Shows
Dial 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 3 Friendship Therapy: Being 'Too Much' in Friendship - learning not to take responsibility for problems that aren't ours to fixWelcome back to this week's episode of Friendship Therapy, the podcast in which we look at friendship through a therapeutic lens.This week, Emma is joined by Jo, a courageous woman who is on a painful but therapeutic journey towards healing from childhood trauma. We don't talk about what happened to Jo in this conversation. Instead, we talk about the devastation she felt when her best friend of 25 years announced that Jo had become too much for her, that she was all consumed by the events of the past, and that the friend was no longer able to c...
2024-11-2542 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 9 Friendship Therapy: Friendship Boundaries - how rupture in friendship can help us break our own patternsWelcome back to Friendship Therapy, the podcast in which we look at friendships through a therapeutic lens.This week, Emma is joined by Scott, a man who, now in his 40s, has experienced a sudden turnover in the friends he made in his 20s.A repeating pattern of rupture and loss has made him more defensive in the friendships he has left and wary of making new friends, and friendship has gone from being something he felt he could count on in the past to being something that feels much more risky in the present.
2024-09-2351 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 5 Friendship Therapy: Friendship Heartbreak - the games we play in friendshipWelcome back to Friendship Therapy, the podcast in which we look at friendships through a therapeutic lens.This week, Emma is joined by Holly to talk about friendship heartbreak and how it feels to be dumped by a friend.When Holly’s two closest friends got engaged, she found herself waiting for an invitation to be a part of the bridal party that never came. What happened next was a slow and painful reevaluation of the terms of a friendship that had formed such a significant and meaningful part of her life for more than a de...
2024-09-0956 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 8 BITESIZE Friendship Therapy: Child Ego State - the adapted child and the free rebellious childWelcome back to Friendship Therapy! This is the bitesize episode, where Emma discusses her therapeutic takeaways from her conversation with this week's guest, Jemima.Jemima joined us to talk about her experience of being diagnosied with dyspraxia when she was just six years old, and the impact that neurodivergence has had on her life and friendships. We heard about the remedial classes that she was put through, the hours spent throwing and catching balls in her back garden, the extra effort that she had to put in to try to fit in with the other children; all of...
2024-06-2819 min
Dial EmmaS1, Ep 7 Friendship Therapy: Neurodiversity in Friendship - a unique perspective on dyspraxia and how it can impact 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 Jemima, who reached out to Emma to talk about the impact that neurodivergence has had on her friendships.Diagnosed at just six years old, dyspraxia has affected every aspect of Jemima's life since she was a small child, from being put into remedial classes at school, to throwing and catching balls with her brother so she could be more like the other children. Jemima's family just wanted to keep h...
2024-06-2439 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 EmmaS7, Ep 5 Best Friend Therapy: Drama Triangle - Do you end up having the same old arguments? Listen and learn how to handle conflict better.Welcome back to Best Friend Therapy and this season’s opportunity for Emma to therapise our beloved guinea pig, Elizabeth Day, whilst offering some psycho-education for us all about the Transactional Analysis concept of the “Drama Triangle” - why and how we end up repeating conflict in relationships (be they personal or professional) and what we can do to change it.The Drama Triangle was developed by Stephen Karpman in the 1960’s and tells us about three unhealthy roles we take on in drama - the Rescuer, the Persecutor, the Victim.Elizabeth talks about a time she adop...
2024-03-0441 min
Dial EmmaS7, Ep 3 Best Friend Therapy: Comparison - Is it a bad thing? How can it help us? What does it tell us about ourselves?This week on Best Friend Therapy, we tackle the thorny issue of comparison - how it gets in our way, what its true function is and how it can actually direct us to feel happier and more fulfilled.From Reese Witherspoon to Richard II, we cover themes of unconditional acceptance and safety, via the rise of social media and the Peasants Revolt (bear with us, ED is ever the historian). Emma teaches us the difference between jealousy and envy and Elizabeth tells us how gratitude is her antidote to comparison (and why ex’s are no lo...
2024-02-1945 min
Dial EmmaS7 Ep 2 Best Friend Therapy: Emotional Detachment - When should we take a step back? What stops us? Can it make for healthier relationships?Welcome to this week's episode of Best Friend Therapy - the one where we ask the tough questions...* What's the difference between emotional detachment and emotional unavailability?* Why can needs get confused with neediness?* How do sympathy and empathy serve different purposes? We explore how emotional detachment can actually help us to develop greater empathy and deepen authentic relationships, with others and ourselves. And we explain what happens when we don’t detach - how we can lose objectivity and fall foul of merging with others, enmeshing our experiences, projecting our beliefs and outsourcing ou...
