Everything we do at Goodie Nation is based on the Hero’s Journey, and the most overlooked part of it is The Ordeal aka the tough times. Success is glamorized, but no one talks about the opposite end of the spectrum. And those who have “answered the call” often think they are alone during the times.  
That’s why our first-ever event series, while we were still only a Facebook group, was Founders’ Therapy. It is a small group where entrepreneurs vent about issues only they can understand…over drinks. But as we’ve evolved, we noticed there are other types of “heroes.” So we’ve created a more robust program called Heroes’ Therapy to support multiple types of people who’ve “answered the call.” And the second event series is focused on a type of hero all of us have encountered – teachers.
We call it Teachers’ Therapy, and, yep, its a small group where teachers can vent about topics only they understand over drinks. Why? Because teachers are human too. And we held the pilot version last week in Atlanta on dealing with unfair expectations. Here’s what we learned:
+Teachers Need A Support System & To Practice Self-Care: Teachers are asked to over-extend themselves far too much. They are often running on empty, and very little is ever offered to them.
+Schools Are Now The Only Point of Education: Students used to learn book & life skills from three major providers: parents/family, school, and the church. Now, many students only get them at school. And this puts a ton of pressure on teachers. It’s not really their responsibility so they have a choice to make. But they’re heroes so they’ll always choose to help the students even at the expense of their personal well-being. Which leads us to the next issue… 
+Parents Are The Biggest Problems: Far too parents don’t show up, yet hold the teachers to unrealistic standards.
+Society’s Ills Affects The Inside of the Classroom: Teachers spend a lot of time dealing with “outside stuff”, and it takes valuable time away from actually educating students.
+Mo’ Money; No Teachers: We all know teachers aren’t paid enough. Just read the above, and then try putting together a lesson plan if you don’t believe us. They need to supplement their income with other things.
+Learning Model Is Outdated: We’re teaching students the say way we did 150 years ago. Everything else in the world has evolved, yet the teachers can’t evolve their methods to achieve standards.
+Performance Tracking Causes Issues: Metrics used to evaluate progress don’t align with student learning many times, and frustration builds up when a teacher truly cares about learning. And when school leadership changes because of performance, the teachers have an even harder time keeping up.
Final Thoughts
The pilot version of Teachers’ Therapy was powerful, and we can’t wait to organize another one. We think it is the next big thing to come from Goodie Nation. Teachers interested in participating can get involved with us here. 
*This article was written with help from Samuel Culbreath III