Zoe shares her extraordinary journey - losing both parents within two weeks at age 21, navigating isolation, emerging adulthood and the long, complicated reality of grief.

She opens up about the anger she never knew she was holding, the loneliness of early adulthood, and the unexpected places she found belonging.

Together, Yasmin and Zoe explore:

• how grief changes identity, confidence, and relationships
• why creativity becomes a lifeline when words run out
• the loneliness many feel at Christmas but never talk about
• the mental health threads woven through her debut feature film
• what it takes to make an indie movie with heart, humour, and honesty
• navigating fear, uncertainty, and vulnerability as a creative
• the messy beauty of partnership, collaboration, and co-regulation
• how community becomes family - especially when death leaves you alone.

Zoe also shares the unexpected emotional journey behind The Edible Underwear Club, her first feature film (created with partner Luke), a Christmas indie about bad vibrators, call centres, and the hidden mental health struggles so many face during the holidays.

This episode is funny, moving, and unexpectedly tender - a reminder that behind every piece of art is a human story of survival.

🎬 Film Premiere: The Edible Underwear Club - December 6th, Rio Cinema, Dalston. Tickets on Eventbrite.

💛 Mentioned in this episode:

• grief, belonging, and “post-traumatic growth”.
• St. Peter & St. James Hospice (grief support).
• the nervous system, loneliness, and the holidays.
• creative expression as a form of healing.

If you've ever felt alone, felt grief, lost in your twenties, or afraid to follow your creative instincts, this episode is for you. 💛

🌱 General Safety Note (For Every Episode)

This podcast explores real stories and emotional experiences related to relationships, identity, nervous system patterns, and the creative processes that help us heal. While we approach every topic with care, some themes may feel activating or tender depending on where you are in your journey.

Please listen in a way that feels right for your body. Take pauses. Take breaths. Take space.

Nothing here is a substitute for personalised therapeutic support, and you are always encouraged to seek help from a qualified professional if you need it.

Above all, move gently. Your safety, pacing, and wellbeing matter here.

Hosted by Yasmin Shaheen-Zaffar - a neurodivergent social entrepreneur, trauma & relationship counsellor, and The Situationship Expert - this podcast dives into the raw, unfiltered layers of human behaviour, disconnection, and the nervous system patterns that quietly shape our relationships.

Here, we don’t do perfection. We do honesty. Curiosity. And the kind of creative healing that has carried many of us through the darkest moments - creativity as survival, as expression, as a doorway back to ourselves.

Through intimate conversations and fearlessly tender storytelling, we explore the complexity of being human - from neurodivergent experiences and identity to rupture, repair, and the courageous act of choosing connection again.

Whether through art, movement, culture, or the quiet bravery of telling the truth, each episode offers a reminder: healing is not linear… but it is possible.

If you want connection? You need courage. And maybe… a creative reset.

🌱 General Safety Note

This podcast explores real stories and emotional experiences related to relationships, identity, nervous system patterns, grief, loss and the creative processes that help us heal. While we approach every topic with care, some themes may feel activating or tender depending on where you are in your journey.

Please listen in a way that feels right for your body. Take pauses. Take breaths. Take space.

Nothing here is a substitute for personalised therapeutic support, and you are always encouraged to seek help from a qualified professional if you need it.

Above all, move gently. Your safety, pacing, and wellbeing matter here.