Friendship Therapy
Emma Reed Turrell
Friendship Therapy is a brand new podcast, in which psychotherapist and author Emma Reed Turrell talks to real people about real friendships and looks at these pivotal relationships through a therapy lens.
S3, 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 const
S3, Ep 11 Friendship Therapy: Asking for Help in Friendship - how family dynamics play into our friendships in adulthood
Welcome 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
S3, Ep 10 Dial Emma: Friendship After Loss - the impact of grief on friendship
TW: 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
S3, Ep 9 Friendship Therapy: Surface Dwellers and Depth Seekers - exploring emotional depth in male friendships
Welcome 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
S3, Ep 8 Dial Emma: Platonic Crushes - how emotional self-sufficiency supports healthier connections
Welcome 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 h
S3, Ep 7 Friendship Therapy: Feeling like an Outsider - seeking self awareness, connection and intimacy in friendship
Welcome 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
S3, Ep 6 Dial Emma: Fertility and Friendship - navigating grief and joy
TW: 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 isolatio
S3, 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 t
S3, Ep 4 Dial Emma: Notes on Parenting - lending our nervous system to our children
Welcome 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
S3, Ep 3 Friendship Therapy: Being 'Too Much' in Friendship - learning not to take responsibility for problems that aren't ours to fix
Welcome 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
S3, Ep 2 Dial Emma: Grieving a Pet - what our animals can teach us about ourselves
Welcome 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 ge
S3, Ep 1 Friendship Therapy: Reciprocity in Friendship - how fear can get in the way of vulnerability
Welcome 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
S3, Ep 1 BONUS: Tolerance in Friendship with Michelle Elman
Hello, 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 Em
S2, 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
S2, Ep 11 Friendship Therapy: Childhood Friendships - friendship from the perspective of a 10-year-old
Welcome 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 Em
S2, 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 wis
S2, Ep 9 Friendship Therapy: Friendship Boundaries - how rupture in friendship can help us break our own patterns
Welcome 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
S2, 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
S2, Ep 7 Friendship Therapy: It's Complicated - friendships formed from grief and loss
This week, Emma is joined by Annie to talk about her friendship with Katie, one that was born out of tragic circumstances and one that others have struggled to accept.Katie had been engaged to Annie's brother and a cherished member of their family since she'd first arrived on the scene at 15, but some years later, they decided to take a break from their relationship. When Pete was tragically killed in a road traffic collision, Annie and Katie continued to be an active presence in each other's li
S2, 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, current
S2, Ep 5 Friendship Therapy: Friendship Heartbreak - the games we play in friendship
Welcome 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 o
S2, 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
S2, 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
S2, 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
S2, Ep 1 NEW Friendship Therapy: Overthinking in Friendship - it's hard to feel, but harder not to
Welcome 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 friends
Friendship Therapy SEASON TWO: Coming Soon!
Hello, lovely listeners! We're back for season two of 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 therapy lens. Subscribe now and don't miss the first episode when it drops on Monday 26th August.
S1, Ep 12 BITESIZE Friendship Therapy: Modern Partnerships - making the unknowns, known
Welcome 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 medi
S1, Ep 11 Friendship Therapy: Friends as Soulmates - friendships that don’t fit into a box
Welcome 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 - b
S1, Ep 10 BITESIZE Friendship Therapy: Compound Loss - how fear, hope, love and sadness can co-exist
Welcome 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 difficul
S1, Ep 9 Friendship Therapy: Grief and Friendship - hope, grief, loss and navigating change in friendship
Welcome 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 th
S1, Ep 8 BITESIZE Friendship Therapy: Child Ego State - the adapted child and the free rebellious child
Welcome 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
S1, Ep 7 Friendship Therapy: Neurodiversity in Friendship - a unique perspective on dyspraxia and how it can impact friendship
Welcome 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
S1, 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
S1, Ep 5 Friendship Therapy: Rekindling Friendship - how updating our friendships can keep the spark alive
Welcome 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
S1, Ep 4 BITESIZE Friendship Therapy: The Nursing Triad - friends as co-parents
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 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 sym
S1, Ep 3 Friendship Therapy: Lifting Lids - how therapy can change our friendship dynamics
Welcome 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 gui
S1, Ep 2 BITESIZE Friendship Therapy: Yin and Yang - balance, unconditional acceptance and safety in friendship
Welcome 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
S1, Ep 1 NEW Friendship Therapy: Yin and Yang - how complementary friendships can help us grow as individuals
Welcome 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 deep
Friendship Therapy - Coming Soon!
