Combatting compassion fatigue and burnout one minute at a time

I know educators like you.

You live to teach and spark a love of learning in your students.

Or you’re a principal who sincerely appreciates their faculty’s dedication: how they teach, listen, guide, and care for their students, day-in, and day-out, especially now when they’re running on fumes. 

Educators and teaching assistants are at constant risk for burnout and compassion fatigue. They know it, and they know the signs.  

You wish there were a simple, convenient, low-cost way that teachers could avoid burnout and compassion fatigue on their own.

A proven technique they could use independently, at their convenience, on their own time, and at their own pace.

And that’s where I swoop in! (Sometimes with cape, sometimes without ;-)

Hi: I’m Tanya. I help educators avoid compassion fatigue through mindfulness meditation.

So full disclosure: 

I’ve never experienced compassion fatigue. 

I’m not an educator, guidance counsellor, tutor, mentor or any other extraordinary soul who dedicates their days to teaching and caring.

But compassion? Oh, I know compassion. 

Compassion and I go back a long, long way. From a very young age, I was told I was  “too sensitive.” From the time I could walk, I recognized, was affected by, and wanted to relieve others’ hurt and suffering.

As a Highly Sensitive Person, I’ve always felt the emotions of others around me acutely. 

So for years, without a force-field, I absorbed others’ emotions like a sponge, day after day, year after year.

Nearly debilitated by anxiety and depression, I knew something had to change.

And that’s when I discovered mindfulness meditation.

I now know that compassion is a gift, and in today’s world, it’s getting rarer and rarer. Those who have it and use it to heal, teach and care for others are like precious gems - beyond valuable and few and far in between.


So when these remarkable souls start to suffer for doing what they love, shine at, and do best, that gets me. And I want to help.

So if I’ve never been a teacher or at risk for compassion fatigue, why work with me?

  • I’m a Certified Mindfulness Meditation Facilitator with specific training in leading live, guided meditations and facilitating discussion and sharing.

  • I have a unique gift of showing how mindfulness meditation is something everyone can learn, use, and truly benefit from.

  • I do an excellent job explaining mindfulness and its many benefits to educators, mentors, and their students.

  • I’ve lived with depression and anxiety all my adult life. I know how empowering it feels to help control it myself instead of having to rely solely on meds and others’ support to get me through. 

  • I’ve spent hours in therapy with people who helped, and people who didn’t, but it was mindfulness that really made the difference. 

  • I know the power of mindfulness meditation can reinvigorate and help you feel confident again. And I know I can empower educators to get real results in a lot less time.

In 2017 my depression and anxiety were close to debilitating.

I couldn’t relax. I couldn’t sleep, and I couldn’t handle uncertainty.

I was exhausted, irritated, unfulfilled, and feeling hopeless, the result of feeling compelled to be everything for everyone and becoming impossibly productive at work and at home.

I was diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder. Not wanting to rely so heavily on prescribed meds, I took the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course. 

I started meditating daily for 5 minutes a day, gradually working up to 20, then 30. 

And wow: what a difference it made!

Not within years or months, but weeks (and with no nasty side effects like dry mouth and nausea).

3 years on I’ve gone from near-total collapse to helping others take the edge off the chatter inside their heads and making space for doing more of what they do best: using their compassion and concern to make others’ lives better.  

...and while we’re still on the topic of me...

Some fun facts:

  • I love taking the dryer lint out of the lint catcher. The more lint the better.

  • I’m terrible at loading the dishwasher. It’s the bone of contention in my very happy 24-year marriage.

  • I’m the best drummer in my basement.

  • I only wear waterproof mascara because I cry when I laugh. (And I laugh a LOT!)

  • According to my BMI, I’m too tall.

  • I’m a Tudor history fanatic. I can name every king, queen, duke, and duchess from 1472-1601, and I’ve read “The Other Boleyn Girl” about 82 times (but who’s counting?) 

If I had you at ‘compassion’ (or ‘lint catcher), and you’re thinking, “Hey, we should know each other! ” I agree. 

If you’re ready to learn a simple, convenient, proven way to recharge and avoid compassion fatigue, you are in the right place.