Shows
Dial EmmaWhy can one person ruin my entire mood? Dial Emma: What am I Missing?Hello and welcome back to Dial Emma! This week, I want to explore why we give some people the power to change our entire mood, without actually doing anything at all.I want you to think of someone who has the extraordinary ability to ruin your day, just by existing. You’ve slept well, you’ve got things done, and then you see their name on your phone or their car outside, and suddenly your entire mood changes. They might not have said a word, and you’re already irritated. Why does one person have the power to cha...
2026-10-1948 minDial EmmaWhy do other people irritate me so much? Dial Emma: What am I Missing?Hello and welcome back to Dial Emma! This week, I want to talk about something I suspect many of us experience but aren’t especially proud of: finding other people really, really annoying.I don’t mean the obviously rude or provocative ones. I mean the perfectly pleasant friend who sends a seven-minute voice note when you asked a yes-or-no question, the colleague who begins with “can I just ask you a really quick question?” that you know will be anything but 'quick', or the person who tells you a story you’ve heard several times, and you still...
2026-10-1245 minDial EmmaWhen does concern become control? Dial Emma: What am I Missing?This episode has been on my mind for a while, so I want to talk about something I think about a lot: concern. Specifically, the kind of concern that gives us a sense of permission to involve ourselves in somebody else's life. Being attentive to the people around us is a good thing. But I've been thinking about what happens when concern starts to carry an expectation - when the person expressing it begins to feel entitled to an explanation, a response, or a change in somebody else's behaviour, and the person receiving it experiences it not as kindness...
2026-10-0552 minDial EmmaWhy am I so tired all the time? Dial Emma: What am I Missing?Today's question is one I hear all the time, from clients and in ordinary conversation. Why am I so tired all the time?I don't mean the tired where you went to bed at 1am and the alarm went off at 6. I mean the tired where you wake up already calculating how long until you can get back into bed - where the weekend arrives and somehow doesn't restore you, and by Sunday evening you realise you're starting another week without ever really feeling the last one ended.A quick note before you listen to...
2026-09-2836 minDial EmmaWhy Do I Always Feel Guilty? Dial Emma: What am I Missing?Hello and welcome back to Dial Emma! Today I want you to think about the last time you felt guilty. Maybe you actually did something you regretted. But I wonder how many other things make you feel guilty too - saying no, cancelling plans when you're exhausted, buying something for yourself, resting on a Sunday, or even feeling happy when someone you love is struggling.We use the same word for all of these very different experiences. And once we've called it guilt, we tend to assume it's telling us something true. If I feel guilty, I...
2026-09-2134 minDial EmmaWhy do I care so much about what other people think? Dial Emma: What am I Missing?This week on Dial Emma, I'm tackling a question I suspect most of us have asked ourselves: why do I care so much what other people think?We're often told we shouldn't. "Stop caring," "you do you," "other people's opinions are none of your business." But I'm not convinced that's actually the goal. I care what my children think of me, what my friends think, whether the people I love feel respected in their relationships with me. Other people matter to us, so their experience of us matters too. The more interesting question is why, for some...
2026-09-1435 minDial EmmaWhy do I overthink everything? Dial Emma: What am I Missing?This week on Dial Emma, we're stepping slightly outside of relationships - although, as you'll hear, they find their way back in anyway. I'm tackling one of the internet's most Googled questions, and one I suspect a lot of you already know in your bones: why do I overthink everything?Maybe you send a message and read it back six times. Maybe you get home from a meeting and start conducting a full forensic investigation into a two-second pause that nobody else even noticed. If any of that sounds familiar, you're not alone - and I don't...
2026-09-0733 minDial EmmaWhy do I feel lonely in my relationship? Dial Emma: What Am I Missing?This week on Dial Emma, I'm delving into a relationship question people often feel ashamed to even ask out loud - because surely loneliness is something we feel when we're single, not when we're sharing a bed with someone who loves us? And yet, some of the loneliest people I've ever met are in long-term relationships.Our listener writes: "I've been married for nine years, and my husband is a genuinely good man. We don't fight very often and we parent well together, but somewhere along the way, I started feeling invisible. We spend every evening in...
2026-08-3132 minDial Emma"Why doesn't my partner understand me?" Self-differentiation, love languages and curiosity in relationshipsThis week on Dial Emma: What am I Missing?, I'm exploring a relationship question that sounds simple but carries real weight - one that's less about disagreement and more about the loneliness of feeling unseen inside a relationship.Why doesn't my partner understand me?Our listener says: "My partner and I have been together for four years. We rarely argue, but there's a recurring disconnect. When I've had a hard day, he jumps straight to solutions - but I just want to feel understood. He gets frustrated when I reject his help and we both...
2026-08-2427 minDial EmmaWhy do we keep having the same argument? Dial Emma: What am I Missing?Hello lovely listeners and welcome to Dial Emma: What am I Missing?There are some relationship questions that get typed into Google more than almost any other - often late at night, often after a hard conversation or moment of disappointment.Why do we keep having the same argument?I've asked it myself. Most of us have. And after years of sitting across from couples and individuals in the therapy room, I've noticed something: people often walk in asking one question, and walk out realising they needed to ask a different one entirely.
2026-08-1728 minDial EmmaHow do I know if this relationship is right? Dial Emma: What am I Missing?Hello lovely listeners and welcome to a brand new series of Dial Emma!There's a question that gets typed into phones more than almost any other relationship question - often late at night, often after a hard conversation.How do I know if this relationship is right?I've asked it myself. Most of us have. And after years of sitting across from couples and individuals in the therapy room, I've noticed something: people often walk in asking one question, and walk out realising they needed to ask a different one entirely....
2026-08-1033 min
Dial EmmaVoicenote Therapy Ep 4: You don't have to earn the right to restHi! It's me. This is the last bonus Voicenote Therapy episode of Dial Emma, combining my love of long voicenotes with therapeutic insights to create something new and, hopefully, helpful.This week, I'm sitting with something I thought was about rest, but turns out to be about permission. That moment at the end of a long day when you finally sit down, and instead of resting, you think: what have I forgotten? What else should I do?Why do we so often push rest to the bottom of the list, after everything and everyone else...