2024-02-1243 min
Dial EmmaS7, Ep 1 Best Friend Therapy: Childfree, Not By Choice - How does it feel? Can there be peace in the end? Why does the language matter?🚨 BIG NEWS 🚨 Not only are we back for a brand new season, but Elizabeth and Emma will be hosting a LIVE SHOW for the very first time! Book your tickets and join us live at the Bloomsbury Theatre on Thursday 4th April. We can’t wait to see your gorgeous faces IRL! 🎟️ fane.co.uk/best-friend-therapy ---TW: MiscarriageWelcome back to our seventh season of Best Friend Therapy and we begin with a update, for all those of you who have listened to or read Elizabeth's experiences on her fertility journey and who have...
2024-02-0559 min
Dial EmmaS6, Ep 5 Best Friend Therapy: The Break-Ups MINISERIES - Romantic Heartbreak, Why it Hurts and How to HealIn a first for Best Friend Therapy, we bring you a four-part MINISERIES, all about break-ups.We'd be lying if we said it was intentional but we quickly realised there was far too much to say about romatic break-ups, let along friendship break-ups, family break-ups and work break-ups, to get through in a single episode.So this week's episode is dedicated to heartbreak of the romantic variety... When we break-up with a partner, we often feel a form of grief - not only for the relationship, but also the future we may have planned, and for...
2023-11-0643 min
Dial EmmaS6, Ep 4 Best Friend Therapy: Burnout - Why do we burn out? What is emotional exhaustion? How can we prevent it?This week, we’re talking about burnout and that particular kind of emotional exhaustion that can knock us off our feet and leave us feeling utterly depleted. Emma and Elizabeth both share their own personal stories of burnout and explore what they learned from their experiences. Emma talks about the work she does with organisations to prevent burnout in the first place and how to balance individual responsibility with a workplace culture that rewards healthy behaviour. And Elizabeth brings in the work of psychiatrist and author, Gabor Maté, who believes the physical symptoms of burnout to be...
2023-10-3044 min
Dial EmmaS6, Ep 3 Best Friend Therapy: Ego - What is our ego supposed to do for us? When does ego get in our way? How can we strike a balance?This week, Elizabeth shares a challenging work scenario, in which she found herself at the pointy end of someone else's ego.We go back and look at the original meaning of ego through the eyes of Freud, with an overview of his theory of three-part personality, to build an understanding of how egotistical behaviour, narcissism and power-play intersect, and what we can do when we come up against “big egos” in our daily lives.We wrestle with a tug of war between our instincts and morality and find our balance on a seesaw, which concludes that it’s...
2023-10-2339 min
Dial EmmaS6, Ep 2 Best Friend Therapy: Responsibility - Do we want it? Can we balance accountability and freedom? Who are we really responsible for?This week we’re looking at the theme of Responsibility, how we feel about it, and how its meaning might change for us over time. Whether it begins with a badge on our blazers or a ticket to teenage independence, being given responsibility might not always be such a gift, when it later brings with it the added pressures of work, or the task of emotionally regulating the people we live alongside. We suggest that it might be wiser to take responsibility in our lives, rather than be given it, and for our sense of duty to...
2023-10-1640 min
Dial EmmaS5, Ep 8 Best Friend Therapy: Uncertain Times - How can we cope with uncertainty? Why can it make us anxious? Can it also offer opportunity?It's that time again, it's our season finale!And this week on Best Friend Therapy, we thought it fitting to send you into the break with an episode all about uncertain times.We explore how cultural events such as the pandemic, the cost of living crisis and economic uncertainty can manifest in anxiety, and we also examine the potential for growth and change therein. We suggest that certainty might not be the only antidote to uncertainty, if we can find other ways to settle and soothe our nervous systems. Emma helps us...
2023-08-0741 min
Dial EmmaS5, Ep 6 Best Friend Therapy: Inner Child - What is inner child work in therapy? How can we access our intuition? Can we meet our needs now?This week we are talking about how we can tune in to our 'inner child'. Or, at least, we're attempting to because Elizabeth has so far found her inner child to be quite elusive and the prospect of dancing on the beach to be a bit cringe.We come to the conclusion that inner child work might actually be about learning to trust our intuition and accept our wants and needs exactly as they are, with no judgment, and to give ourselves permission to play in whichever way we find comfortable - even if that looks like a...
2023-07-2441 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 8 Best Friend Therapy: Empowerment - What is crone energy? Why is ageing positive? How can menopause empower us?Welcome to this season finale of Best Friend Therapy, in which we're talking about something we could all do with a bit more of in life - crone energy and the empowerment it brings.Far from the Cambridge English dictionary’s definition of a crone as an "ugly, old woman", we are talking about the stage in a woman's life when she reclaims her feminine power and agency, and we chart a journey through the stages of maiden, mother and crone, with a view on women's health, responsibilities and relationships.Emma tells us how the relationship be...
