

Dial Emma
Emma Reed Turrell
If you’ve ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here. 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.
Got a tricky situation, emotional tangle, or just need a fresh perspective? I’d love to hear from you. Please do get in contact via my online webform here: forms.gle/gSE8Pa8HnqU2B2c59
For more trusted advice, please do give the show a follow on Instagram @dialemmapodcast
(https://www.instagram.com/dialemmapodcast)
Got a tricky situation, emotional tangle, or just need a fresh perspective? I’d love to hear from you. Please do get in contact via my online webform here: forms.gle/gSE8Pa8HnqU2B2c59
For more trusted advice, please do give the show a follow on Instagram @dialemmapodcast
(https://www.instagram.com/dialemmapodcast)
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 29, 2024 • 9min
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 rejection and feeling like they are not enough. In her reflections, Emma talks about endings, change, growth, and the importance of allowing ourselves to take the pressure off and get curious about who we are, what we’re actually looking for in friendships and what we can offer as a friend. What advice would you give this listener? If you’ve got a friendship dilemma and you'd like Emma's help, drop us a voicenote on Instagram @friendshiptherapypod!---Friendship Therapy is hosted by Emma Reed Turrell, produced by Chris Sharp and Lauren Brook.--- Social media: Emma Reed Turrell @emmareedturrellFriendship Therapy @friendshiptherapypodEmail: contact@friendshiptherapypod.co.uk

Aug 25, 2024 • 46min
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 friendship, and understand why it may come down to a fear of loss.When she was just nine years old, Rose left Australia for a trip to England with her mother and brother, expecting her father to join them a fortnight later. Tragically, Rose's dad never made it to England. He died suddenly during their first week away, and life would never be the same again.During this conversation, Emma and Rose explore the idea that her tendency to worry about her friendships might have something to do with the loss of her father when she was a child, and whether teaching a group of nine year olds for the first time this year might have emerged some big feelings for the nine year old she once was.In her reflections on the episode, Emma also reminds us that it's hard to feel, but sometimes, it's harder not to.If you’d like to apply to appear on the podcast, please click the link below to fill out the form: https://forms.gle/owsfs6DVxVdTMFo46 ---Friendship Therapy is hosted by Emma Reed Turrell, produced by Chris Sharp and Lauren Brook.--- Social media: Emma Reed Turrell @emmareedturrellFriendship Therapy @friendshiptherapypodEmail: contact@friendshiptherapypod.co.uk

Jul 11, 2024 • 24min
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 media, and the challenges that they have faced as two heterosexual women who have found a soulmate in each other.In this bitesize episode, Emma reflects on the blind spots that she often sees in romantic relationships and explores some of the themes that came up in her conversation with Victoria and Helen, drawing on her 15 years of experience as a psychotherapist to answer some of the bigger questions when it comes to modern partnerships. Why is society still failing to recognise the significance and value of friendships? Does longevity equal success when it comes to relationships? And how can we create space in our relationships to allow each other to grow, develop, evolve and change? Find out what you might be missing: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/454959/what-am-i-missing-by-turrell-emma-reed/9780241624982If you’d like to apply to appear on the podcast in season two, please click the link below to fill out the form: https://forms.gle/owsfs6DVxVdTMFo46 ---Friendship Therapy is hosted by Emma Reed Turrell, produced by Chris Sharp and Lauren Brook.--- Social media: Emma Reed Turrell @emmareedturrellFriendship Therapy @friendshiptherapypodEmail: contact@friendshiptherapypod.co.uk