2026-08-0314 min
Dial EmmaVoicenote Therapy Ep 3: What if you don't actually need to become strong?Hi! It's me. For the next four weeks, we're trying something a little different on Dial Emma - this is Voicenote Therapy, combining my love of long voicenotes with therapeutic insights to create something new and, hopefully, helpful.Today, in episode two, we're exploring resilience. We're taught that resilience means toughening up, coping better, becoming stronger. But what if the problem was never you? What if you've simply been carrying too much, for too long?A thought to sit with: "Perhaps you don't need another book about resilience. Perhaps you need permission to put something...
2026-07-2715 min
Dial EmmaVoicenote Therapy Ep 2: You're not asking for too muchHi! It's me. For the next four weeks, we're trying something a little different on Dial Emma - this is Voicenote Therapy, combining my love of long voicenotes with therapeutic insights to create something new and, hopefully, helpful.Today, in episode two, we're exploring a question I hear a lot, in life and in the therapy room: "am I asking for too much?"I delve deeper into why we tell ourselves that we're expecting too much from other people, the tendency to shrink our needs and preempt our own disappointment rather than asking for what...
2026-07-2012 min
Dial EmmaVoicenote Therapy Ep 1: What if the problem isn't actually the problem?Hello! It's me. This week we're trying something a little different on Dial Emma - this is Voicenote Therapy, combining my love of long voicenotes with therapeutic insights to create something new and, hopefully, helpful.Today I'm exploring the idea that the feeling causing us the most distress is not always the real root of the problem - whether it's anxiety, overthinking, people-pleasing, recurring relationship patterns, or something else - and why therapy often seeks to shift the focus from, “how do I stop this?” to “what is this trying to tell me?”Dial Emma is hoste...
2026-07-1313 minDial EmmaThe Truth about Family: "I love my aging parents, but I also want my life back."Welcome back to Dial Emma, and to the last episode of our latest miniseries, The Truth. This week, we're exploring the unsayable truths about family, and the caregiving roles that we never signed up for.Our listener, a woman in her fifties whose parents are now in their seventies, wrote to me about the feeling of losing herself while taking on multiple roles in her parents' lives: administrator, technical support, taxi service, crisis manager. She asks a simple question: am I an awful person, for wanting freedom from the people I love?In this episode...
2026-07-0616 minDial EmmaThe TRUTH about success: "I built the life I wanted. Why do I secretly want to run away from it?"Welcome back to Dial Emma, and to our new miniseries, The Truth. This week, we're exploring the uncomfortable truths about success, that most of us are feeling but not saying out loud.Our listener is 44 and finally has the life that she spent the last decade working towards - a long marriage, healthy children, a senior job, a nice house. So why does it feel like a trap, instead of a victory? And how do we find ourselves living a life that we thought we wanted, but that constantly demands things of us?In this...
2026-06-2920 minDial EmmaThe truth about relationships: "I'm getting married in 8 weeks. Are my cold feet trying to tell me something?"Welcome back to Dial Emma, and to our new miniseries, The Truth. This week, we're exploring the uncomfortable, illicit truths about relationships, that we often feel like we aren't supposed to say out loud.Our listener is 34 and getting married in eight weeks, to a wonderful man who everyone in her life loves. So why is she waking up at 4am, convinced that she can't go through with it?This is a dilemma that gets to the heart of relationship doubts, why we experience them, and how we can tell the difference between fear of...
2026-06-2221 minDial Emma"I'm pregnant with my second child. I still miss who I was before my first.": The truth about motherhoodWelcome back to Dial Emma! I have a new miniseries for you, lovely listeners, that I'm calling The Truth - exploring the uncomfortable, illicit truths that we often feel like we aren't supposed to say out loud.In this first episode, we hear from a listener who is pregnant with her second child, but still mourning the version of herself before she became a mother for the first time.Can we love the life we have right now, and long for an old one, at exactly the same time? Are we allowed to feel more...
2026-06-1519 minDial Emma"Who am I now that my kids don't need me?": Dial Emma Reframes Ep 4Welcome back to Dial Emma and to the fourth and last episode of our mini-series on reframes. Thank you so much for joining me, and please do let me know what you thought of the series!This week, our listener is in her fifties, wondering who she is now that her grown-up children no longer need her in the same way they once did.In this episode, I dive deeper into what happens when the conditions that we place on our self-worth shift and change, the process of returning to the self after decades of...
2026-06-0123 minDial Emma"I'm 47 and I've blown up my entire life": Dial Emma Reframes Ep 3Welcome back to Dial Emma and to the third episode of this mini-series on reframes.This week, we hear from a listener who wonders if she is having a breakdown...while I wonder whether it's the first honest version of her life.In her own words, our 47-year-old listener feels as though she has 'blown up her life,' after ending her marriage of twenty years, moving into a rented house and trying to navigate midlife, dating apps and new identity as a single mother. Is freedom and autonomy just a false fantasy? Or is...
2026-05-2525 minDial Emma"I'm ashamed that I resent motherhood. Why can't I cope?": Dial Emma Reframes Ep 2Hello, lovely listeners! Welcome back to Dial Emma and to our mini-series on reframes.This week, our listener is a mum of two in her thirties, who feels as though she is disappearing amidst the demands of modern life, career and motherhood. She has a good husband and two children who she loves, but in private, she fantasises about escaping to a hotel room where she can be alone, not needed by anyone. Why, she asks, can't I cope, when everyone else seems to?Dial Emma is hosted by Emma Reed Turrell, produced by Lauren...
2026-05-1828 minDial Emma"Am I wasting my late twenties?": Dial Emma Reframes Ep 1Hello, lovely listeners! Welcome back to Dial Emma and to my brand new mini-series on reframes.This week, we hear from a 27-year-old listener who feels as though she missed the life handbook that everyone else got. Her peers are getting married, having children, buying houses: meanwhile, she lives in a house share, with a mouldy bathroom and one shelf in the fridge to call her own.Does everything need to feel certain in our twenties? Do we need to have a five-year-plan? Or can we find ways to intentionally inhabit a life that feels...
2026-05-1129 minDial EmmaDial Emma Reframes: The personal reframes I didn't see comingHello, again! Welcome back to Dial Emma and to a new mini-series: all about reframes.Before I bring in the voices of my lovely listeners to explore this theme, I wanted to start somewhere personal - because reframes have shaped almost everything in my life, professionally, therapeutically, and in the very particular chaos of the last few years. And if I'm going to ask you to go there, it felt only right that I go first.This isn't a polished story with a tidy conclusion. It's a real account of how perspective has shifted for...