2023-04-1742 min
Dial EmmaS4, Ep 4 Best Friend Therapy: Self Worth - What is it? How can we improve our relationship with ourselves? Where do we start?This week on Best Friend Therapy, we're tackling the thorny issue of self-worth, or the lack of it.Emma explores the difference between self-esteem and "others-esteem" and why we can fall into the trap of outsourcing our sense of self to other people.Elizabeth compares her self-worth to a solar panel and reveals why chunky socks are a better way to keep warm. ---Emma references the psychoanalytical theory of object relations and the work of Donald Winnicott: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_relations_theory---Best...
2023-03-2042 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 EmmaS3, Ep 7 Best Friend Therapy: Feeling Left Out - What is FOMO? How can loneliness affect us? Why is self-awareness the antidote?You’ll never be left out from Best Friend Therapy, but if it’s a feeling you know elsewhere in your life, this week’s episode might be for you.We’re talking about FOMO, not being invited to the party, or sitting at home in your pyjamas while everyone else is out having fun (although, this sounds like Emma’s idea of heaven).Born into the world dependent on others and racked with self-consciousness throughout puberty, it’s no surprise that humans are sensitive to feeling left out. We’re here to help you feel more grounded...
2022-12-1945 min
Dial EmmaS3, Ep 6 Best Friend Therapy: Dreams - Why do we dream? How can they help us? What on earth did Elizabeth's dream mean?It’s a bit of a different episode this week, as Emma takes Elizabeth through a live therapy process of dream analysis. Listen along while Elizabeth unpacks her deepest subconscious, meet her happy-go-lucky island and her all-seeing sky, and hear what Emma has to say about the meaning behind the dream. And learn for yourself how to interpret your own dreams, so that you too can unpack the valuable insights that your night-time mind has to offer. ---You can read more on Carl Jung here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jung
2022-12-1246 min
Dial EmmaS3, Ep 5 Best Friend Therapy: Anxiety - Why do we feel anxious? Is it always a bad thing? What can we do about it?This week, on Best Friend Therapy, we’re talking about feeling anxious (and we're feeling quite anxious while we’re doing it). Anxiety can take many forms, be it seasonal, situational, or a post-pandemic hangover. As a diffuse term, it's not always helpful, so we’re here to break it down and challenge some of the assumptions attached to those sensations we get when we’re living with ambiguity, coping with life outside of our control or, dare we say it, even a bit excited?Emma shares her blissful morning moments and liberates us to journal in which...
2022-12-0545 min
Dial EmmaS3, Ep 3 Best Friend Therapy: Attachment Styles - What are they? How do they affect us? What do they mean for our relationships?This week, on Best Friend Therapy, we’re talking about attachments. No, not the Velcro and poppers kind, but the way we *emotionally* attach to other people. We look at the work of psychologists like John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth, to get a better understanding of the way we develop expectations of other people, and how we might have created emotional defences to protect our vulnerability.We explain how strategies that set us up for safety in childhood might actually get in our way as adults, when it comes to making successful friendships, romantic relationships and pr...
2022-11-2146 min
Dial EmmaS3, Ep 2 Best Friend Therapy: Dating - Why is it so hard sometimes? Do apps have a lot to answer for? What can it teach us about ourselves?This week's episode of Best Friend Therapy *cue gravelly trailer voiceover* tells one woman's courageous journey through the world of online dating, and what it took to survive on the apps... Only joking, Elizabeth, it wasn't that bad! We do discover how good she is at succession planning, however, and we offer our advice for how to navigate all the different dating advice that's available (see what we did there?).Rejection may be one reality of dating but we also look at its potential for data acquisition and self-discovery. We explore how online dating has made...
2022-11-1449 min
Dial EmmaS3, Ep 1 Best Friend Therapy: Anger - Is anger different from rage? How can it help us? Why do we end up feeling guilty instead?Welcome back to Season Three of Best Friend Therapy!We are so delighted to be with you for another season of conversations and this week we’re talking about something that gets a bad rap in our society and is often misunderstood – it’s the feeling of anger and it’s one of Emma’s favourites.We talk about the difference between anger management and anger expression, understand why Elizabeth shut herself in a cupboard and gave herself a good talking to, and we explain why guilt and anger are so often muddled up.We take a...
