Episode 15: From Teacher to Recovery Coach with Rosie Leyva
Most teachers get into education because it’s a passion of theirs that they want to fulfill. However, when burnout occurs, sometimes that passion can lead to other career paths outside the classroom. That stands true for Rosie Leyva, whose passions led her from classroom teacher to recovery coach. My guest on today’s episode, Rosie shares her journey through education and how her various experiences and passions created a different path towards coaching.
As teachers, we often feel like our identity revolves around being a teacher. But when you take a step back, you will find that your identity is so much more than your chosen career. Rosie dives into how her core values aligned with the actions she’s taken to become a recovery coach. While most who embark on a career change, it’s the failures and steps towards your new goal or career that provide the most clarity.
Rosie has an encouraging story that will inspire you to examine your passions and values to help determine your next season of life.
Topics Discussed:
Rosie shares her journey through education and what she continues to explore through her passions
How passion has played a major role in Rosie’s work beyond the classroom
Why it’s important to acknowledge your season of life in relation to what makes you happy
Rosie emphasizes the importance of a supportive community when looking at working beyond the classroom
Resources mentioned:
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Meet Rosie Leyva
Rosie Leyva is a Certified Professional Recovery Coach and a former equity-focused K-12 educator. She is a queer Latina in long-term recovery from trauma and alcohol use. Rosie views healing and recovery as opportunities to disrupt generational cycles of trauma and addiction. She focuses her coaching practice on helping LGBTQ+ folks and women of color navigate recovery with courage and self-compassion.
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Read the transcript for this episode:
Lily
Rosie Leyva as a certified professional recovery coach and a former equity focused K 12 educator. She is a queer Latina in long term recovery from trauma and alcohol use. Rosie views healing and recovery as opportunities to disrupt generational cycles of trauma and addiction. She focuses her coaching practice on helping LGBTQ+ folks and women of color, navigate recovery with courage and self compassion.
Lily
Welcome, Rosie, we are so glad to have you here.
Rosie
Hey, Lily. I am so excited to be here.
Lily
Awesome. Well, I always start with a very broad question, which is if you can trace back the journey that you've taken as an educator or even more broadly, in your career.
Rosie
Sure. So I, as an educator, I think about myself first as a student, and as a first generation college graduate. It's been really important to me in terms of my career to do my part in increasing access to education for students of color, and also for students with disabilities.
Rosie
So in my 15 year journey, as an educator, I began as a special education high school student, not high school student, high school teacher. And I've also served as a general education elementary school teacher. However, after experiencing burnout in the 2018-2019, school year, I decided to step out of the classroom full time.
Rosie
And my, my journey as an educator has continued since then, as well, as I was exploring options about what my life would look like beyond the classroom, I enrolled in the fall 2019 Educator Forever cohort.
Rosie
And you know, since then, I've had the opportunity to serve on the board of the charter management organization that I used to teach for. I've also explored educational therapy, curriculum writing, professional learning and training.
Rosie
I've explored contract work, I've explored full time work at an edtech company. And most recently, I became certified as a certified professional recovery coach, and I've launched my own recovery coaching practice. And while my recovery coaching practice is still in its infancy, I'm still engaging in flexible contract work in EdTech.
Rosie
So I'm still as a multi passionate individual, I'm still engaging in different areas that just continue to feel me.
Lily
Yes, I love that so much. I think one of the things that I've realized for myself, and I think that we have in common is that multi passionate part. That there's something about just me, you know, that is fueled by doing these different projects and trying these different things.
Lily
And what I love about hearing you reflect on your journey is just how it's changed and evolved, and how I'm sure it'll continue to change and evolve of being the right mix for the right time.
Lily
And you know, the beauty of doing flexible work is you can kind of mold it to be whatever you need in that moment. Absolutely. So how did you find yourself? Well, I kind of want to go back in time even further to like the leap beyond the classroom, like when you were a classroom teacher, and good timing, right? Like if you're feeling burnout in 2019, or 20. We didn't know what was to come after that.