2026-04-2729 minDial Emma"I'm grieving a life I never had" Dial Emma: The UnsaidIn honour of International Women’s Day, Dial Emma presents The Unsaid – a four-part mini-series exploring the emotional realities many women are living with, but rarely have language for. Each episode features two listener dilemmas and twenty minutes of thoughtful, compassionate reflection on the inner work women are doing beneath the surface of competence, independence and survival.This is the fourth and final episode of The Unsaid mini-series, and this week we're talking about grief - but perhaps not in the way you might think.We hear from two listeners who are both struggling to navi...
2026-03-2317 minDial Emma“I don’t need anyone, but I’m lonely” Dial Emma: The UnsaidIn honour of International Women’s Day, Dial Emma presents The Unsaid – a four-part mini-series exploring the emotional realities many women are living with, but rarely have language for. Each episode features two listener dilemmas and twenty minutes of thoughtful, compassionate reflection on the inner work women are doing beneath the surface of competence, independence and survival.In this episode, I explore a powerful paradox: being strong and independent while still feeling lonely or unseen.While many of us pride ourselves on being capable and self-sufficient, that sense of independence can sometimes develop as a form...
2026-03-1617 minDial Emma"The weight I didn't agree to carry" Dial Emma: The UnsaidIn honour of International Women’s Day, Dial Emma presents The Unsaid – a four-part mini-series exploring the emotional realities many women are living with, but rarely have language for. Each episode features two listener dilemmas and twenty minutes of thoughtful, compassionate reflection on the inner work women are doing beneath the surface of competence, independence and survival.In this week's episode, I explore the unseen emotional burdens women often carry for others. Many of us become “emotional regulators,” constantly soothing, managing, and fixing for family, friends and even colleagues, but it's often at the cost of our own well...
2026-03-0919 minDial Emma"Nothing is wrong, but nothing feels right" Dial Emma: The UnsaidIn honour of International Women’s Day, Dial Emma presents The Unsaid – a four-part mini-series exploring the emotional realities many women are living with, but rarely have language for. Each episode features two listener dilemmas and twenty minutes of thoughtful, compassionate reflection on the inner work women are doing beneath the surface of competence, independence and survival.This first instalment explores a theme that resonates deeply for many of us: doing objectively well in life, but still feeling wrong beneath it all.Our first dilemma comes from a listener who says that nothing is wrong in h...
2026-03-0219 minDial Emma"Caring feels like part of who I am": Aimee Cliff on empathy, emotional sensitivity and how to switch offWelcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.This week on the podcast, I'm responding to a listener dilemma all about empathy - and who better to help me answer it than an integrative psychotherapist who describes herself as someone who 'empathises for a living,' Aimee Cliff.Aimee joins me to explore the complexities...
2026-02-2339 minDial EmmaDr. Claire Plumbly: Burnout, modern lives and how to protect our mental healthWelcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.In this week's episode, Dr. Claire Plumbly, a clinical psychologist, EMDR consultant and author, joins me to explore the complexities of burnout, a subject that she specialises in alongside PTSD, anxiety, and trauma-informed wellbeing.We respond to a listener who is struggling with the constant connectivity of...
2026-02-1638 minDial Emma"How do I let go of the victim mindset?": What can we do when we feel like life is happening to us?Welcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.In this bitesize episode, I'm responding to two in-the-moment dilemmas: how to escape survival mode, and how to let go of a victim mindset. I explore why survival mode is not a failure but a natural response to overwhelming circumstances, the small, manageable changes we can make to navigate...
2026-02-0920 minDial EmmaNatasha Page: Self-esteem, midlife transitions & reclaiming confidenceWelcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.This week on Dial Emma, I'm joined by psychotherapist and self-development coach Natasha Page, whose debut book, Believe You're Made for More, will be published on 27th January 2026. We're exploring a dilemma from a listener who feels as though her self-confidence has been quietly eroding over the years. Between...
2026-01-2642 minDial Emma"How do I parent a teenager with a long-term health condition?" Ali Isaac: Imperfect Bodies, motherhood and self-discoveryWelcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.This week, I'm joined by Ali Isaac, author of Imperfect Bodies (available to pre-order now), a powerful memoir that explores motherhood, identity and the female body through the lens of Ali's experiences raising her daughter, Carys, who lives with a rare genetic disorder.Our dilemma comes from...
2026-01-1945 minDial Emma"I want to separate from my partner, but I'm terrified I'll be left with nothing" Kate Daly on separation, divorce & healthy communicationWelcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.In this episode, I'm delighted to be speaking to Kate Daly, co-founder of amicable and host of The Divorce Podcast. As a leading expert on divorce, separation, relationships and family law reform, Kate joins me to discuss the emotional and legal challenges faced by individuals in long-term relationships, particularly...
2026-01-1241 minDial EmmaDr. Emma Offord: Navigating an autism diagnosis later in lifeWelcome back to Dial Emma and a very happy new year to you all!Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.This week, I'm joined by Dr. Emma Offord, a clinical psychologist, neurodivergence specialist and founder of Divergent Life. We're unpacking a dilemma from a listener who has been diagnosed with autism at 38. The diagnosis initially brought her relief...
2026-01-0544 minDial EmmaSian Morgan-Crossley: How to manage emotionally immature parents at ChristmasWelcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.In this week's episode, I'm joined by psychotherapist, author and founder of Break the Cycle Coaching Sian Morgan-Crossley to unpack a festive dilemma around the challenges of dealing with emotionally immature parents.Our listener writes about the feeling of being 'rewound' to her anxious, apologetic teenage self...
2025-12-0841 minDial EmmaDr. Tracy Dalgleish: Mothers-in-law vs daughters-in-law and navigating tricky family dynamics during the festive seasonWelcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.We're kicking off the festive season with a dilemma that sheds some light on the one family dynamic that doesn't always get the airtime: the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship. To help me explore this topic in more depth, I'm joined by Dr. Tracy Dalgleish, a clinical psychologist and relationship...
2025-12-0138 minDial EmmaAly Bullock: Navigating sexual disconnection in long-term relationshipsWelcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.This week, I'm speaking with Aly Bullock, a licensed marriage and family therapist and Head of Relationships at Paired, to discuss the complexities of sexual desire discrepancies in long-term relationships. Aly joins me to unpack a dilemma from a listener who feels sexually rejected in her marriage, despite having...
2025-11-2434 minDial EmmaDr. Tara Porter: Perfectionism, failure and embracing 'good enough'Welcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.This week, our listener dilemma comes from a concerned mother, whose teenage daughter is struggling under the pressure to be perfect. To help me unpack it, I'm joined by Dr. Tara Porter, a chartered psychologist and author who has more than 25 years' experience in mental health - particularly in...
