A year after giving up her YouTube channel, Hannah Witton's clinic for struggling, burned-out creators is open

• Hannah Witton, a sex education YouTuber, quit her popular channel a year ago.
• She cited burnout and becoming a mother as reasons for her shift.
• She now helps creators navigate career changes, focusing on those who have hit a content wall.

Last December, Hannah Witton decided 12 years with her enormously popular YouTube channel, where she became a beacon of knowledge for sex education, was enough.

Now, she wants to be the crisis clinic for struggling creators, using her 12 years of experience to help other YouTubers figure out their next steps.

Witton stepped away from her channel with over a decade's worth of content on sexual health, with a particular focus on sexuality with a disability.

Witton was one of a wave of long-standing YouTubers who left the channels on which they built their businesses over the past year, including MatPat of The Game Theorists and Tom Scott, who ended his famed "Things You Might Not Know" series.

They all did so for different reasons, but burnout and a sense they had hit a wall was a common thread in their decisions.

Witton told Business Insider that having a baby was the biggest factor for her. She had been on the content hamster wheel for so long, beholden to the ever-changing YouTube algorithm, that she didn't realize she was running on empty.

But being raised a feminist, she previously thought becoming a mom wouldn't change her career at all.

"Then when it actually happens, it's like, oh, wait, it's totally normal for this to completely rewire you," she told BI. "Not just physically and mentally, but actually logistically — your circumstances changing and the impact it has on your time, your energy, your resources, and all of that."

So, Hannah retired her channel and her Doing It Podcast, unsure of exactly what was next, but certain of one thing: she was taking a break.

"I was like, oh, I don't have to do that anymore," she said. "It was a risk I was willing to take."

One year after retirement

Witton started making content in 2013 and evolved as a dominant voice in the sex and relationships space, with a particular focus on enjoying sexuality while living with a chronic condition.

Witton herself has been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a chronic autoimmune illness where her digestive system gets regularly inflamed and has a stoma bag — an external pouch that takes on the role of the colon.

One year on from retirement, Witton has leaned into her Patreon. She has a second YouTube channel which she uploads to occasionally and when she feels like it, but it's not a priority in terms of income and career moves.

"Growth isn't one of my main goals at the moment," Witton said. "I'm really judging the success of videos on my enjoyment of it, and then the comment section, and just if other people enjoyed it too."

Witton said her finances did take a hit initially, but in the long term, it worked out. Struggling to keep up with the content mill meant Witton was draining her bank account by hiring freelancers and paying her team.

"I did cut down on a lot of my overheads at the end of last year because, of course, I also removed a big part of my income," Witton said. "But for the most part, I have been a lot financially healthier this year."

The YouTuber crisis clinic

After retirement, Witton organically started having conversations with many other creators about what they wanted to do next. This turned into a business in itself.

"I originally went in being like, I'm going to be a project manager," Witton said. "But it's more that I come in as a consultant or a coach, and then the rest is kind of up to them to execute."

For example, Witton coached a pregnant creator for a few months before her maternity leave, helping her figure out her priorities and what kind of schedule she could realistically keep.

Helping creators launch their Patreon pages is a big part of this process, Witton said, as she's been on there for 10 years and knows how it works inside out.

"It's been really fun and rewarding to use all of this insight and knowledge and experience that I have," Witton said. "It's reassuring for me as well that I do know stuff. I haven't just been talking to a camera — I've been building up all of these skills."

While Witton sees the value she could bring to newer creators, she finds working with more established ones more interesting.

"I want the creator who's going through a crisis," she said. "I want the creator who's been doing it six years and is like, what am I doing in my life?"

That's what gets her excited, she said — helping creators who are burned out, stressed, and confused about the future figure out their next steps.

"A lot of creators are getting to the age where they may be having children or different life responsibilities, or just generally having a different pace of life," Witton said. "It's the life cycle of a creator."

It's hard to turn off the creator voice in her head that tells her she should be doing more, so Witton has to listen to her own advice and not let the hamster wheel take her away again.

She would like a silver play button for her second channel one day, but right now, her priority is creators in need.

"The clinic is open," Witton said. "You can come to me when you're having your existential crisis."