Half way through a challenging shift at my local NHS trust, it dawned on me that I had become physically and emotionally drained. After 12 years I felt let down and betrayed by an institution that I loved and believed in.

I had been on a yoga retreat a few weeks earlier with a theme of New Year and how to use this to get the most out of yourself and how to focus on you, your happiness, and mental wellbeing. It had made me question why I was working myself into the ground for very little reward.

We sat in a circle at the end, chatting about the session and together supporting each other to talk openly about why we were there and what future plans we had.

Every person, bar one, had worked in the NHS and expressed how they too got to breaking point and left. My biggest argument, I shared with the group, was that I had spent many years of hard work to get to the position I was in and felt I was betraying the dreams of my younger self, and Morally, felt I would be letting everyone down by taking my specialists skills away in a time of crisis and staff shortages.

This wonderful group of people, and the many people I asked for advice, helped me realise that there was a way I could use my knowledge and continue to help people in a new and interesting way, and that was to teach.

And so began my journey…………..