2025-11-1736 minDial EmmaSuzy Reading: Why self-care feels selfish and how to stop feeling guilty about restWelcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.This week, I'm delighted to be tackling our listener dilemma with another special guest: psychologist and author of How to Be Selfish, Suzy Reading.Suzy joins me to talk about the emotional toll of constantly “holding everything together” and why so many people, especially women, struggle to rest...
2025-11-1035 minDial Emma"I want children, but the love of my life doesn't": How do we choose between the life we have and the one we long for?Welcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.In this week's episode, I explore the sharp end of love - those crossroads where heart and future pull in opposite directions.Two listeners share life-defining dilemmas that ask the same haunting question: What do you do when your heart and your future don’t want the sa...
2025-11-0328 minDial EmmaDr. Fredrick Nyström: Weight management, the obesity paradox and the psychological impact of dietingWelcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.Our dilemma this week comes from a listener who is navigating a lifelong struggle with weight and self-acceptance. After years of dieting without lasting success, she finally found hope through weight-loss injections - but when she had to stop due to the cost, the weight, and the shame that...
2025-10-2731 minDial EmmaKate Moyle: Dating, boundaries and sexual empowermentWelcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.This week, we hear from a 31-year-old listener who is struggling to set boundaries around sex and dating. This listener feels fearful of disappointing potential partners or ending up alone altogether, and often finds herself prioritising their desires over her own wants and needs.To help me...
2025-10-2041 minDial Emma"I feel like the odd one out in my own family": The family roles we play, and how to rewrite the scriptWelcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.In this week’s episode, I'm exploring the complex family roles that shape who we become, and how hard it can be to step outside them.Firstly, we hear from listener has spent her life as “the responsible one” - the organiser, the fixer, the steady sister who al...
2025-10-1326 minDial Emma"My teenage son is struggling with anxiety": How to navigate mental health challenges in teensWelcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.It's World Mental Health Day this Friday 10th October, so I'm delighted to be joined by a special guest who knows the power of martial arts for mental health better than most: four-time black belt, double gold medal champion and founder of Graham's Academy of Martial Arts, Steve Graham.
2025-10-0635 minDial Emma"My childhood bestie didn't invite me to her wedding": Broken promises, drifting apart and the fragile bonds of friendshipWelcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.What happens when a friendship fades without explanation, or ends in a way that feels like a betrayal?This week, I'm exploring the fragile bonds of friendship, and the lack of rituals for closure, clear endings, or language to help us process when they unravel. Our first...
2025-09-2928 minDial EmmaCareer Changes: Motherhood, work-life balance and wanting moreWelcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.This week, I'm tackling two dilemmas around work, identity, and balance. First, we hear from a new mum who wonders if it’s selfish to leave a safe but uninspiring job in pursuit of a more fulfilling career, torn between the security her family needs and the desire to mo...
2025-09-2229 minDial EmmaJoshua Fletcher: Self-optimisation culture, productivity anxiety and learning to fail betterWelcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.This week, I'm joined by psychotherapist and author Joshua Fletcher, aka Anxiety Josh, to help a listener who is struggling with anxious feelings around self-optimisation - the pursuit of trying to be our 'best selves' (whatever that actually means). From 5am clubs to wellness trackers, we explore why trying...
2025-09-1544 minDial EmmaHelen Marie: Estranged sisters, family dynamics and self-understandingWelcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.This week, I'm joined by trauma and self-work therapist Helen Marie, to unpack a dilemma involving estranged siblings. Together, we explore themes of trauma, attachment, and self-worth, the complexity of sibling relationships, and the impact that difficult childhood experiences can have on family dynamics later in life....
2025-09-0838 minDial Emma"We love each other, but our sex life is non-existent": Intimacy, betrayal & secrecy in relationshipsWelcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.This week, I'm answering two dilemmas about intimacy, connection and betrayal. One listener writes about being blindsided after finding her partner's hidden Viagra pills and porn subscriptions; another wants to know whether love can be enough in a relationship, when sex is almost entirely absent.In this...
2025-09-0125 minDial EmmaRelationships in the Grey Zone: Letting go of an ex and facing an unexpected pregnancyWelcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.In this week's episode, we hear two dilemmas that sit in the grey zone when it comes to relationships. One listener is torn between a promising new partner and the pull of an ex, while another faces an unplanned pregnancy and the fear of disappointing her parents. I explore...
2025-08-2527 minDial Emma"My mum doesn't know who I'm marrying": Secrets, families & the parts of ourselves we keep hiddenWelcome to season two of Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.In this first episode of season two, I'm delving into love, secrets, and the emotional weight of family expectations through two dilemmas. One listener struggles to imagine herself coming out to her family in the lead-up to her wedding; another yearns for her sister's absent acceptance of...
2025-08-1829 minDial EmmaHeartbreak: how to move on without all the answersWelcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.It's the last episode of season one of Dial Emma, but never fear! I'll be back with season two very soon, so if you have a dilemma that you'd like my help with, please do submit it anonymously here.In this season finale, I'm tackling three dilemmas...
2025-07-2835 minDial EmmaZoe Blaskey: Motherhood, careers and the conspiracy of 'having it all'Welcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.To help me unpack today's dilemma, I'm joined by another special guest: podcaster, author, coach and founder of Motherkind, Zoe Blaskey!Our dilemma this week is all about balancing career ambitions and motherhood - or, as our listener puts it, 'career vs motherhood.' She's 33 and plans...
2025-07-2133 minDial EmmaFriendship & Grief: how do friendship dynamics play out after we experience loss?Welcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.This week, we have a dilemma from a listener who shares how it feels to continue in friendships after bereavement.At 53, our listener was very sadly widowed, a devastating loss which came after seven other significant bereavements. In the aftermath, long-term friends who initially supported her through...
2025-07-1419 minDial EmmaToxic Complaining: How people-pleasing shows up at workWelcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.This week, we explore a dilemma that will feel all too familiar to recovering people-pleasers: What happens when your efforts to support a struggling colleague backfire? Is it toxic complaining?!Our listener shares the challenge of working with a teammate who constantly complains, leaving them feeling drained...
