In this episode of Where Are We Heading?, Kim and Dan walk with Zoë Carassik, CEO of Pie Factory Music.

Zoë reflects on her own journey through youth arts spaces and how those early experiences shaped her confidence, creativity, and sense of belonging. What starts as a conversation about music soon opens out into a wider discussion about youth work, community, and why spaces that centre creativity and care matter more than ever - especially at a time when youth services across the UK continue to disappear.

As we walk, Zoë shares what it’s really like to lead a charity in the current climate, and why she believes joy, playfulness, and silliness aren’t distractions from the work, but essential to sustaining it. We talk openly about responsibility, burnout, and how creativity can exist alongside leadership and accountability without losing its humanity.

This episode is a reminder that creativity isn’t a luxury - it’s infrastructure. That small moments of validation can stay with a young person for life. And that community is built not through grand gestures, but through consistency, care, and shared creative experiences.

Zoë Carassik is CEO of Pie Factory Music, a music and youth work charity based in a busy youth centre in Ramsgate, East Kent. With a background in community music engagement and music education, Zoë’s work has predominantly focused on supporting social justice causes and has taken her from immigration removal centres, women’s refuges and community centres to world-class cultural institutions and strategic charitable organisations.

Zoë is a passionate advocate for young people’s rights, ensuring young people are front and centre of the cultural regeneration of Thanet and other areas of high deprivation.

https://piefactorymusic.com/

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Credits

Hosts: Kim and Dan

Logo Design: Jane Hogan Illustrates

Music & Production: Kim

Recorded in: Margate, UK

A Christmas Day walk-and-talk reflecting on burnout, grief, ADHD, alcohol, ambition, and learning to live more gently. This special episode of Where Are We Heading? is a quiet, honest reflection on the year that’s been — and how to move forward without burning out.

Dan and Kim talk about grief, first Christmases after loss, sobriety, ADHD, anxiety, burnout, and the pressure we put on ourselves to “be further along.” Instead of setting big resolutions, they explore what it looks like to slow down, listen to the body, and let life be enough — even when things aren’t perfect.

Kim shares how burnout has reshaped her relationship with work, ambition, and self-worth, and how practices like meditation, exercise, and compassion have become essential tools rather than optional extras. Dan reflects on grief, reflection without regret, and finding meaning in presence rather than productivity.

As always, the conversation unfolds while walking, grounded in the landscape, the moment, and the reality that none of us have it figured out.

This episode is for anyone ending the year feeling tired, reflective, or quietly hopeful and for those who want to enter the next chapter with more kindness and less force.

Key Takeaways

• Letting go of New Year’s resolutions in favour of compassion

• Burnout as a turning point, not a failure

• ADHD, anxiety, and the body’s memory of trauma

• Grief and first Christmases after loss

• Sobriety, alcohol, and changing relationships with celebration

• Meditation and exercise as regulation, not optimisation

• Learning to say no without guilt

• Measuring life by presence, not productivity

• Why slowing down can actually create space for better things

  
  

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  Credits

  Hosts: Kim and Dan

  Podcast: Where Are We Heading?

  Logo Design: Jane Hogan Illustrates

  Music & Production: Kim

  Recorded in: Margate, UK

In this episode, we walk with sound artist and producer Brian d’Souza to explore the power of deep listening, nature, and sound as tools for creativity and healing. Brian shares the story behind his work with bio-sonification, field recording and Ambient Flo, and opens up about losing his father during lockdown. A grounded, thoughtful conversation about sound, grief and how nature helps us reconnect.

In this reflective walk through London’s Alexandra Palace grounds, we’re joined by Brian d’Souza — award-winning sound artist, DJ and founder of A State Of Flo and Ambient Flo.

Together, we explore how nature, sound and creative practice can become lifelines during overwhelming moments in life.

