Teaching through Emotions, the 2025 Women Who Podcast Award-winning show created by psychotherapist and teacher educator Betsy Burris, is marking World Mental Health Day with a series of special offerings designed to spotlight the mental health needs of educators and students.

The bonus content centers on the post-COVID state of the educational system and the often-overlooked emotional challenges facing those in the classroom. Betsy Burris is releasing a special Substack post (free for all readers) on October 10, exploring the tension between teacher and student mental health and offering perspective through a psychodynamic lens—one that sees difficult emotions as meaningful, useful, and worth listening to. “Teachers’ mental health is often treated as invisible, secondary to student wellbeing,” says host Betsy Burris.

“But the truth is, the two can’t be separated. When teachers are supported, students thrive. On World Mental Health Day, we want to honor both sides of that relationship.” Alongside the free Substack post, Teaching through Emotions is offering a bonus podcast episode for paid subscribers, featuring Stella, a teacher with a unique “horror story” that exposes failures of some school administrations in managing teachers’ relationships, mental health, and wellbeing.

Co-host Joe Johnson, a veteran Spanish teacher, adds: “World Mental Health Day is about community. For us, that means giving teachers a voice, a place to be honest about their struggles, and a way to recharge.” As part of this timely campaign, Betsy Burris is also encouraging listeners to consider gift subscriptions on Substack. These subscriptions act as a “mental health care package” for teachers, granting access to the full library of over 150 reflective blog posts, exclusive bonus episodes, and discounts on Burris’s book, The Feeling of Teaching.

Teaching through Emotions is an award-winning podcast created and hosted by Betsy Burris, a teacher educator and psychotherapist, and co-hosted by Joe Johnson, a veteran Spanish teacher. The show offers a psychodynamic perspective on education, helping teachers build resilience and find success by sharing real-life stories and practical insights.

The podcast is produced by Jullian Androkae, with audience development by Andreea Coscai and music by Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout. Listeners can subscribe to the podcast on all major platforms and explore premium content at www.teachingthroughemotions.com/subscribe.

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