Mind Cake
Mind Cake — conversations and short-form audio from writer Lee Crompton.
Woo Woo, Wool & Wet My Coals
Lee and Paul finally sit down together - in person, over lunch at the Golden Lion in Stirling - for the first time in a while. No guest. No agenda. Just two blokes catching up on what's been happening. In this one: Rock the collie, Paul's trip to Japan and a gig in Shanghai, hypnotherapy, Reiki, Hearts having a nightmare season, and why Lee has taken up knitting. That last one will make more sense in a few weeks.
Why You're Not Broken: Jo Robinson-Howarth on Happiness, Trauma and Finding What Actually Works
Jo from the Happiness Club has been through pretty much everything life can throw at a person — childhood instability, loss, difficult relationships, divorce, and a cancer diagnosis last year that she describes as one of the best things that ever happened to her. This isn't a ten steps to happiness conversation. It's an honest look at what happiness actually is — and why we've probably been thinking about it all wrong. They get into toxic positivity, AI grief apps, why "high vibes only" might be making things worse, and why wellbeing is less like a prescription and more like a buffet. Find Jo at www.thehappinessclub.co.uk
What the Heck Is Neurofeedback? Training the Brain for ADHD, Anxiety & Wellbeing
What if you could train your brain the same way you train a muscle — by watching it work in real time? Lee strapped sensors to his head and found out. This week Suzanne and Helen from Neurofeedback Scotland join Mind Cake to explain what neurofeedback actually is, how it works for ADHD, anxiety and trauma, and why it's nothing like the talking therapy Lee assumed it would be. Plus: Paul tries to understand the science, Lee walks through a forest with his brainwaves on display, and someone mentions a Tiny Penis Clinic. Find Neurofeedback Scotland at https://www.neurofeedback.scot/
New Year, Same Us: The Answerphone Was a Mistake
Lee and Paul are back in the office. The answerphone has messages. The milk in the mug is questionable. And it's January, which means everyone keeps asking how your Christmas was when nobody really wants to answer honestly. This is Mind Cake's New Year episode — no guest, no agenda, just two blokes back at their desks reflecting on the year gone and what's coming next. They get into: the Scottish handshake tradition, listener messages, what they actually want from 2026, speedway, CHiPs, and why "new year new you" is probably nonsense. Happy New Year. Same old us.
School Avoidance & Anxiety with Dr. Carolyne Keenan
If your child is refusing to go to school and you don't know why — or what to do — this episode is for you. Dr Caroline Keenan is a psychologist, public speaker and BBC Radio regular who specialises in emotion based school avoidance — the difference between a child who won't go to school and a child who genuinely can't. Lee has an eight year old and a five year old. This conversation is personal. They talk about what emotion based school avoidance actually is, why it gets mistaken for truancy, what parents can do to help without making things worse, and why getting children back into school as quickly as possible isn't always the right first step.
Ann Widdecombe: Politics, Perserverance And The Pasodoble
For their 50th episode, Lee and Paul record live from an apiary pod at Monocle Moor — with a bee as their third guest. Their actual second guest is Ann Widdecombe. Former MP, government minister, Strictly Come Dancing contestant and Brexit Party MEP, Ann joins Mind Cake to talk about her childhood moving around with a naval family, what drew her to politics during the Cold War, faith, resilience, and the state of the modern world. Plus: a Mind Cake quiz, 50 episode stats, and Lee opens up about living with fatigue after cancer treatment — and why doing nothing is harder than it sounds.
STRIDING THROUGH STRUGGLE: Kit Birks on Addiction, Recovery & Walking for Mental Health
Kit Birks was diagnosed with anorexia at 13. By her mid-twenties she was living in her car, sleeping rough, and had survived multiple suicide attempts. On June 2nd 2022 she got clean. She hasn't looked back. Now 29, Kit is a poet, mental health advocate, Reiki practitioner and — this July — attempting a world record breaking trek from the northernmost to southernmost point in Europe. 8,500 kilometres. Ten countries. Arctic to Aegean. This is one of the most honest conversations Mind Cake has ever had. Find Kit on Instagram and TikTok — search Kit Birks. Her poetry book Burnt Toast is available in Waterstones and online. Support Stride Beyond Silence — search Just Giving: Stride Beyond Silence.