Jul 7, 2024 • 48min
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 - but that doesn't mean that they are any less valid or important.Helen and Victoria, both working as teachers, met at a musical theatre society when they were in their late twenties and early thirties - a crucial time during which many of their peers were meeting 'the one' and building a life with a romantic partner. Meanwhile, Helen and Victoria found in each other a platonic soulmate, a life partner with whom they could share all the domesticities of daily life, and connect with deeply on an emotional level too. By society's standards, Helen and Victoria's relationship is very much outside of the norm, and they simply can't and won't fit neatly into a box that is recognisable, or even acceptable, to the people around them.In this episode, Helen and Victoria share their experience of finding a soulmate in a friend, the radical acceptance and permission to be themselves that they bring to each other's lives, and their frustration at the way society has failed to recognise the significance and value of platonic relationships. Emma also reflects on a deeply meaningful platonic relationship in her own life, and identifies a potential blind spot that we could all overcome.If you’d like to apply to appear on the podcast in season two, please click the link below to fill out the form: https://forms.gle/owsfs6DVxVdTMFo46 ---Friendship Therapy is hosted by Emma Reed Turrell, produced by Chris Sharp and Lauren Brook.--- Social media: Emma Reed Turrell @emmareedturrellFriendship Therapy @friendshiptherapypodEmail: contact@friendshiptherapypod.co.uk

Jul 4, 2024 • 19min
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 difficult six months since his re-diagnosis, during which she had to contend with the inevitable arrival of her very worst fear, and the loss of the hope that she had been holding on to since she was a 12 year old girl making wishes on birthday candles. The losses that Rachel had experienced since she was a child gave her a sense of vigilance that stayed with her into adulthood, causing her to feel fearful of change, particularly within her friendship groups.In this bitesize episode, Emma explores where Rachel's fear of loss and endings originates from and how it is showing up in her friendships now, with the help of the blind spot profiles in her latest book, What am I Missing? Emma also explains the concept of 'compound loss' in therapy and how we can begin to navigate it, and why fear, hope, love and sadness exist most productively when we allow them to co-exist.Find out more about the blind spot profiles: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/454959/what-am-i-missing-by-turrell-emma-reed/9780241624982If you’d like to apply to appear on the podcast in season two, please click the link below to fill out the form: https://forms.gle/owsfs6DVxVdTMFo46 ---Friendship Therapy is hosted by Emma Reed Turrell, produced by Chris Sharp and Lauren Brook.--- Social media: Emma Reed Turrell @emmareedturrellFriendship Therapy @friendshiptherapypodEmail: contact@friendshiptherapypod.co.uk

Jun 30, 2024 • 41min
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 the process of grieving incredibly isolating and lonely. It wasn't the first time she had gone through turbulence and change in her home life; Rachel's dad was first diagnosed with cancer when she was just 12 years old, and when she was 16, her parents separated. Without a sibling who she could share the loss with, Rachel's friends stepped in to hold her hand in the trenches of grief and help her navigate some of the most challenging moments in her life.In this episode, Rachel speaks so honestly and candidly about grief, loss and hope, the parental role that she played in her friendship groups and how that changed and evolved over time, leaning into reciprocity in relationships, and navigating the fear of loss as our lives and friendships take on a different trajectory.Learn more about the blind spots in Emma's new book, What am I Missing?: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/454959/what-am-i-missing-by-turrell-emma-reed/9780241624982If you’d like to apply to appear on the podcast in season two, please click the link below to fill out the form: https://forms.gle/owsfs6DVxVdTMFo46 ---Friendship Therapy is hosted by Emma Reed Turrell, produced by Chris Sharp and Lauren Brook.--- Social media: Emma Reed Turrell @emmareedturrellFriendship Therapy @friendshiptherapypodEmail: contact@friendshiptherapypod.co.uk

Jun 27, 2024 • 20min
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 she had to put in to try to fit in with the other children; all of which led her to resent her diagnosis. Later, in adulthood, Jemima found herself rejecting the idea of being 'parented' by her friends, having already spent almost her entire life being told what her limits were and what she definitely couldn't do because she is neurodivergent.In this bitesize episode, Emma returns to Eric Berne's parent, adult, child model in transactional analysis, exploring how the different facets of the parent and child ego states might be showing up in Jemima's friendships and in her own internal processes.Eric Berne's parent, adult, child theory: https://www.simplypsychology.org/transactional-analysis-eric-berne.htmlIf you’d like to apply to appear on the podcast in season two, please click the link below to fill out the form: https://forms.gle/owsfs6DVxVdTMFo46 ---Friendship Therapy is hosted by Emma Reed Turrell, produced by Chris Sharp and Lauren Brook.--- Social media: Emma Reed Turrell @emmareedturrellFriendship Therapy @friendshiptherapypodEmail: contact@friendshiptherapypod.co.uk

