Rewriting Wellbeing: The Teachers' Health Podcast

Charlie Burley • Charlie Thomas

The show that discusses all things health and wellbeing to help you thrive, and not just survive, in teaching!

  1. 3d ago

    97. What We Can Do To Improve Staff Wellbeing, Even In The Summer Term

    Staff struggling this Summer term? Want to improve wellbeing without adding to anyone's plate? Here's where to start... Whether you're SLT, a class teacher, an LSA or part of the pastoral team, there's something here you can act on this week! In this episode, we talk through the small, no-cost things that staff and leaders at every level can do right now to make this term feel more manageable! And we start with a finding that surprised us: a five-year study found that not feeling appreciated hits staff wellbeing harder than workload, poor work-life balance and student behaviour combined. So much of what follows comes back to helping people feel seen... With reports, transitions, sports day, residentials, classroom moves and assessment data all landing at once, the "so what window" is shrinking fast. We talk through what's actually worth pushing through it - and what isn't! You will hear about:• Why appreciation matters more than the "big three" wellbeing factors - backed by five years of research• The displays plea: giving staff time before the summer instead of stealing their holiday• Minimising classroom and year-group moves - and why just asking the question goes a long way• Smoothing out pinch points so the calendar doesn't cause carnage• The "price vs prize" test for anything extra you're tempted to add• Focusing on what you want more of, not just less of - and modelling it from the top• Why venting feels cathartic but leaves you more stressed an hour later• The case for transparency: telling all staff their year group at once, instead of breeding gossip• Practical asks for leaders: spare staff meetings, mapping the calendar together, explaining the why And if it helped, share it with a colleague and tell us: what's one small thing a leader did that you genuinely appreciated? - Charlie & Charlie

    49 min

  2. Jun 17

    96. How To Manage Your Mental & Emotional Health With Therapist Daniela Nicol

    What if the most exhausting part of teaching is a part you weren't trained for..? In this very special episode of The Rewriting Wellbeing Podcast, we're joined by Daniela Nicol, a qualified therapist working across the UK and Ghana, whose work in schools is helping teachers understand the emotional and neurological toll of the job, and what to do about it! Daniela shares her journey from training in the UK to bringing her practice to Ghana, the surprising shift she's seen in how younger generations approach mental health, and what working with teachers has taught her about the invisible weight they carry every day. This is a warm, honest conversation about why teaching costs so much more than knowledge, and why looking after yourself isn't selfish, it's self-first. You will hear about: Why teachers make an estimated 1,500 to 3,000 micro-decisions every single dayCo-regulation and self-regulation, and why you can't pour from an empty tankMirror neurons, and why staying calm around a dysregulated child is harder than it looksThe vagus nerve, breath work, and a simple humming technique you can use between lessonsEmpathy fatigue, and how chronic stress quietly erodes the compassion that drew you to teachingWhy supervision, a space to be asked "how are you, really?", could transform schoolsTying your worth to your work, people pleasing, and the trap of performance-based self-esteem"Self first, not selfish", and how to bring your own wellbeing back onto the radarIf you've ever come home from school running on empty, this episode will help you understand why, and give you practical, realistic ways to look after the one tool you can't teach without: yourself. If this episode helped, share it with a teacher who needs to hear it, and leave us a rating. You can find Daniela on Instagram @mind.matters.live or at www.mindmatters.live. — Charlie & Charlie