Lily
But what did you experience as somebody leaving the classroom? I know there's a big piece that I experienced about my identity as a teacher, and how tied just who I was was to my job, and I'm wondering if you can talk about what that was like for you?
Rosie
Yeah, absolutely. I love my students. And I, all the students I've had the honor of working with and I, the relationships that I've built with students over time has been what has sustained me. That being said, especially the last two years that I was in the classroom full time, I was working upwards of 70 hours per week, which is completely unsustainable, and I didn't I didn't even realize how unsustainable it was in the moment.
Rosie
It's just like, you know, I'm struggling and all these ways in terms of my physical health, my mental health, and I'm just like, I don't see it.
Rosie
And then you know, I as a person with bipolar disorder, and I'm also in recovery from alcohol use disorder, I have a team of professionals that I work with, so they were kind like bringing this up to me in terms of how unsustainable the work was for me, and I was starting to have some mental health, my mental health health was deteriorating.
Rosie
And at that point, I just had no other option. It was either my health, or it was this profession, which, I mean, I wouldn't last much longer. And if my health continued to deteriorate, and for me, that was really challenging because for me, I like as a little girl, I saw myself as a teacher, and I taught my cousin's how to read.
Rosie
And I just saw myself as a teacher. And this identity as a teacher and my identity as Rosie were intertwined. And it was one.
Rosie
And a lot of the work that I've had to do since then has been to, to separate this identity as a teacher, which is a profession that I really love. It's something that I love, but it's not who I am. And by being able to separate that, then it just created this amazing space for this journey of figuring out what is it that I that I actually love and appreciate about teaching? And what can it look like for me now?
Rosie
So for example, a passion of mine is increasing access. And that has led me to write supports for students with disabilities, and English Language Learners. In a well known K-5 math curriculum. My passion for equity has led me to review math curriculum to ensure that it's not only aligned to academic standards, but also to principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Rosie
My passion for this profession has allowed me to work on projects to increase opportunities for salary advancement, by creating access for master's degrees for teachers, at low cost to teachers, or no cost to teachers.
Rosie
So in a way, it's all of these different pieces that I'm passionate about, which now I know, it's not realistic for me to expect one profession, or one job to allow me to explore all of these different areas. I just I get to choose that today.
Lily
Oh, my goodness. Yes, totally. I mean, absolutely. Like, I can't shake my head enough. First of all, I love how you explained the separating, and I think that's something that's so hard, and that as teachers, we get too close to it almost right. Like, which is so hard, because it's like, it's humans that you're trying to help. And that, like you're so connected to.
Lily
So to me, I felt the same way where I was teaching kindergarteners, who really needed a lot like my students needed a lot.
Lily
And I was giving and giving giving to them, because they were five year olds who were dealing with, like very extreme issues of like having parents were in who were recently incarcerated or being on housed, or you know, all sorts of things, right, where it's like, yeah, of course, I'm the adult in the room, I'm gonna keep helping you.
Lily
But it gets to a point for many of us where it's not sustainable, and it's actually really unhealthy. And so I really appreciate how you talk candidly about mental health and health issues around, you know, that came about during the process of being so overworked as a teacher, because I think it's something that many of us deal with. And many of us struggle with prioritizing.
Lily
So I think it's so important for people to hear you talk too about how now you're making truly a bigger impact in many ways, right? And you're taking actions that are aligned with your values. And I think that when you were talking, I was like, Oh, that's a really good practice for all of us to think about our values, right?
Lily
Rather than like me as a teacher, like, Yes, I think it's important that students have access, you know, or whatever it is for you. And then what actions you can take both inside or outside of the classroom, but that makes it more centered on you and your beliefs rather than like this teacher identity, which is so complex.
Rosie
Absolutely, absolutely. And I think, for me, one of the realizations as as a person of color, and as a first generation college graduate, first generation teacher has been also thinking about, like, sometimes it's easier for me to look at my experience through a different lens.