2025-07-0724 minDial EmmaElizabeth Day: Fertility, failure and unexpected griefTW: miscarriage, abortion and fertility strugglesWelcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.This week's dilemma comes from a listener who is navigating a complex and painful fertility journey - but not one that necessarily fits into our pre-conceived ideas of what fertility struggles *should* look and feel like. To help me answer it...
2025-06-3039 minDial EmmaSelf-Loathing: Feeling like an imposter in your own lifeWelcome back to Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life's stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.This week, we hear a deeply personal and vulnerable dilemma from a listener who feels like an imposter in her own life. She struggles to feel like she 'belongs' in her friendship groups and her family unit, and often leans into self-sabotage and feelings of jealousy to cope with...
2025-06-2321 minDial EmmaToxic Parents: Rewriting the Script using the Drama TriangleWelcome to the first episode of Dial Emma! Each week, I'll be answering your dilemmas with honesty, empathy, and a few therapeutic truth bombs to help you make sense of life’s stickiest moments. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.This week, our listener dilemma involves ageing parents in a toxic marriage, and an only child who often gets stuck in the middle of their conflict.How do we manage responsibility for people we love and care about, while also remaining true to ou...
2025-06-1618 min
Dial EmmaS3, Ep 12 Dial Emma: Insecurity in Relationships - how can I build trust with my partner when our relationship started as an affair?Welcome back to the last episode of Dial Emma for this season! You share your dilemma, any dilemma, and Emma shares her reflections as a therapist to give you the tips and tools you need to navigate it.This week, Emma hears from a listener who is navigating feelings of insecurity in her romantic relationship, which started as an affair with her boss and is now a complex dynamic with an ex-partner and children involved.In this episode, Emma explores how we can address feelings of insecurity constructively by acknowledging and validating our feelings and where t...
2024-12-2711 min
Dial EmmaS3, Ep 11 Friendship Therapy: Asking for Help in Friendship - how family dynamics play into our friendships in adulthoodWelcome to this week's episode of Friendship Therapy, the podcast in which we look at friendships through a therapeutic lens. This week, Emma is joined by Katherine to talk about just how hard it can be sometimes to ask for help in friendships.Emma and Katherine talk about the specifics of how to get help that's actually helpful in the present, as well as Katherine's experience growing up as the youngest sibling with the smallest voice, and the impact that her parents' separation in her twenties had on her as an adult child of divorce.Emma...
2024-12-2338 min
Dial EmmaS3, Ep 10 Dial Emma: Friendship After Loss - the impact of grief on friendshipTW: loss, suicideWelcome back to this week's episode of Dial Emma. You share your dilemma, any dilemma, and Emma shares her reflections as a therapist to give you the tips and tools you need to navigate it.This week, we hear from a listener who tragically lost her husband when he took his own life, and is now navigating the loss of the friends that they shared in the wake of his death.In this episode, Emma challenges the societal expectation that friendships can only be joyful, fun, happy spaces, encouraging us all...
2024-12-2009 min
Dial EmmaS3, Ep 9 Friendship Therapy: Surface Dwellers and Depth Seekers - exploring emotional depth in male friendshipsWelcome to this week's episode of Friendship Therapy, the podcast in which we look at friendships through a therapeutic lens.This week, Emma is joined by Elliot to talk about what it's like to be an, as he puts it, emotional male within male friendship groups. Elliot shares an experience that many of us might be able to relate to: being unceremoniously exited from a friendship group chat, with no real explanation or conversation beforehand. In this episode, Emma and Elliot talk about why being a lone voice in the wilderness might feel lonely, but might al...
2024-12-1640 min
Dial EmmaS3, Ep 8 Dial Emma: Platonic Crushes - how emotional self-sufficiency supports healthier connectionsWelcome back to this week's episode of Dial Emma! This is where you get to dial Emma, with your dilemma (see what we did there?!) You share your dilemma, any dilemma, and Emma shares her reflections as a therapist to give you the tips and tools you need to navigate it.This week, our Dial Emma voicenote comes from a listener who is navigating the feeling of having a platonic crush, or 'squish', on someone who they really want to experience friendship with. In this episode, Emma digs deeper into how platonic crushes often stem from a...
2024-12-1307 min
Dial EmmaS3, Ep 7 Friendship Therapy: Feeling like an Outsider - seeking self awareness, connection and intimacy in friendshipWelcome to this week's episode of Friendship Therapy, the podcast in which we look at friendships through a therapeutic lens.This week, Emma is joined by Sarah, who has been navigating feelings of loneliness and being an outsider in her friendship groups.In this conversation, Emma and Sarah explore what it means to fit in, what it's like when you don't get joy from the same things that your friends find enjoyable, or at least seem to, and whether what we're all really seeking is a U-shaped space that is made to measure and entirely ours...
2024-12-0938 min
Dial EmmaS3, Ep 6 Dial Emma: Fertility and Friendship - navigating grief and joyTW: MiscarriageWelcome back to this week's episode of Dial Emma! This is where you get to dial Emma, with your dilemma (see what we did there?!) You share your dilemma, any dilemma, and Emma shares her reflections as a therapist to give you the tips and tools you need to navigate it.This week, we hear from a listener who is dealing with complex emotions surrounding grief, in the context of recurrent miscarriage and its impact on friendships.In this episode, Emma explores the feelings of isolation, sadness and jealousy that might come...
2024-12-0615 min
Dial EmmaS3, Ep 5 Friendship Therapy: Ambivalence in Friendship - what happens when your friend becomes your boss?Welcome back to Friendship Therapy, the podcast in which psychotherapist and author Emma Reed Turrell talks to real people about real friendships and looks at these pivotal relationships through a therapeutic lens.This week, Emma meets Kelly, a smart, self-aware woman who's nearly 50, yet who finds herself stuck with some big feelings about a friendship that ended 18 months ago, when her friend of 17 years became her boss and the friendship fell apart. In this episode, Emma introduces Kelly to the 'ambivalence seesaw', a tool we can use whenever we're feeling stuck to help us make a d...
2024-12-0243 min
Dial EmmaS3, Ep 4 Dial Emma: Notes on Parenting - lending our nervous system to our childrenWelcome back to this week's episode of Dial Emma! This is where you get to dial Emma, with your dilemma (see what we did there?!) You share your dilemma, any dilemma, and Emma shares her reflections as a therapist to give you the tips and tools you need to navigate it.This week, we're bringing you something a little different. We hear from a long-time friend and listener of the show, who shares her reflections on a previous episode of Friendship Therapy in which Emma and her 10-year-old daughter Elsa talked about childhood friendships.Emma follows...