Friendship Therapy is a brand new podcast coming soon, in which psychotherapist and author Emma Reed Turrell talks to real people about real friendships and looks at these pivotal relationships through a therapy lens. Subscribe now and don't miss the first episode when it drops on Monday 3rd June.
S7, 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 s
S7, 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 ev
S7, 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
S7, Ep 4 Best Friend Therapy: Introverts and Extroverts - What's the difference? How do these traits develop? Which way is best?
What is introversion and extroversion anyway?This week we’re drawing on the ideas of Carl Jung, and the Big Five personality traits, to help us understand why some people get their energy from being around other people, and others prefer to recharge their batteries on their own. Emma challenges the idea that it’s simply a matter of personality, and wonders whether we develop these behaviours as an adaptation to societal pressures, and Elizabeth explains why, as an introvert, she prefers a voice
S7, 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 co
S7 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 objec
S7, 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?
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 reached out with care and concern.Elizabeth generously shares with us where she's been, where she is now, and what life looks like when you are childfree, not by choice. She shares her frustrations with the language and reactions of some, celebrates the kindness of many and describes th
S6, Ep 8 Best Friend Therapy: Rejection - Why does it hurt so much? How can we overcome it? What is self-rejection?
TW: Discussion on miscarriage.Welcome to this week's episode of Best Friend Therapy - the fourth instalment of our miniseries on break-ups and the final episode of Season 6!As we have been exploring different break-ups, whether it be a romantic relationship, the ending of a friendship, family estrangement or career change, we realised there is one feeling that connects them all - the feeling of rejection. So we are dedicating this final episode to unpacking this feeling - to better understand wh
S6, Ep 7 Best Friend Therapy: Work Break-Ups - How can you cope with unexpected endings? What can you do if your work's not working?
Welcome to this week's episode of Best Friend Therapy, and the penultimate instalment of our miniseries on break-ups. So far we have been focusing on personal relationships but today it’s time to take a look at professional break-ups - from being fired or made redundant, to feeling left behind or breaking up with a previous profession. We talk about why people-pleasing and work don’t mix, and why healthy work contracts have to be reciprocal (just like those family contracts that we discussed las
S6, Ep 6 Best Friend Therapy: Break-ups with friends and family - Can you end a friendship? How do you change old family dynamics?
Welcome back to our break-ups miniseries, and this week we're looking at the thorny issue of how to end, change or evolve a relationship with friends and family. We talk about why remaining friends is not always as kind as we might think and why being authentic and accountable might actually be more generous.Emma talks about non-verbal boundaries and how to reset realities for everyone's benefit, and Elizabeth describes what it feels like to be ghosted by a friend and what it looks like to grow
S6, Ep 5 Best Friend Therapy: The Break-Ups MINISERIES - Romantic Heartbreak, Why it Hurts and How to Heal
In 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 als
S6, 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 th
S6, 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 o
S6, 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 fo
S6, Ep 1 Best Friend Therapy: Toxic Positivity - What are good vibes? Is there always a bright side? How can positivity help and hinder us?
We’re back with Season 6 of Best Friend Therapy and we are overjoyed to be in your ears again!In fact we're feeling so damn positive about life right now, we thought we'd kick off with a conversation about whether positivity can ever be negative... or even toxic?There’s nothing wrong with looking on the bright side of life, or tackling challenges with optimism and a positive mental attitude. But we wonder whether there is a role for taking our time to get there in certain situations, to feel hea
S5, 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
S5, Ep 7 Best Friend Therapy: Unmet Needs - Live therapy session - What did you need? How can you meet that need now? Where can you start?