Rosie
So if I think about if I have my high school students who are graduating high school, first generation to go to college, they also become teachers, what would I want for them?
Rosie
And it would be sustainability. And it wouldn't be them sacrificing their health and all of these things, because then it's the system, right? It's the system that needs to change. And that has been really helpful for me to relieve some of the guilt that I felt in leaving because I specifically chose to work in schools where the kids looked like me.
Rosie
Those were the schools that I chose to teach at so there was a piece of I'm abandoning this community, I'm abandoning my community. But I also realized, like, if I am part of this community, I cannot be a martyr. I'm not helping anyone here, if I don't actually honor my needs, my health, and when I have better health, there's more for me to give in a sustainable way, as opposed to just depleting myself completely.
Lily
Absolutely. And I would argue that it's such a good model to show kids too, like it's really, really unhealthy and part of a very complexly flawed system, right? That students see teachers who are perpetually burnout, dealing with health issues, mental health issues from, you know, from the system, often, right.
Lily
And it's a great model, I think, to take that step to align with living in a way that's better for you, you know, and showing students that you have choices, even if it's hard for them too you know, but that is something that I think is a real teaching moment.
Lily
Like, there are boundaries to what we can go over and how we want to live our lives. And we do have some things that we can control. And so I think that showing students that is really an awesome model, too. Yeah. And then in that journey of self discovery, I'm sure it involved lots of trying new things and taking risks. Can you talk to us about those?
Rosie
I think the word that keeps coming up, and it's showing up more and more recently, is a failure and this concept of failure. And for me, when I left the classroom full time, I, one, I didn't know what I wanted to explore what I could explore. So it was just, I just had to embrace that piece of my journey of just exploring and being able to connect with folks.
Rosie
So for me, in terms of this self discovery journey, it has been connecting with people I connected with, you know, Educator Forever early on in my, in my journey, and that created, not only did it provide support in terms of resources and tools, but it was also other humans who were experiencing similar challenges that I got to experience.
Rosie
But as I was trying things out, which I didn't have a problem with, what was challenging for me then was realizing, actually, this isn't working for me. And not necessarily seeing it as a failure. But seeing it either as something I've learned about myself are this is just part of the journey.
Rosie
So early on, I launched an educational therapy practice, and I had clients and it was, you know, on paper, it was successful. And then I realized, actually, this isn't actually what I want to do.
Rosie
And stepping away from that was really frightening, because I felt like I was failing in some way. Because I should you know, it's the shoulds I should want to do this. But I didn't want to do it. And I stepped away. And then, you know, I had a full time job at an EdTech company, which I also left recently, which it was also very scary.
Rosie
And there's also this idea of failure like, like, Why do I keep switching things that I'm working on? And right now I'm launching my recovery, coaching practice.
Rosie
And there's this word of like, I don't want this to fail. But as I think about that, it's just like, I've learned so much about myself, I'm building more trust in myself, I'm thinking more and more about my core values. Integrity is one of them, as well as humility, and service, and you know, having meaningful work and impact.
Rosie
And when I go back to those core values, if I feel like my actions are aligned, then it's not a failure, then I'm just working through my journey. I'm just continuing through this journey.
Rosie
And what's amazing as well is that, to me today, it's exciting to know, like, we'll see where I am next year in terms of my practice as a recovery coach, in terms of the other work that I'm doing still in education, like we'll see where this takes me and this like releasing the, I guess the outcomes, and just like going through with what feels right, and is aligned to what I believe and what I want is exciting and scary.
Lily
Yes, absolutely. I mean, I found that to be so helpful for me too have like aligning to what feels right in the moment. And yeah, core values. And that changes, too. So I think it is it's been like that for me too have like, kind of a windy road of trying things and I'm like, oh, that doesn't feel right.
Lily
And I'm like, Oh, I'm gonna do this. And then just seeing through the process both what feels good in that moment, and also the sense of like, like, I guess there's two things around that.