2024-11-2914 min
Dial EmmaS3, Ep 2 Dial Emma: Grieving a Pet - what our animals can teach us about ourselvesWelcome back to Dial Emma from Friendship Therapy! This is where you get to dial Emma, with your dilemma (see what we did there?!) You share your dilemma, any dilemma, and Emma shares her reflections as a therapist to give you the tips and tools you need to navigate it.This week, Emma hears from a listener who is navigating the loss of a beloved companion and friend: her cat, Minnie. In her voicenote, this caller describes how she has struggled to do life without Minnie and is now considering getting a new cat, but continues to grapple...
2024-11-2208 min
Dial EmmaS3, Ep 1 Friendship Therapy: Reciprocity in Friendship - how fear can get in the way of vulnerabilityWelcome back to Friendship Therapy, the podcast in which we look at friendships through a therapeutic lens. To kick off season three, Emma chats to Poppy, who is struggling with a friendship dilemma that many of us can relate to.We've all been on the receiving end of a friend who has ditched us temporarily for a new relationship; perhaps we've been that friend who has, for a period of time, chosen to spend more time with a new partner than with our friendship group. But what happens when history seems to repeat itself over and over again?
2024-11-1846 min
Dial EmmaS3, Ep 1 BONUS: Tolerance in Friendship with Michelle ElmanHello, and welcome to season three of Friendship Therapy! This is the podcast in which author and podcaster Emma Reed Turrell talks to real people about real friendships and looks at these pivotal relationships through a therapeutic lens.This week, a special bonus episode to kick off a new season: Emma chats to Michelle Elman, bestselling author, speaker and life coach whose fifth book, Bad Friend: Why Friendship Breakups Hurt and How to Heal, is due to be published in May 2025.Michelle joins Emma to talk about tolerance in friendship and explore why we can find i...
2024-11-1141 min
Dial EmmaS2, Ep 12 Dial Emma: Friendship Accountability - is it me, or is it them?Welcome back to Dial Emma from Friendship Therapy, and the season 2 finale! This is where you get to dial Emma, with your dilemma (see what I did there?!) You share your friendship concerns, and I share my reflections as a therapist to give you the tips and tools you need to build better bonds.This week, our Dial Emma caller wants to talk about accountability in friendship. Should we adjust our expectations when friends let us down, or should we hold them to higher standards? Why is there often less accountability in friendship compared to romantic relationships?
2024-10-0413 min
Dial EmmaS2, Ep 11 Friendship Therapy: Childhood Friendships - friendship from the perspective of a 10-year-oldWelcome back to Friendship Therapy, the podcast in which we look at friendships through a therapeutic lens.So many of our wonderful guests talk about childhood friendships and how those early experiences shape the friendships that we'll make as adults - so who better to help us talk about the way those friendships form than someone who's in the middle of making them right now?This week, Emma chats to Elsa. She's 10 years old. She's an expert on childhood friendship. And she also happens to be Emma's daughter.Emma and Elsa talk about what...
2024-09-3047 min
Dial EmmaS2, Ep 10 Dial Emma: Guilt in Friendship - how do I stop feeling guilty for moving away from my friends?Welcome back to Dial Emma from Friendship Therapy! This is where you get to dial Emma, with your dilemma (see what I did there?!) You share your friendship concerns, and I share my reflections as a therapist to give you the tips and tools you need to build better bonds.This week, we meet a listener who is grappling with feelings of guilt after moving away from their hometown - especially when the friends they left behind make comments about how little they get to see each other, and how they wish things could be different....
2024-09-2710 min
Dial EmmaS2, Ep 8 Dial Emma: Friendship Endings - how do I stop ghosting friends and create some friendship stability for myself?Welcome back to Dial Emma from Friendship Therapy! This is where you get to dial Emma, with your dilemma (see what I did there?!) You share your friendship concerns, and I share my reflections as a therapist to give you the tips and tools you need to build better bonds. This week, we hear from a listener who recognises that they have a tendency to initiate very intense friendships, only to end them abruptly after a short time. This listener travels frequently for work and struggles to hold on to friendships long-term, but is that because they are n...
2024-09-2010 min
Dial EmmaS2, Ep 6 Dial Emma: Communication in Friendship - how can we give ourselves permission to exist as our true selves in friendship?Welcome back to Dial Emma from Friendship Therapy! This is where you get to dial Emma, with your dilemma (see what I did there?!) You share your friendship concerns, and I share my reflections as a therapist to give you the tips and tools you need to build better bonds. This week, we hear from a listener who is struggling to navigate an imbalance in communication styles in a friendship, especially when it comes to making plans and responding to messages within a perceived timeframe that, currently, neither of them are sticking to. How can these fr...
2024-09-1310 min
Dial EmmaS2, Ep 4 Dial Emma: Friendship Groups - how do I navigate rupture within a group dynamic?Welcome back to Dial Emma from Friendship Therapy! This is where you get to dial Emma, with your dilemma (see what I did there?!) You share your friendship concerns, and I share my reflections as a therapist to give you the tips and tools you need to build better bonds.This week, we hear from a listener who has experienced a rupture in a friendship and is struggling to set boundaries with the friend who has hurt them, within the larger friendship group that they are both an active part of.How do we remove ourselves...
2024-09-0611 min
Dial EmmaS2, Ep 3 Friendship Therapy: Getting the 'ick' in Friendship - what happens when friendships let us down?Welcome back to Friendship Therapy! This is the podcast in which author and psychotherapist Emma Reed Turrell talks to real people about real friendships and looks at these pivotal relationships through a therapy lens.This week, Emma is joined by Emily to explore why a long-term friendship with someone who was maid of honour at her wedding would become someone who now gives her, in Emily's words, the 'ick.'Emma and Emily talk about the function of the ick, a primal human response that we feel in any relationship that doesn't quite add up, and...
2024-09-0255 min
Dial EmmaS2, Ep 2 NEW Dial Emma: Endings - how can I make new friends post-university?Welcome to the first episode of Dial Emma from Friendship Therapy! This is where you get to Dial Emma, with your dilemma (see what I did there?!) You share your friendship concerns, and I share my reflections as a therapist to give you the tips and tools you need to build better bonds. This week, we hear from a listener who wants to make new friends post-university, but as an introvert, they find the prospect of trying to meet new people very daunting. This listener also struggles with fears of rejection and feeling like they are not enough.
