Origin Story
BACK TO THE BEGINNING
Oceans Apart
BUILT ACROSS TIME ZONES
The Burn In Model emerged through a shared process of discovery, development, and global collaboration.
For two years, Rhiannon and Michelle navigated time zones, carved out moments between client sessions, school drop-offs and dinner prep. They showed up at weird o’clock — 2am calls, half-asleep but lit up like a match. One of them was usually in pajamas as they passed the baton like two souls on a mission — building The Burn In Model across time zones, broken sleep, and the wild rhythm of life.
What began as late-night conversations squeezed between work and family life evolved into an international initiative — shared on global stages, in classrooms, workplaces and research forums around the world.
MEET THE CO-CREATORS
Rhiannon Crispe is an occupational therapist, speaker, and co-creator of The Burn In Model. With 17+ years of clinical and entrepreneurial experience, she has supported hundreds of individuals and families in creating meaningful, sustainable ways of living and working.
Recognized as an expert in occupation, Rhiannon’s work explores the intersection of occupation, identity and purpose. As both a critical thinker and creative disruptor, she challenges conventional approaches to wellbeing and invites people and organizations to reimagine what meaningful, human-centered work can look like. Her mission is simple - to inspire new ways of living and leading where people return to what fuels them, protect what matters, and Burn In, Not Out.
Michelle Luken is an occupational therapist, speaker, and co-creator of The Burn In Model. Her 17-year career spans the U.S. military, leadership, mental healthcare, teaching, research, curriculum development and human performance. Michelle brings a systems-focused, evidence-informed lens to modern wellbeing and leadership.
A Doctor of Science in Occupational Therapy and former U.S. Army Officer, Michelle has served in roles ranging from mental health clinician to human performance specialist to educator. Her work blends clinical expertise with systems thinking, helping individuals and organizations create sustainable ways of working without sacrificing wellbeing or impact.
She also contributes to Warfighter mental health research as a behavioral scientist, supporting alignment and resilience in demanding environments. Her mission is to help people reconnect with purpose, lead with authenticity, and cultivate environments where individuals and teams can live a life of alignment.
A Grassroots Origin
Mid 2024
The Spark: Rhiannon Names Burn In
Australia: After a soul-nourishing day with her family, Rhiannon came up with the term Burn In — the opposite of burnout and a way to describe feeling alive and aligned.
She knew this wasn’t just a phrase, but the beginning of a model that could guide people back to themselves. With rates of burnout rising across the world, she felt a clear pull to create a new path forward — one that helps people Burn In, Not Out.
Mid 2023
Meanwhile, Michelle’s Flame Metaphor
United States: Around the same period, Michelle had been privately journaling about the metaphor of fire and flame — what it means to dim, reignite, and rekindle one’s inner fire.
At the time, they didn’t know it yet, but they were exploring complementary pieces of the same human experience from opposite sides of the world.
September 2024
An Invitation to the OT Community
Rhiannon sent an email inviting occupational therapists from around the world to help create a conceptual model around the concept of Burn In.
Michelle was among the first to reply, instantly recognizing the resonance between her fire-based metaphor and Rhiannon’s concept.
October-November 2024
An Eight-Week Global Collaboration
Beginning in October 2024, Rhiannon facilitated an eight-week global collaboration of occupational therapists who helped clarify and build upon the early Burn In concept through lived experience, literature reviews, and professional expertise.
After the group finished, Rhiannon and Michelle stayed in close communication, exchanging ideas through constant voice notes, weekly Zoom calls. It quickly became clear that they were deeply aligned in vision and approach, and that our perspectives strengthened the work.
What began as collaboration naturally became a shared creative partnership, shaping the foundations of what would become The Burn In Model.
Early 2025
Co-Creation and Concept Refinement
As The Burn In Model evolved, Rhiannon and Michelle, and with the help of other occupational therapists, continued refining and validating it through:
Mapping reviews of empirical research on burnout and job satisfaction
Focus groups with occupational therapists practicing in diverse settings across the world
Deep dives into occupational science, psychology, burnout, and wellbeing literature
Daily brainstorms and dialogue
What began as a shared curiosity became a rigorous, collaborative development process — and The Burn In Model was formally co-created.
Mid-Late 2025
A Model Ready for the World
By the end of 2025, The Burn In Model had been piloted in clinical practice, coaching, supervision, and personal development, then shared through keynotes, team workshops, and training.
People immediately recognized themselves in the metaphor. The Burn In Model gave language to experiences they had felt but never named.
And the Burn In movement began.
EBOOK
The Burn In Model
A Lens and Language for Reframing Burnout and Living in Alignment
This eBook takes you inside The Burn In Model — exploring the flame, the ecosystem, and examples of how it can be applied. Designed for practitioners, leaders and seekers ready to move beyond burnout, it offers a practical pathway to bring the The Burn In Model philosophy to life in real work, real systems and real change.
STAY CLOSE TO THE WORK
The Burn In Model Newsletter
Keep exploring The Burn In Model. Get occasional resources, reflections, research, and updates to deepen your understanding of the model and support greater alignment across life and work.