    56 min

  3. Jun 7

    95. The DfE's £90.7 million PR problem & why it's about far more than Gemma Collins...

    Is a £90.7 million marketing budget really the best use of DfE money right now..? Why does doubling down feel like the best move the DfE they had? In this episode of The Rewriting Wellbeing Podcast, Charlie and Charlie dig into what has become known as GC Gate... The DfE's Gemma Collins campaign, the context that never arrived, the money behind the marketing and what this whole episode really reveals about how far the Department for Education has drifted from the people it's supposed to serve! This is not about Gemma Collins. It never was... It's more about a department that spent £90.7 million on a single year's advertising contract, £204,000 on influencers in seven months... And still couldn't predict how a campaign aimed at teachers and parents of SEND children was going to come across! And when it didn't land, called the people who pushed back snobs... You will hear about: What the DfE's Gemma Collins campaign was actually about - and why that context arriving two days late was half the problemThe £90.7 million contract awarded to Manning Gottlieb, and what that money could have paid for insteadWhy the DfE's marketing spend jumped 40% in a single year - and why that number mattersThe SEND white paper advisory panel, who was on it, and who very conspicuously wasn'tWhy doubling down on the campaign made everything ten times worse, and what genuine accountability could have looked likeThe difference between being listened to and being heard - and why most people in education feel neither right nowWhy this is about trust, and why the DfE is losing it faster than any campaign can rebuild it!!If you're working in education and you've been feeling like you're shouting into a void, this episode is for you... And if we've missed something that hit differently for you, pop it in the comments! And if this one resonated, share it with someone who needs to hear it, and leave us a rating. - Charlie & Charlie

    35 min

  4. May 31

    94. 4 Steps To Help You Build Healthier Habits This Half-Term

    Struggling to build healthy habits alongside teaching? Do you go at 100% and burn yourself out by week two? Ever feel like everyone else has got some sort of silver bullet that you're missing? In this episode of The Rewriting Wellbeing Podcast, we talk all things healthy habits: why they're harder to build than we're told, why the word "habit" itself might be setting you up to fail, and how to make movement, nutrition, and healthy routines actually stick this term without the stress, the guilt, or the all-or-nothing spiral! We introduce the ACAR framework and explore why thinking about routines first takes the pressure off, why 59 to 66 days is just the average time a habit takes to form, and why comparison to a fitter, faster version of yourself is stealing all the joy from what you're actually doing right now! You will hear about: Why habits take between 59 days and nearly a year to form - and why that's completely normalThe difference between a routine and a habit, and why starting with routines reduces pressureHow optimization culture and social media are quietly raising your expectations to an unsustainable 10 out of 10The ACAR framework: making healthy routines accessible, clear, attractive, and rewardingWhy 77% of gym-goers with long-term health conditions exercise specifically for their mental healthAll-or-nothing thinking, over-restriction, and why telling yourself you can't have bread just makes you want breadThe high shoulder theory: why high expectation without high support becomes toxicWhy your 5k run is still worth celebrating, even if you used to run marathons!If this term has already felt like a battle between good intentions and the sofa, this episode will help you start smaller, feel better about it, and build something that actually lasts... So you can end the academic year feeling your best and not need to spend the first two weeks of the holidays recovering! And if it helps, send it to a colleague who's been trying to get back into running - and leave us a rating! - Charlie & Charlie

    58 min

  5. May 27

    93. How To Stop Report Writing From Ruining Your Half-Term: Practical Tips, Honest Opinions and Ways To Save Time

    It's that time of year again... That familiar feeling of reports looming over everything else you are already doing... And that Sunday evening guilt where half term doesn't quite feel like half term, because you know the deadline is getting closer! In this episode, we dig into the reality of report writing in 2026, including the stats behind teacher workload, our honest take on using AI, and the practical strategies that actually helped us get through it without burning out... We get into the great debate of whether reports should even exist, what we would replace them with, and whether you would rather write thirty reports or sit through an extra parents evening! You will hear about: Why 74% of teachers still don't find their workload acceptable, and what the numbers actually say about summer termThe neuroscience of why writing reports with Netflix on is making them take ten times as longHow to set up your environment so your brain is actually working with you, not against youThe copy, paste, and tweak approach to writing reports smarter, not harderWhy starting with your hardest pupils first can make the whole thing feel more manageableThe dopamine trick that helps you stay focused and keep momentum goingOur honest take on AI tools for report writing, including the GDPR questions nobody is asking loudly enoughWhy if something can be fully automated, it is worth asking whether it needs to exist at allIf you are heading into half term with a list of reports still to write, or you are chipping away at them right now, this one is for you. And if it helped, send it to a colleague who needs to hear it, and give the podcast a rating! Let us know: would you rather write reports, or sit through an extra parents evening? - Charlie & Charlie