2024-08-3009 min
Dial EmmaS2, Ep 1 NEW Friendship Therapy: Overthinking in Friendship - it's hard to feel, but harder not toWelcome to season two of Friendship Therapy! This is the podcast in which author and psychotherapist Emma Reed Turrell talks to real people about real friendships and looks at these pivotal relationships through a therapy lens.In our first episode of season two, Emma looks at overthinking in friendship with her guest, primary school teacher and mother of three, Rose. It's a conversation that takes us to an unexpected place, but one that ultimately helps Rose to unpack her overthinking in friendship, and understand why it may come down to a fear of loss.When she w...
2024-08-2646 min
Dial EmmaS1, Ep 12 BITESIZE Friendship Therapy: Modern Partnerships - making the unknowns, knownWelcome back to Friendship Therapy, and our last episode of season one! This is the bitesize episode, where Emma discusses her therapeutic takeaways from her conversation with this week's guests, Victoria and Helen.Having met (and bonded over their shared love of musical theatre) at a time when many of their peers were meeting 'the one,' Victoria and Helen joined Emma on the podcast to talk about finding a life partner in a friend, the lack of representation of platonic relationships in the media, and the challenges that they have faced as two heterosexual women who have...
2024-07-1224 min
Dial EmmaS1, Ep 11 Friendship Therapy: Friends as Soulmates - friendships that don’t fit into a boxWelcome back to Friendship Therapy, the podcast where psychotherapist, author and podcaster Emma Reed Turrell looks at your friendship experiences through a therapy lens.In the final full episode of season one (don't worry, there's still Friday's bitesize episode to come!), Emma chats to Helen, 29, and Victoria, 32, about the value of friendships compared to romantic relationships, finding your life partner within a platonic relationship, and why some partnerships simply can't be categorised - but that doesn't mean that they are any less valid or important.Helen and Victoria, both working as teachers, met at a musical...
2024-07-0847 min
Dial EmmaS1, Ep 10 BITESIZE Friendship Therapy: Compound Loss - how fear, hope, love and sadness can co-existWelcome back to Friendship Therapy! This is the bitesize episode, where Emma discusses her therapeutic takeaways from her conversation with this week's guest, Rachel.On Monday's episode, Rachel bravely opened up about the loss of her father two years ago. It was a bereavement that, in her words, 'shone a light' on the friends who were willing to get in the trenches with her, and those who couldn't meet her where she was.For Rachel, the death of her dad signified the end of an incredibly difficult six months since his re-diagnosis, during which she had...
2024-07-0518 min
Dial EmmaS1, Ep 9 Friendship Therapy: Grief and Friendship - hope, grief, loss and navigating change in friendshipWelcome back to Friendship Therapy, the podcast where psychotherapist, author and podcaster Emma Reed Turrell looks at your friendship experiences through a therapy lens. This week, Emma chats to 28-year-old Rachel about intertwining our identity with our friendships, the process of 'trimming' friends over time as we grow and age, and how the turbulence and loss of our teens and twenties can affect our friendships.Rachel very sadly lost her dad when she was 26, and as an only child, she found the process of grieving incredibly isolating and lonely. It wasn't the first time she had gone through...
2024-07-0140 min
Dial EmmaS1, Ep 6 BITESIZE Friendship Therapy: Friendship Reminiscences - are we filling in the wrong blanks?Welcome back to Friendship Therapy! This is the bitesize episode, where Emma discusses her therapeutic takeaways from her conversation with this week's guest.This week, Emma met Charlotte, whose fear of losing a treasured childhood friend has her questioning how to keep the spark alive in long-term friendships. When Charlotte and her friend see each other, they can pick right up where they left off: but are they spending too much time down memory lane, rather than updating their friendship into the present?In this bitesize episode, Emma digs deeper into the impact of nostalgia in...
2024-06-2115 min
Dial EmmaS1, Ep 5 Friendship Therapy: Rekindling Friendship - how updating our friendships can keep the spark aliveWelcome back to Friendship Therapy, the podcast where psychotherapist, author and podcaster Emma Reed Turrell looks at your friendship experiences through a therapy lens. This week, Emma chats to 32-year-old Charlotte about how to keep the spark alive in long-term friendships.In this episode, Charlotte opens up about her fear of a childhood friendship 'fizzling out' as they both move into different phases of life and embrace new friendships. She describes how even though their opportunities for connection have lessened over the years, she and this long-term friend can pick up right where they left off when they...
2024-06-1739 min
Dial EmmaS1, Ep 4 BITESIZE Friendship Therapy: The Nursing Triad - friends as co-parentsWelcome back to Friendship Therapy! This is the bitesize episode, where Emma discusses her therapeutic takeaways from her conversation with this week's guest.This week, Emma met another Emma, a psychotherapist who found herself questioning her place in her childhood friendship group after becoming a mother at 19, going through a divorce in her thirties and persuing a new career as a therapist later in life.In this bitesize episode, Emma takes us through the Nursing Triad, healthy first order symbiosis and Eric Berne's Parent, Adult Child ego states theory within Transactional Analysis, and how Emma's friends...
2024-06-1421 min
Dial EmmaS1, Ep 3 Friendship Therapy: Lifting Lids - how therapy can change our friendship dynamicsWelcome back to Friendship Therapy, a brand new podcast where psychotherapist, author and podcaster Emma Reed Turrell looks at your friendship experiences through a therapy lens. This week, Emma speaks to fellow psychotherapist, also called Emma.Emma became a mother at 19 and subsequently went through a divorce in her thirties, eventually finding herself in training to become a psychotherapist much later in life than her peers. Through it all, her close-knit group of childhood friends were a guiding light for her - becoming not just a support system, but a partner who showed up for Emma and her...
2024-06-1041 min
Dial EmmaS1, Ep 2 BITESIZE Friendship Therapy: Yin and Yang - balance, unconditional acceptance and safety in friendshipWelcome back to Friendship Therapy and our first bitesize episode, where Emma shares her therapeutic takeaways from her conversation with this week's guests, Janine and Julia.In this bitesize episode, Emma dives into the concept of yin and yang, a term that Janine and Julia use to describe themselves and their friendship. Emma explains how the contrasting dots of colour in the yin and yang symbol represent the need for chaos and control to exist harmoniously, and how this concept can help us to identify what we might need more of in our own lives.Emma...