2022-11-0748 min
Dial EmmaS2, Ep 8 Best Friend Therapy: Quitting - Is it the same as giving up? Can we quit well? What's the risk if we don't quit?Welcome to Best Friend Therapy, where we chat about what's on our minds, to get deeper in our minds, and we've come to end of Season Two already!So we're throwing in the towel, we're giving up, we're admitting defeat - oh no, wait a minute, we're not actually quitting, we're just *talking* about quitting this week. Phew!We would never abandon our lovely listeners because quitting is a bad thing... it's an admission of failure... it's a sign of weakness. Right?Well, it turns out we're not so sure and this week we'll...
2022-09-0546 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 6 Best Friend Therapy: Divorce - Is it failure or evolution? How does it affect wider relationships? Is there a way to divorce well?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 turning up the volume on some Tammy Wynette (not Dolly Parton, Emma) to talk about D.I.V.O.R.C.E.Stigmatised by society as a shameful failure, or presented as an opportunity to grow and evolve, divorce (as the name suggests) can be divisive. We challenge the notion that a long-lasting marriage is a successful one, draw a distinction between "fair" and "equal" when it comes to co-parenting, and discuss the...
2022-08-2249 min
Dial EmmaS2, Ep 5 Best Friend Therapy: Feelings - Why do we have feelings? What should we do with them? Is anxiety a masking emotion?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 bringing you a Feelings 101 - everything you ever needed to know about what we feel, why we feel, and how feelings can be our best guides when it comes to meeting our needs.Sadness, anger, fear, joy, jealousy, envy, guilt or shame. Pick your poison. There's a feeling for every situation and an action required for every feeling. This week we join the dots to help you know what action you need to take, to...
2022-08-1545 min
Dial EmmaS2, Ep 4 Best Friend Therapy: Toxic Friendships - How do we define friendship? What makes a friendship toxic? 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 a hotly requested topic - toxic friendships.We talk about how the pandemic reset friendship protocol for many of us, how introverts and extroverts get along, different definitions of friendship and what a co-dependent friendship feels like. We practice using conflict constructively to negotiate healthy friendship boundaries and we tackle that dreaded question, how do you break up with a friend?Elizabeth gets her head around the concept of...
2022-08-0847 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 8 Best Friend Therapy: Endings - Are they a bad thing? What's the difference between loss and change? How do we make meaning?Welcome to this episode of Best Friend Therapy, where we chat about what's on our minds, to get deeper in our minds.Well, we've reached the final episode of season one (sob!) so it seemed only fitting to make this a conversation all about endings. But don't panic, because we also look at the beginnings that follow endings - including the beginning of season two of Best Friend Therapy, which will be here before you know it!We talk about the endings that arose through the pandemic, how friendships and relationships evolve, and what quitting really...
2022-05-1637 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 6 Best Friend Therapy: Bodies - Is age just a number? How much does appearance matter? What part does social media play?Welcome to this episode of Best Friend Therapy, where we chat about what's on our minds, to get deeper in our minds.TW: eating disordersThis episode is all about bodies - how we can divorce our bodies from our minds if we're not careful, how we feel about our physical appearance and what getting older means for us. Covering areas such as fertility and menopause, social media and dress sizes, we share our relationships with our own bodies on a journey to befriending them, and hope that it can help you do the...
2022-05-0241 min
Dial EmmaS1, Ep 5 Best Friend Therapy: Special Occasions - How do we feel about them? Who are they for? What's so special about them anyway?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 special occasions - from the happiest day of your life to the most wonderful time of the year - and why they're not always what they're cracked up to be. Ironic, given that today is actually Emma's birthday (but don't mention it, will you?)Whether it's a wedding, Christmas Day, a birthday dinner, or simply a Sunday lunch, we talk about why special occasions can bring more pressure than...
2022-04-2541 min
Dial EmmaS1, Ep 4 Best Friend Therapy: Imposter Syndrome - What is it? How does it show up? Are we the only ones who feel 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 Imposter Syndrome and why, if you've ever felt like the odd one out, you're in good company.Join us on an Inception-like head-scratcher as we experience Imposter Syndrome whilst talking about Imposter Syndrome in an attempt to make the episode "good enough", learn why tennis remains Elizabeth's Achilles heel and why Emma will never have a job as a pizza chef. ---Malcolm Gladwell talks...
2022-04-1845 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
Dial EmmaS1, Ep 1 Best Friend Therapy: Boundaries - What are they? Do we need them? How do we say no?Welcome to the FIRST EVER EPISODE of Best Friend Therapy! Each week we'll open the doors to our friendship and chat about what's on our minds, to get deeper in our minds. And today we're starting with a conversation about something we all need in our everyday lives - boundaries.We explore what boundaries mean to us, how to set them and how to say no. Elizabeth tells us why she says sorry all the time and Emma gives us practical ways to renegotiate relationships at home and at work. Thank you so much...
2022-03-2840 min