    45 min

  6. May 10

    92. The Biggest Mistake We're Making With Wellbeing Is Ignoring This...

    What if the single most important thing missing from your school's wellbeing strategy isn't a policy, a programme, or a protected PPA slot..? What if it's something far more simple than any of that? This week is a bit of a different one. It's a solo episode, and Charlie is sharing something he's genuinely excited about - a sneak peek into Chapter One of his second book, Rewriting Teacher Wellbeing, being written with Routledge. The chapter is all about connection. And not connection as a buzzword or a box to tick, but connection as the cement that holds every other part of a school's wellbeing foundation together! From Australian prime ministers to Swiss surgical teams, from the neuroscience of mirror neurons to the myth that you need to be friends with everyone you work with You will hear about: Why belonging has been identified as the single strongest driver of employee wellbeing - more than pay, workload reduction, or trust in leadershipHow disconnection doesn't just feel bad - it lights up the same areas of the brain as physical painThe neuroscience of connection: oxytocin, mirror neurons, emotional contagion, and the nucleus accumbens (yes, it's as fascinating as it sounds)Why employees who feel connected take 75% fewer sick days and perform 56% betterThe Rewriting Wellbeing Framework and why Connection is now Charlie's first CDunbar's Number - and why you genuinely don't need to be close friends with everyoneFive myths about connection that quietly do a lot of damage in schoolsWhy vulnerability is a superpower, conflict doesn't damage connection (poorly handled conflict does), and why you'll never stop gossip, nor should you try!If you lead people in any capacity - whether that's a classroom, a department, or an entire trust - this one will give you a lot to think about! And if it resonated, send it to someone in your school who needs to hear it, and leave us a rating while you're there! - Charlie & Charlie

    28 min

  7. Apr 26

    91. Body Image, Mental Health & Why The Fitness Industry Is Failing Us

    How much of the way you feel about your body is actually how you feel - and how much is how you've been taught to feel? And when did the appearance goalposts get so impossible to reach? This week, we get honest about body image, a topic that affects almost all of us, but one that often sits lower on the wellbeing agenda than it probably should! In this episode, we share personal experiences we haven't talked about publicly before, dig into some genuinely eye-opening stats and ask the big question the fitness industry rarely wants you to ask: is what you're doing for your body actually making you feel better - or just compounding self-criticism? You'll hear about: Why nearly half of female teachers report body image concerns - more than double the UK averageThe difference between your body as an instrument versus an ornament, and why that shift changes everythingHow the fitness industry sells weight loss as a silver bullet - and why it never quite works that wayWhy 64% of social media users compare themselves to bodies that don't actually existThe "I'll be happy when…" treadmill, yo-yo dieting, and how we attach self-worth to what we look likeWhat happened when one of us got to the "goal" body - and was at one of the lowest points of their lifeWhy curating your social media feed might be one of the most underrated wellbeing tools you haveAnd if it helped, please send it to someone who needs it - and leave us a rating while you're there! - Charlie & Charlie

    47 min

  8. Apr 19

    90. Education AI: The End Of Creativity In The Classroom?

    60% of UK teachers are now using AI... But 45% are worried about their pupils doing the same! In this episode, we dig into the latest AI adoption stats in UK education and ask the question: is it a good thing? We look at why teacher usage has doubled in just a year and why the gap between using AI yourself and worrying about students using it might be the most revealing number in the data! In this episode: Why 60% of UK teachers are now using AI tools, and what's driving the surgeWhat we think on the adoption on AI in the classroomWhy nearly half of teachers are concerned about pupils using AI for schoolworkWhy balance and intention matter more than blanket bans or blanket adoptionWe'd really ;ove to hear from you on this topic... Your experiences with AI in education, horror stories, or anything in between! Pop us a comment here, or send us a message over on Instagram! If you enjoyed this week's episodes, please go back and check out the previous 12 - and click that follow button! - Charlie & Charlie

    37 min
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The show that discusses all things health and wellbeing to help you thrive, and not just survive, in teaching!

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