2024-06-0711 min
Dial EmmaS1, Ep 1 NEW Friendship Therapy: Yin and Yang - how complementary friendships can help us grow as individualsWelcome to the first ever episode of Friendship Therapy, a brand new podcast where psychotherapist, author and podcaster Emma Reed Turrell looks at your friendship experiences through a therapy lens. This week, Emma speaks to best friends for 25 years, Janine and Julia. Describing their personalities as ‘yin and yang’, these two women were thrown together in the school playground, becoming friends by default rather than design. In the years that followed, they worked to grow and nurture a deeply meaningful, complex friendship that has seen them through some of the most challenging and joyful moments in their lives.
2024-06-0338 min
Dial EmmaS7, Ep 7 Best Friend Therapy: Goodbye - Join us for a look back over the last two years of BFT and what makes this community so special...Well, here we are. Emma is firmly in denial and Elizabeth is busy looking for silver linings because this week's episode of Best Friend Therapy is our LAST ONE EVER. Probably. We have loved every minute of these last two years, as we've curated this collection of conversations to share with you, our wonderful listeners.Thank you so much for having us and we hope you'll join us for one last look back, at the journey we've been on together... We talk about our favourite episodes and look back on some of the memorable mo...
2024-03-1839 min
Dial EmmaS7, Ep 6 Best Friend Therapy: Blind Spots - How does unconscious bias affect us? Why do we need perspective? What's your blind spot profile?We begin this episode with the announcement that this... sniff... will be... sniff... our last season of Best Friend Therapy but DON'T PANIC because there are good reasons which we'll go into and plenty of exciting new projects in the pipeline!Which also means there's no time to lose and so this week we take a deep dive into the work Emma has been developing around her unique model of "blind spot therapy", and which she's sharing with us all in her upcoming book, What Am I Missing?If you have ever wondered why you end...
2024-03-1144 min
Dial EmmaS5, Ep 2 Best Friend Therapy: Perfectionism - Is it about control? How does it hold us back? Can we learn to be good enough?This week on Best Friend Therapy, we're talking about DIY!Ok, we're not but, with all of our references to sanding and painting, we might as well be. We are actually talking about how we need friction to make meaningful bonds and how a glossy finish can get in the way of connection. Because this week we're talking about perfectionism and how it can hold us back.Exploring toxic positivity, the sense of dissatisfaction we're often sold by the beauty industry, and the impact of social media, this week's conversation uncovers the myths of control and...
2023-06-2643 min
Dial EmmaS4, Ep 2 Best Friend Therapy: Inside the Therapy Room - How do you find a good therapist? What's involved? How do you become a therapist?This week on Best Friend Therapy, we are responding to the many requests we've received for a conversation about therapy itself: when to seek therapy, how to find a therapist, how to become a therapist, where to start and what to expect.Emma shares the path she took from selling perfume to private practice and Elizabeth shares some of her experiences as a client in therapy.---We reference the work of Windy Dryden and you can read more here: https://www.windydryden.comEmma trained at the following institutions: The Gestalt...
2023-03-0646 min
Dial EmmaS2, Ep 7 Best Friend Therapy: Transactional Analysis Therapy - What is it? What happens when Emma therapises Elizabeth live on air?Welcome to Best Friend Therapy, where we chat about what's on our minds, to get deeper in our minds, and this week we're doing something a little bit different. We're going down the rabbit hole and we're taking you with us, as Emma therapises the hell out of Elizabeth.Using Transactional Analysis techniques, Emma takes Elizabeth on a journey of self-discovery and hopefully sets you up to do the same. Bring a question or a situation of your own and follow along, as you discover your internal voices and find your way to an Adult way...
2022-08-2944 min
Dial EmmaS2, Ep 3 Best Friend Therapy: Jealousy - Why do we feel jealous? How does it affect our relationships? What can we do about it?Welcome to Best Friend Therapy, where we chat about what's on our minds, to get deeper in our minds, and this week we're talking about jealousy.Do you have a touch of the green-eyed monster?Well, that might not be a bad thing. Because jealousy can show up to tell us when a relationship we value requires some maintenance - we jealously guard something because it matters to us.Sometimes that relationship will be with a friend or loved one, but sometimes the relationship that needs our attention is the one we have with...
2022-08-0145 min
Dial EmmaS2, Ep1 Best Friend Therapy: People-Pleasing - Why do we do it? Is it really nice to be nice? How do we say no?We're back!We're so happy to be coming to you with Season Two of Best Friend Therapy, where we chat about what's on our minds, to get deeper in our minds.And we have felt SO bad about having left you for so long. We've been worried that we'd let you down, or you wouldn't like us anymore. So we stayed up all night thinking about how to make it up to you, how to please you... hmmn. Hang on a minute, I see what we're doing here.So this one's for the people-pleasers...
2022-07-1848 min
Dial EmmaS1, Ep 7 Best Friend Therapy: Competition - What does winning mean? Why does it matter? Who are we really competing with?Welcome to this episode of Best Friend Therapy, where we chat about what's on our minds, to get deeper in our minds.This episode is all about competition - how it can become a problem when it comes from a place of scarcity and how we can learn to develop an abundance mindset that allows us to reach our goals more securely and meaningfully. We look at competition through the lens of attachment theory and explore the difference between belonging and fitting in.Elizabeth takes a break from training for Paris 2024 to unpack her relationship with...
2022-05-0935 min
Dial EmmaS1, Ep 3 Best Friend Therapy: Shoulds & Oughts - Why are we so tough on ourselves? Are we addicted to control? What if we let go?Welcome to this episode of Best Friend Therapy, where we chat about what's on our minds, to get deeper in our minds.TW: miscarriageThis week we're talking about shoulds and oughts and why we feel compelled to live our lives by some pretty tough rules at times. Elizabeth shares times in her life when structure has helped her to feel in control and Emma explains why criticism can sometimes be tough to take. Correction: Emma did not know that Tetrapak cartons were now widely recyclable. She *should* know better.---
2022-04-1137 min
Dial EmmaS1, Ep 2 Best Friend Therapy: Relationship Games - What games do we play at work, in friendships and with partners? And why do we do it?Welcome to this episode of Best Friend Therapy, where we chat about what's on our minds, to get deeper in our minds.This week we're talking about games. Not Monopoly, as Elizabeth discovered, but the shortcuts we take in relationships to try and get our needs met, without even realising.Relationship games are the emotional sleight of hand we use to defend our vulnerability but they rarely get us what we want. Emma explains where games stem from and why they get in our way at work and with friends, and Elizabeth looks back on her...
2022-04-0445 min