Episode Details

📝 Episode Synopsis

In this deeply honest and affirming conversation, Dr. Joey Weisler sits down with clinical psychologist Dr. Claire Plumbly to explore the lived reality of burnout—what it is, how it shows up in the body, and why so many educators find themselves quietly unraveling while trying to hold everything together.

Drawing from her work in trauma and her book The Trauma of Burnout, Dr. Plumbly breaks down the difference between stress and burnout, guiding listeners through the emotional, cognitive, and physical signs that often go unnoticed until it’s too late. Together, Joey and Claire reflect on the intersection of teaching, trauma, and identity—what happens when passion turns into depletion, and when caring deeply begins to cost too much.

Through personal story, clinical insight, and practical tools, this episode offers something essential: permission. Permission to pause, to recalibrate, and to remember that being human in this work is not failure—it’s the foundation.

At the heart of the episode is a simple but powerful reminder:

“I’m doing my best. And that’s enough.”

📝 Show Notes

📌 Dr. Claire Plumbly website

📌 Dr. Claire Plumbly "Feel Better" page

📌 Dr. Claire Plumbly Burnout/Recovery book

📌 Dr. Claire Plumbly instagram: @drclaireplumbly

📌 Dr. Claire Plumbly linkedin

📌 Follow here to understand the Yerkes-Dodson model

📌 Two conversations with Christopher S Mukiibi on the nervous system (Classroom Narratives podcast-- Pt 1 and Pt 2)