Host Katinka Blackford Newman speaks with Kathy Slack, author of the memoir Rough Patch, about her breakdown after a decade in high-pressure London advertising that looked successful on paper but left her burned out and depressed. Kathy describes cognitive fog, heightened senses, grief-like sorrow, and being signed off work, then trying antidepressants, sleeping pills, CBT, acupuncture, and meditation. She recalls months barely able to leave her bedroom amid relentless self-criticism, until sitting by neglected raised beds led her back outside; growing vegetables brought moments of calm, awe, agency, creativity, and a new sense of what is “real.” The conversation explores misaligned values, perfectionism, self-care, and shifting from a career “ladder” to “lily pads,” plus Kathy’s move into organic kitchen gardening, cookery teaching, writing, and the hope and connection she aims readers to take from Rough Patch.

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:21 Meet Kathy Slack

01:24 Perfect Life Cracks

03:36 Burnout Turns Physical

06:38 Doctor Visit Breakdown

08:06 Values Mismatch Realization

12:57 Signed Off and Treatments

16:31 Inside Depression Spiral 21:36 Garden First Relief

22:55 Hooked on Growing

25:03 Nature as Medicine

27:19 Garden Values Shift

30:57 Self Care and Food

32:53 Finding Purpose

35:03 Lily Pad Mindset

38:51 Career Pivot to Veg

41:58 Life Now and Wales

44:44 Talking Heals

45:47 Breakdown as Gift

47:33 Hopeful Takeaways 48:59 Outro and Links