Lily
Like, one is just that taking action brings clarity. And I have had many ideas of things. I'm like, oh, maybe I'll try this. And then I get in and I'm like, Yeah, nope, not for me, but you don't know till you're in it. And there's also been things that I've thought of about doing for like five years and then put it off because it seems scary. And then I actually did. And I was like, Oh, this is great. Like, I love this.
Lily
So I think it's like we need to take that action to figure it out. And it's totally reframing that idea of failure of like it's collecting data. And it's also collecting data of what works right now. Because I think I used to think about it, like, oh, it's collecting data. And then I know, I don't want to do that thing. But like, hey, in five years, maybe you decide you do want to do that thing. And you go back to it, that works for you right, then.
Lily
So I think it's like this ongoing process of, what do you need right now? What feels good right now, and then for sure, that values piece too. And then it makes it, I found it to be kind of freeing, because like, Hey, you can control if your actions aligned to your values, and you can control what feels good. And like the right mix, you have this moment. And then it kind of leaves the other stuff up to other people.
Rosie
And I think this piece of you know, what, what works for today or this season. And I tend to think about, like, this season of my life, this is what I need. And a season could be, you know, however long. And that's helpful for me, because as a teacher, who thought I was going to be teaching forever, I thought that when I left teaching, I had to find the next forever profession. And that's a lot of pressure.
Rosie
So thinking about in this season, this is what works in this season. And it just releases some of that pressure at make space for taking risks and make space for changing and pivoting and doing those things. As opposed to I have to find the replacement of my like, forever career for another forever career.
Lily
Absolutely, yeah, I think we've put so much unnecessary pressure on ourselves of just like being so forward thinking of like, okay, and then when I retire in 20 years, or whatever it is, like, No, we just need to make the best next step. And like, of course, we can do some visioning and planning, but knowing that it's should be very flexible, because you can't control so much of that, too. Yeah.
Lily
And do you think like, I'm curious, I heard you say like, it's still scary for me it still scary doing things, you know, taking risks, like I don't think that scariness will ever go away. But I'm curious if you feel like it's gotten easier to either, you know, say no to things that don't feel good to you or to take a risk in another way.
Rosie
Yeah, I think about the, what is it called the zones of comforts, I don't remember the exact name. But in the middle, there's your comfort zone. And then the next zone is the learning growing zone, but it's definitely out of your comfort zone. And then beyond that, it's the danger zone. And that's like, things that we really need to stay away from. So I've been thinking a lot about, like, what are the things in my comfort zone?
Rosie
And yes, as I've been, you know, out of the classroom full time, for a couple years, some of the things that were either in my learning zone, or very close to danger zone, have moved closer to my comfort zone, or are in my comfort zone. So I tend to think about that, like what's still within my growing zone? What's within my comfort zone?
Rosie
And what are some things that are just too for me too dangerous right now? And maybe they will always be? I don't know. But it seems like from my experience, things start to shift as I take action in different ways.
Lily
Yes, that's so interesting. I like that frame. And I'm thinking about it like applying to me too or to anybody. I mean, I think that it reminds me of so much of the things that I've reflected on that I've learned beyond the classroom are things that I remember talking to my students about. You know, like reflecting on how much progress I've made, or things that I feel like as adults, we don't generally do.
Lily
Like we don't usually at least I didn't think about like what used to be in my danger zone that's now more of my comfort zone or things like that. And I think it's an important practice to bring in for everybody. Like, I think I was thinking the other day about, like, I do Webinars a couple times a month.
Lily
And my very first webinar I did, I was like, terrified, terrified, like shaking, I had like two people on it. Like, I was like, this is horrible. Like, I'm never going to do this again.
Lily
Like, I just felt so nervous, I had to go to like my parents house too, Matilda was a baby or something. And she was crying. So I like went to my parents house, it looked super random in the background, and like, it was a mess. But I did it again. And it became a little less scary, you know, and there were times where like, the tech went out and it was like, horrifying, you know, and then it became a little less scary.