Jun 23, 2024 • 40min
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 her brother so she could be more like the other children. Jemima's family just wanted to keep her safe from a world that didn't necessarily understand her, but Jemima wanted to reject her dyspraxia diagnosis altogether. Now, as a woman in her forties, she has come to learn a lot about herself and the way she exists in the world as a neurodiverse woman with her own unique experiences in life and in friendship.In this episode, Jemima generously shares how she navigates friendship and dyspraxia. We hear about her experience of being neurodivergent in a world that doesn't always celebrate difference, struggling with burnout and feelings of rejection and abandonment, and through it all, the unwavering support, love and encouragement that her friends and family have shown her.Jemima's story reminds us that when we mess up, as we inevitably will, having grace for ourselves and for our friends can be an incredibly powerful metric of friendship.To find out more about Eric Berne's Parent, Adult, Child theory, click here: https://www.simplypsychology.org/transactional-analysis-eric-berne.htmlInformation on dyspraxia from the NHS website: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/developmental-coordination-disorder-dyspraxia-in-adults/Exceptional Individuals - https://exceptionalindividuals.com/Some book recommendations from Jemima:The Lion Who Wanted to Love - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lion-Who-Wanted-Love/dp/1860399134/ref=asc_df_1860399134/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=697208928393&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9929041182393392105&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046002&hvtargid=pla-537898099083&psc=1&mcid=36f7310928af3f02b640a4340b0442d0&th=1&psc=1&gad_source=1Autism in Heels - https://booksplea.se/autism-in-heels-the-untold-story-of-a-female-life-on-the-spectrum-by-jennifer-cook-otoole/?setCurrencyId=1&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqanE7ZXbhgMVspVQBh3j_QLDEAQYASABEgL6MfD_BwERhinocorn Rules - https://www.theworks.co.uk/p/picture-books/rhinocorn-rules/WKS_9780008617103.html?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyLf5iZbbhgMVw4hQBh2_rAo8EAQYASABEgJYv_D_BwEIf you’d like to apply to appear on the podcast in season two, please click the link below to fill out the form: https://forms.gle/owsfs6DVxVdTMFo46 ---Friendship Therapy is hosted by Emma Reed Turrell, produced by Chris Sharp and Lauren Brook.--- Social media: Emma Reed Turrell @emmareedturrellFriendship Therapy @friendshiptherapypodEmail: contact@friendshiptherapypod.co.uk

Jun 20, 2024 • 15min
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 the present?In this bitesize episode, Emma digs deeper into the impact of nostalgia in long-term friendships, how our childhood friends are caretakers for past versions of ourselves, and why passivity or non-confrontation in friendship break-ups can cause us to reinforce our blind spots and fill in the wrong blanks.If you’d like to apply to appear on the podcast in season two, please click the link below to fill out the form: https://forms.gle/owsfs6DVxVdTMFo46 ---Friendship Therapy is hosted by Emma Reed Turrell, produced by Chris Sharp and Lauren Brook.--- Social media: Emma Reed Turrell @emmareedturrellFriendship Therapy @friendshiptherapypodEmail: contact@friendshiptherapypod.co.uk

Jun 16, 2024 • 39min
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 connection have lessened over the years, she and this long-term friend can pick up right where they left off when they do see each other, often spending their time together reminiscing about their shared past rather than bringing their friendship into the present.Emma and Charlotte discuss the role that our childhood friends play in being caretakers of our past selves, passivity and lack of clarity in friendship break-ups, how to allocate our friendship energy, and why avoiding confrontation or not updating our friendships into 2024 often causes us to fill in the wrong blanks or reinforce limiting beliefs about ourselves.If you’d like to apply to appear on the podcast in season two, please click the link below to fill out the form: https://forms.gle/owsfs6DVxVdTMFo46 ---Friendship Therapy is hosted by Emma Reed Turrell, produced by Chris Sharp and Lauren Brook.--- Social media: Emma Reed Turrell @emmareedturrellFriendship Therapy @friendshiptherapypodEmail: contact@friendshiptherapypod.co.uk