Brian shares:

• How lockdown shifted his awareness of the seasons, soundscapes and the natural world

• The origins of Ambient Flo, and why listening became essential during a time of global uncertainty

• How field recording and “deep listening” changed his relationship with creativity and presence

• The science and art behind bio-sonification — turning the electrical signals of plants into music

• What nature teaches us about interconnectedness, sound, and attention

• His experience of losing his father during lockdown, and how walking and nature became part of navigating grief

• The role of responsibility, lineage and “stepping up” after loss

This episode beautifully weaves together creativity, sound, ecology, grief and healing — all through the lens of a walk outside.

KEY THEMES / TAKEAWAYS

• Nature as lifeline: How walking and open space helped Brian through lockdown and loss.

• Deep listening: Using attention and presence to reconnect with the natural world.

• Soundscapes & ecology: Understanding the layers of sound — geological, biological, human — and their impact on wellbeing.

• Bio-sonification: Turning plant bioelectricity into musical expression.

• Grief & responsibility: Processing the death of a parent through nature, movement and reflection.

• Creativity & healing: How sound, attention and ritual connect us to ourselves.

Brian d’Souza is an award-winning sound artist, DJ, producer and live performer known for blending field recording, global influences and electro-acoustic techniques. Through his work as Auntie Flo, A State Of Flo and Ambient Flo, Brian explores the psychological, ecological and healing potential of sound. His innovative work has been featured by the BBC, Tate Modern, Glastonbury, New Scientist, The Guardian and more.

http://www.briandsouza.in/

http://www.astateofflo.com

www.soniferous.app

https://www.instagram.com/auntie._.flo/

https://auntieflo.bandcamp.com/

Join the journey https://linktr.ee/whereareweheadingpod

Credits

Hosts: Kim and Dan

Guest: Brian d’Souza

Podcast: Where Are We Heading?

Logo Design: Jane Hogan Illustrates

Music & Production: Kim

Recorded in: Alexandra Palace, UK

In this honest and open walk-and-talk podcast episode, Where Are We Heading? co-host Kim reflects on releasing her new EP after years away from music. She and Dan dive into what it really feels like to return to something you love - the nerves, the pressure, the data, the burnout, and the quiet joy of simply creating again.

Across the conversation, Kim opens up about the realities of coming back after a long break: rebuilding confidence, setting boundaries, protecting your wellbeing, and learning to make work that fits your energy rather than pushing against it. Together, she and Dan explore what it means to define “success” on your own terms, reconnect with your craft in a healthier way, and find a rhythm that actually supports your life.

A reflective, grounded episode for anyone navigating a return - to creativity, to music, or to themselves.

They talk about:

• Releasing music in an age of metrics, data, and algorithms

• The pressure to perform online and how to release at your own pace

• How the body signals burnout (and why it often hits right after a big creative milestone)

• Finding a balance between ambition and rest

• Redefining what success means when you no longer fit the industry mould

• Building connection through smaller, slower, more intentional art experiences

• Why sometimes “starting again” is the bravest creative move you can make

Recorded while walking through Canterbury, this conversation captures the mix of reflection, laughter, and real talk that defines the show.

🔑 Key Takeaways / Themes

• Creative growth is cyclical — it’s okay to pause, restart, and do it differently.

• Burnout often shows up in the body before the mind catches on.

• Metrics don’t define meaning - creativity is about connection, not numbers.

• Building slowly and sustainably is a radical act in a culture of urgency.

• There are no rules anymore - and that can be both freeing and frightening.

• You can’t make your best work in survival mode.

Join the journey https://linktr.ee/whereareweheadingpod

CreditsHosts: Kim and DanPodcast: Where Are We Heading?Logo Design: Jane Hogan IllustratesMusic & Production: KimRecorded in: Canterbury, UK

In this episode of Where Are We Heading?

We walk with Tara Austin, co-founder of PAR – Psilocybin Access Rights, to explore the science, stigma and political barriers surrounding psilocybin. Tara shares why she believes legal access to psilocybin-assisted therapy is not just a medical issue, but a human one - especially for people living with depression, PTSD and end-of-life distress. A grounded and thought-provoking conversation on healing, policy and hope.