Lily
And now it's like, I just sit down and I do it. And so it's interesting to reflect on things, where like everybody has them, right? Like something that used to be scary and has become easier. And like you're saying some things are just always going to be scary, right? And some things are always gonna be things that maybe you don't want to do. And like that's important to note too, but I like that way of thinking about it.
Rosie
Yeah, yeah. And I've had the opportunity recently to engage in this practice individually because it's something that I do with my clients. So and you know, any tool that I utilize with my clients, I utilize it first myself to see what comes up for me.
Rosie
So just having the space to be able to reflect and identify those things, it's been helpful actually to think about what is outside of my comfort zone that I want to bring in closer. And that makes it sound easier and softer to do courageous things when it's just, I'm just bringing it in.
Lily
Totally, you're inviting it, and you're not like 100% conquering it. Yeah, absolutely. So let's talk about your journey to becoming a recovery coach. Can you tell us what motivated you to go down that path? And what that's been like for you?
Rosie
Yeah, so I have been in recovery for several years, I have about six and a half years of continuous sobriety. Congratulations. Thank you. My sobriety has been something that I have kept very separate from my professional world. And it has helped me to in order to maintain my sobriety and my recovery.
Rosie
But earlier last year, in 2022, I was just really thinking about the the piece that wasn't working for me in terms of my role that I had. And it was that I wasn't having that like one on one contact with people, which I realize now I need some of that in my life.
Rosie
Because that nurtures me, especially thinking about, even with students just like the transformation that we get to witness and get to be a part of for our students, when they're able to learn something, a new skill, a new concept, and especially something that they didn't think they could learn or could do.
Rosie
And then you see them do it. And it's, it's amazing to just be part of that learning, growing journey. And that's what I was missing. So earlier in 2022, I was thinking about, like, how can I bring that in to what I'm doing now? Because again, for me, it's now like, this is something I want to do, how do I bring it in? If I can bring it in here, where else can I bring this thing because it's important to me?
Rosie
And I realized that the moment during the day where I felt the most alive, were when I was working with my sponsees, who are in recovery. So then I was like, How do I do this, I get paid for this? So I started exploring, and that's where the Certified Professional Recovery Coaching Program came to be. And that's when I enrolled in the program.
Rosie
And for me, part of this not only because it fuels mean, that's obviously an important piece, but also going back to the impact and like, why I do the things I do, it needs to be meaningful, and I need to have impact. And thinking about just within my own family, the family members who I have lost due to alcoholism, and my own journey with alcohol use disorder, and just the the negative impact that that has in so many lives.
Rosie
And I was also thinking about, especially in the lives of people of color, then I decided that this would be something that I would want to pursue. So I was able to complete the program, I left my full time job, I launched my practice, and I've been able to work with folks in my practice. And with recovery coaching, it includes folks who are in different stages of their recovery.
Rosie
So for some folks, they're still questioning whether this is something that they want, whether they actually have a problem. And the recovery coaching helps them to analyze that and determine what's the next best step for them. I don't make that decision, they make the decision and I just help them with tools. Then there's other folks who have completed treatment.
Rosie
And there's very little aftercare provided after you complete treatment. So it provides that extended aftercare after somebody has completed treatment. And then I also have folks who have been in long term recovery, who want to sustain their recovery and also live a more self directed life and want to explore other areas that will enhance their recovery and enhance their, their journey. So that's, that's what I'm working on now.
Lily
It's so awesome. I mean, truly inspiring and so needed, and it just feels like such a great use of all of your many skills and experiences. And I love how you share that you tuned in to kind of when you felt the most alive. I think that's good for everybody.
Lily
You know, sometimes it's not clear if you're like, Oh, I feel the most alive when I'm leading a small group reading session or something like sometimes it's not super clear of how to translate that.