Join us for this season's live therapy experience, with our glamorous assistant/guinea pig, Elizabeth Day!This week, Emma blends techniques from Neuro Linguistic Programming and timeline therapy to guide Elizabeth back through some significant experiences, in order to identify an unmet need or missing piece that might still hold her back today. You'll hear a guided visualisation that reframes past experiences in a way that can heal past hurt, and shows you what to look for in future.Listen along
S5, 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 t
S5, Ep 5 Best Friend Therapy: Gaslighting - What is it? How can we recognise coercive control? Does it only affect romantic relationships?
TW; discussions around suicide.This week we are talking about gaslighting, where the term originates from and how it has helped us name a particular type of coercive control.We also talk about how it has been more recently adopted in casual conversation and how therapy talk doesn't always serve us when it’s overused or taken out of context.As always, our insights are informed by popular culture - namely the Archers, Jury Duty and Married at First Sight Australia (we’re talking to you, Harrison).
S5, Ep 4 Best Friend Therapy: Regret - What is regret? How might it be holding us back? Can we learn from experiences that don’t end well?
This week on Best Friend Therapy, we are reflecting on regret.As usual, we strive to keep our conversation authentic, which is why you’ll hear us singing along with Edith Piaf, receiving deliveries from the postman, battling with flies and playing a quick round of Just a Minute… NONE of which we regret because we come to the conclusion that regret really means mourning a life un-lived and, well, we’ll all have plenty of those. We also have the life we are living right now and we reckon this is t
Introducing: It Can't Just Be Me
Hey Listener... We have a podcast we think you'll like! Listen to 'It Can't Just Be Me' now wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Wednesday.
S5, Ep 3 Best Friend Therapy: Menopause - Is it an ending or a new beginning? How can we tune in to our bodies? What help is out there?
This week we're talking all things menopause.Emma and Elizabeth share their journeys so far, through the wild ride that is peri-menopause, and look at the good (no longer doing things you don't want to do), the bad (next-level anxiety) and the ugly (who knew anyone could sweat this much?).Menopause has gone from being the taboo of previous generations, to a subject discussed openly in mainstream media and we wanted to celebrate this transition into a new stage of womanhood - one that is as much
S5, 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 w
S5, Ep 1 Best Friend Therapy: Co-dependency - What makes a relationship unhealthy? How can we change old patterns? Where do we start?
Welcome back, to Season Five of Best Friend Therapy!We're kicking this season off with a conversation all about co-dependency - what does it mean and why is it a problem?We chat about how co-dependency shows up in our families, our friendships and our romantic relationships... how we all need someone but why the person we need most is ourselves. This conversation is a journey from validation to self-validation via the wisdom of Vanderpump Rules and Cilla Black, and even a nod to the potentially
S4, 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 relatio
S4, Ep 7 Best Friend Therapy: Narcissists - Do you know a taker? When is a boundary really a demand? How can we protect ourselves?
This week we're talking about those familiar situations, friendships and relationships, in which people take more from us than they give.We look at the difference between boundaries and demands, and explain why our tolerance for narcissistic traits in other people might wear thin as we get older. Elizabeth explores why she has a habit of giving everyone the benefit of the doubt, and Emma shares how her journey through peri-menopause has helped her separate the wheat from the chaff.We leave you w
S4 Ep 6 Best Friend Therapy: Guilt - Why do we feel bad? When is it misplaced? What can we do about it?
Guilt is a feeling that plagues so many of us that we felt compelled to dedicate an entire episode to it!Emma explains the difference between authentic guilt and the misplaced guilt we can feel when we turn anger back in on ourselves, and Eizabeth shares 40 things that made her feel guilty in 2021 (and some that still make her feel guilty now!).We talk about how men and women do guilt differently, how guilt can function as a form of self-preservation, why parental guilt stops us problem-solving
S4 Ep 5 Best Friend Therapy: Teenagers - How can we help our teens? What kind of teen were you? Why is defiance essential to development?
This week's Best Friend Therapy is all about teenagers - the ones we used to be and the ones we need to parent, whether that's now or in the future. Elizabeth tells us about her late rebellion and Emma explains why we need to help our adolescents learn to put their coats on, even when we tell them to (which will make much more sense when you listen to the episode!).We look at what's bad behaviour and what's developmentally normative and explore ways to support yourself as a parent and help keep
S4, 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_
S4, Ep 3 Best Friend Therapy: Friendaholic - What makes a friendship addict? Why was Elizabeth compelled to write a book about it?
