhere to say, “This is what's happening. Am I seeing this clearly?” Somewhere to bring the hard day, talk through the workplace situation, share an idea, celebrate a win, ask for help, or simply hear, “I understand.”

Heart Work gives you a community—not just to vent, but to process, problem-solve, exchange ideas, share expertise, support one another, and grow together.

You don't have to carry the work alone.

THIS EXPERIENCE IS FOR YOU IF...

You still love teaching. You may have thought about leaving—or wondered how much longer you can keep doing it this way—but somewhere underneath the stress, the love for the work is still there.

You're tired of bringing work home with you—physically, mentally, and emotionally. You want to be able to leave work and still have something left for yourself and the people you love.

You're tired of feeling like you have to choose between being a good educator, taking care of yourself, and being present for your family. You want to stop treating your own wellness as the thing that always has to wait.

You want to grow, but you don't need another PD telling you what to do. You want space to reflect, receive meaningful feedback, develop your strengths, and become more intentional about your own growth.

You want to feel like yourself in your classroom again. You recognize that stress, exhaustion, and everything you're carrying can affect your patience, relationships, responses, and practice.

You're ready to stop shrinking, second-guessing, or waiting to be recognized. You know you bring something valuable to this profession, and you're ready to identify, own, and develop it.

You're exhausted by workplace dynamics that have nothing to do with why you became an educator. You want to learn how to navigate the politics, personalities, expectations, and difficult interactions without allowing them to consume your peace.

You need an outlet—but you don't want another space that only complains about what's wrong. You want a community where you can be honest, get perspective, problem-solve, exchange ideas, and be supported by people who understand the work.

Most importantly, you believe something different is possible—and you're willing to do the Heart Work to discover what that can look like for you.

I'M READY TO PUT THE HEART WORK IN

NICE TO MEET YOU

I'm Dr. Yolanda Peay

I've spent more than 20 years in education—and I know what it's like to deeply love this work while also wondering how much longer you can keep doing it this way.

I've been the teacher who carried the day home. I've been the school leader navigating expectations, personalities, politics, and the pressure to keep showing up even when I was carrying things of my own. More than once, I questioned whether I wanted to stay in education at all.

But every time I came back to the Heart Work—the part of this work connected to my beliefs, my purpose, my strengths, and my love for children—I remembered why I chose education in the first place.

What I didn't always have was the support I now know can make a difference: a safe place to put some of the weight down. Space to care for my own wellness. People who could help me process what I was experiencing instead of simply telling me to push through it. Someone to recognize and challenge my growth. Permission to develop beyond what others expected me to be. And a community where I could both receive support and bring something valuable to the table.

That's why I created Heart Work.

I don't want educators who still love teaching to believe their only choices are to keep sacrificing themselves or walk away from the work they love.

I want them to know there is another way.

I'm Deciding To Invest In Myself

"Your follow through is so inspiring and of course you have made a huge difference in my life."

- Ellie Strand

“Educators shouldn't have to lose themselves doing the work they love.”

- Dr. Yolanda Peay

"I will never forget this experience, you've touched so many people on your journey"

- Vontella Moye

Your next chapter doesn't have to start with leaving teaching.

The Heart Work begins in...

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Ready to Put the Heart Work In?

Put the Heart Work in Teaching™

For 12 weeks, you'll have a space designed to support you—your mental wellness, your classroom practice, your professional growth, and the educator you're becoming.

12 Weeks of Heart Work
Weekly live coaching • Private community • Individual check-ins • On-demand wellness support • Practical classroom tools • Collaborative growth

JOIN THE FOUNDING COHORT

BRING HEART WORK TO YOUR TEAM

Are you a school or organization interested in supporting your educators through Heart Work?

MORE THAN A WEEKLY COACHING SESSION

Heart Work is there in the moments between.

Because the hard days, classroom challenges, workplace situations, and moments when you need support won't wait for our next group session.

Heart Work SOS

A hard day. A difficult interaction. A classroom situation you’re not sure how to handle. Heart Work SOS gives you a place to reach out, talk it through, get perspective, and figure out your next move—without waiting for our next group session.

The Living Heart Work Toolkit

When you need a tool, not another training. Practical classroom, behavior-management, communication, and wellness resources that grow based on what our community actually needs.

Own Your Niche

Discover what makes you uniquely effective. Identify, own, and develop your strengths—then intentionally use what you do best to strengthen your classroom practice and better serve your learners.

The Heart Work Community

You don't have to figure it out alone.
A private community to bring real situations, get perspective, exchange ideas, problem-solve, celebrate wins, and grow alongside educators who understand the work.

Is Heart Work therapy or mental health treatment?

I already have so much on my plate. Is this going to feel like one more thing to do?

What if I'm not sure I want to stay in teaching?

What happens when I need support between our weekly sessions?

Do I have to be struggling to join Heart Work?

What exactly is included in the 12-week experience?

Can my school pay for my participation?

Don't spend another school year stressed, depleted, and putting yourself last.

You've spent enough time pouring into everyone else. It's time to invest in you—your wellness, your growth, your craft, and the way you experience the work you love.

You don't have to have everything figured out. You just have to decide that you don't want to keep doing it the same way.

I'M READY TO PUT THE HEART WORK IN

JOIN THE WAITLIST

Your next chapter in teaching can feel different. Be the first to hear when the next Heart Work cohort opens and make space to invest in you.

Join the Heart Work Waitlist

Interested in Heart Work, but the timing isn't quite right?

Whether this cohort filled before you were ready or you're simply taking some time to decide, you don't have to miss what's next. Join the waitlist and you'll be among the first to know when enrollment opens for the next Put the Heart Work in Teaching™ cohort.

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