We walk and talk about:

• Why psilocybin is still a Schedule 1 substance in the UK despite growing medical evidence

• The science behind psilocybin therapy and how it works in the brain

• Breakthrough results in treating depression, trauma and PTSD

• Why policy change matters — and what stands in the way

• Harm reduction, set & setting, and why context is everything

• Shifting from fear and stigma to education and compassion

• The global movement toward psychedelic reform - and where the UK sits now

This episode explores not just the politics of psychedelics, but the human stories behind them - people searching for hope when nothing else has worked.

🔑 Key Takeaways / Themes

• Psilocybin shows strong clinical potential for treatment-resistant depression, PTSD and end-of-life anxiety

• Current drug scheduling laws block research access and patient treatment

• Rescheduling (not legalising) psilocybin would allow regulated medical use

• Psychedelics aren’t risk-free — set and setting make all the difference

• The campaign for access is science-led and compassion-driven

• Healing shouldn’t be limited by outdated policy and stigma

  
  

Guest Bio – Tara Austin (PAR)

Tara Austin is a behavioural scientist, activist, and co-founder of PAR – Psilocybin Access Rights, the UK’s grassroots campaign calling for psilocybin to be rescheduled so it can be prescribed for therapeutic use. PAR has mobilised thousands of citizens, delivered 89,000 campaign leaflets, run the UK’s first psychedelic billboard campaign, and taken psilocybin reform to Parliament.

Tara is also a Partner at Ogilvy Consulting, working at the intersection of behavioural science, psychology and systems change. She co-hosts Nudgestock, the world’s largest festival of behavioural science and creativity.

🔗 PAR links:
Instagram: @‌par.global
Website: www.par.global

Join the journey https://linktr.ee/whereareweheadingpod

Welcome to Where Are We Heading? — a walk-and-talk podcast with Kim and Dan. What started as weekly walks to check in on each other’s creative lives became a grounding ritual and now, a show about navigating the messy, beautiful journey of living creatively and sustainably.

In this first (unofficially official) episode, we introduce how the podcast began, share our stories of burnout, ADHD, and rediscovering joy, and talk about why walking and talking has been such a lifeline for both of us.

On this walk , we talk about:

• How the idea for the podcast started (and why it had to happen outdoors).

• The role of walking, movement, and nature in our creative recovery.

• Dan's journey through ADHD and burnout in the music industry.

• Kim’s story of chronic fatigue, CPTSD, and rediscovering balance.

• What it means to live creatively without burning out.

  
  

  Key Takeaways / Themes

  • “Done is better than perfect” — creative work doesn’t need to be polished to be meaningful.

  • The power of movement as medicine for burnout and mental health.

  • Creative work and well-being are inseparable; balance is the real success.

  • Walking side-by-side makes it easier to have honest, vulnerable conversations.

• We don’t have all the answers — and that’s what makes the journey worth sharing.

  
  

  Join the journey: https://linktr.ee/whereareweheadingpod

  
  

  Credits

  Hosts: Kim and Dan
  Podcast: Where Are We Heading?
  Logo Design: Jane Hogan Illustrates
  Music & Production: Kim
  Recorded in: Margate, UK

'Where are we heading?' is a new podcast we are launching soon! 🎧As we both have ADHD we are fashionably late to the party 🤣.

We first started going on weekly walks as a way to catch up, and hold each other accountable in our creative lives. Those casual conversations soon became a co-regulating anchor in their week, and from those walks, 'Where are we heading?' was born.

Now, the podcast is all about natural, walk-and-talk conversations rather than formal interviews, exploring how to live a creative life that values well-being. Our guests often come from the creative world, and we let the show evolve naturally as we walk and chat. It's really all about the journey. We hope you will join us.