Lily
So it takes a little bit of like unpacking and I like how you know you were able to think about that. And then think about where you could kind of transfer and the skills you needed to learn of like going through a program to learn more about it and all of that. So that's really inspiring and super awesome. I'm wondering for educators who might be using substances to cope if you have any resources for them.
Rosie
Yeah, what comes to mind first is early intervention, just like in schools, early intervention, in terms of alcohol use. And I think oftentimes, we think that in order to change our relationship with alcohol, or to change our behavior, that we have to hit rock bottom, and we don't, we don't need to do that.
Rosie
And I think oftentimes, there's also this question around, am I an alcoholic? As like the first question that somebody asks. And if they come to the conclusion that they're not, then that's the end of any kind of exploration around their alcohol use. So I tend to dislike that question around. Am I an alcoholic? Because I don't think it's helpful, especially in the early stages when somebody is just examining their relationship.
Rosie
So I would say, definitely asking ourselves, How is alcohol serving me? Is it getting in the way? And then being able to answer those questions honestly, can then lead to some, some action that would be aligned to the answers to those questions. There are some apps for example, like Reframe, there's an educational component, so you'll learn something every day around the science behind it.
Rosie
And then there's also tools and groups, and Reframe is focused on not just helping folks who want to be alcohol free, but also folks who want to just cut back. So it's a good way to just learn about alcohol use, how it impacts us, and then connect with people.
Rosie
I also think if the answer to the question like, you know, this is really getting in the way of my work, my relationships, one place to go, or some places to go would be to a professional. So your primary care doctor, your therapist, recovery coach, such as myself, there's the website, International Association for Recovery Coaches, you can find a list of them as well.
Rosie
Most teachers have access to an employee assistance program EAP, so you can also get free counseling available through there. And then there's also peer support groups. So there's, there's a lot of resources available to folks. But it just starts off with asking that one question, how is alcohol serving me? Or how is it not serving me?
Lily
That's such a good list of resources. And I also am thinking about the parallels to things you mentioned earlier in the conversation of like, not thinking about things as binaries, right? Like not thinking about, I'm doing this for this whole job for the rest of my life, not thinking about like, either I'm an alcoholic, or I'm not an alcoholic, you know that it seems like there's such a piece of this that involves agency too. Absolutely.
Lily
Like you said, like they get to decide right like and that that is truly empowering, right to see what works for the individual person, and to give them support to move forward in a way that aligns with what they want to do. So that's awesome. Thank you for sharing. So two more questions. First, for folks who are looking to work beyond the classroom, do you have any advice for them?
Rosie
Yes. The first is, you know, you are not alone. And finding a community that supports you is important. It's key, it was key for me. So I'll I'll just speak from my experience by connecting with a community and this was Educator Forever in 2019. I not only received the like logistical support around the different types of careers and different tools that we could use that was obviously extremely helpful.
Rosie
And what was also really helpful was just being able to connect with other educators who were experiencing the similar obstacles, similar victories, and just being able to have somebody understand where we're coming from as educators.
Rosie
Because, you know, it's not just a career change, even though it would be great if if it was just a career change, but there's so much baggage that comes with, you know, moving beyond the classroom and having other people who understand that baggage and can help us, you know, carry that or unloaded all of those things is really helpful.
Lily
Yes, awesome. I made it. Yes, as truly been the greatest joy of Educator Forever is like community and for me too, you know, interacting with other educators and being inspired by them and also making connections with them. And I think that piece of knowing that there are other people out there feeling the same way who want to make a difference in the world and want to use their experiences as an educator to find a way forward.
Lily
That is really inspiring and there are totally people out there who are interested in doing this type of work beyond the classroom. So definitely if you're feeling alone, you are not. And then Rosie, if folks are interested in connecting with you about your recovery coaching, where can they connect with you?
Rosie
Yeah, my website is rosieleyva.com. And you could book a free consultation there. And I'm also on Instagram. @iamrosieleyva.
Lily
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for sharing about your story and we really appreciate you and you being part of our community.
Rosie
Thank you.