This week on Best Friend Therapy, we are lucky enough to have an access-all-areas, behind the scenes pass to Elizabeth's brand new book, Friendaholic: Confessions of a Friendship Addict, published by 4th Estate on 30th March 2023. She tells us why she felt this subject was one she had to write about, how the language of friendship has been lacking so far and left us ill-equipped to set boundaries and evolve our friendships into something more authentic.Emma talks about the difference between bei
S4, 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 followin
S4, Ep 1 Best Friend Therapy: Grief - How can we cope with loss? What is the function of grief? How can we help people who are grieving?
TW: Trauma, miscarriage.Welcome back to season four of Best Friend Therapy!We wanted to open this new beginning with a conversation about ending because the two go hand in hand and because grief is a subject that touches us all.It has been one of our most requested topics and we hope we can do it justice, as we discuss aspects of grief such as anticipatory grief, traumatic grief and collective grief, how to support others who are grieving, and how to parent children through loss.Emma explains th
S3, BONUS EPISODE! Best Friend Therapy: Flexibility - How can it help? Why does balance matter? Is it about change or acceptance?
Happy New Year from Best Friend Therapy!We're so delighted to be back with you for another year of conversations where we talk about what's on our minds, to get deeper in our minds.And we're kicking off with this bonus episode on the timely topic of flexibility - from flexibility in exercise, to worklife and relationships. We explore how we can tune in to our emotional equalizers to tell us what we need and what we have to give, as we head into the new year.Emma explains why a balance between ac
S3, Ep 8 Best Friend Therapy: Festive Hangovers - Why can Christmas feel complicated? How can we support ourselves? What can we learn?
Merry Christmas from Best Friend Therapy! Or not. Because, however your festive season has been this year, and however you chose to celebrate, you’re welcome in this conversation. So join us, as we ease our festive hangovers together (both literal and metaphorical). Special occasions and holidays can be a flashpoint for emotions, and expectation can be the thief of joy. We’re not responsible for other people’s enjoyment of Christmas and yet the pressures to shop, socialise, cook, dress, eat and
S3, 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 he
S3, 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.
S3, 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
S3, Ep 4 Best Friend Therapy: Working With Your Best Friend - Is it all plain sailing? What if you disagree? How can you make it work?
Lots of our lovely listeners have asked us what it’s like to work with your best friend, so this week we’re here to spill the tea. It’s take your bestie to work day.We talk about what we've loved, from sharing a joint purpose, to finding out more about each other (and sneaking off for lovely recording weekends!) We talk about what we’ve learned, including our fear of letting each other down, what our different metrics of success can teach us, and how to keep the relationship at the heart of ever
S3, 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, wh
S3, 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
S3, 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 oft
S3 Best Friend Therapy: Trailer
Season Three of Best Friend Therapy is coming very soon!We can't wait to be back with you next week, for more conversations about the topics that get us all talking... starting with the things that make our blood boil.Subscribe now and make sure you don't miss a single episode!
S2, 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
S2, 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 voic
S2, 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
S2, 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
S2, 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, ho
S2, 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
S2, Ep 2 Best Friend Therapy: Fertility - What's the reality? How does the language impact us? How can we support each other?
TW: MiscarriageThis week's episode is on a subject that's incredibly close to our hearts - fertility. We wanted to do it justice by sharing some very personal stories and so it feels important to say that, if you are going through a fertility journey right now and don't feel this is the episode for you, we see you and we will be here for you if you want to come back to it another time. If you do want to listen, we see you too, and you'll hear us talk openly about miscarriage, IVF and the realiti
S2, 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, the people-pleasers in recovery,
S1, 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
S1, 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
S1, 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 hel
S1, 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 occa
S1, 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 pizz
S1, 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
S1, 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 friend
S1, 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
Best Friend Therapy: Trailer
Best Friend Therapy is a brand new podcast where we open the doors to our friendship to and throw a light on the therapy we all need in our everyday lives. Each week we'll be chatting about a different topic - from coping with anxiety, to setting healthy boundaries; from misplaced guilt to people-pleasing - and plenty more besides. If you fancy joining us, be sure to subscribe now so that you don't miss our first ever episode, coming soon!