Friend Forward

There are many resolutions that we tend to make as we enter the new year and when it comes to friendship, we might commit to making more time for friends or making new friends altogether. But what about making things right with friends? If there’s a friend in your life to whom you owe an apology, then this is the episode for you. Join our resident friendship expert Danielle Bayard Jackson as she o...

It happened last week when you reached out to a new-ish friend, and she never got back to you. It also happened last month with a friend who went off on a coffee date with a mutual friend but didn’t extend an invitation to you. And it happened last night when you had a moment of vulnerability with someone, and she didn’t respond in the way that you were hoping.   These are all examples of rej...

Welcome to "Girl Problems" a bi-weekly segment from the Friend Forward podcast, coming to you every other Tuesday.   Today's episode addresses a listener’s question regarding a situation where she tried to speak to her friend about an issue that had hurt her, and was met with defensiveness and accusations of being “over-sensitive”, leading her to ask, how are you supposed to respond when a fr...

Our resident friendship expert, Danielle Bayard Jackson, first met Taryn Delanie Smith at a launch party that Bumble hosted for its new App, Bumble For Friends, earlier this year in New York City. Taryn Delanie Smith has over a million followers on TikTok and is a former Miss New York, taking the crown in 2022. She is known online for being kind, intelligent and gracious, and she lived up to all o...

You’re in the middle of a late-night social media scroll, and you notice that your feed is showing you video after video of women doing things with their friends – picnics, target runs, book clubs – and on nearly every video, you find yourself tagging your bestie, sending her ideas of activities, despite knowing deep down that they’ll likely never materialise.   You’ve been long-distance frie...

Welcome to "Girl Problems" a bi-weekly segment from the Friend Forward podcast, coming to you every other Tuesday.   Today's episode addresses a listener’s question regarding a situation where her best friend has moved to a new house on the other side of town and is yet to invite her over to visit. The listener feels hurt, and is speculating about her friend’s motives, and is also questioning...

You’re working out at the gym when you realise you’ve been coming solo for the last few weeks as your usual gym buddy has been MIA. It’s not like her, so on your way to the parking lot, you give her a call but she doesn’t answer… Also unlike her. And that’s when it hits you – you remember that she mentioned having a depressive episode last winter, but that was before you were friends. And if she’s...

You’re looking through your calendar to figure out a date to spend time with an old friend and as you search for some availability, you realise two things – one, that we’re only a few weeks out from a new year, and two, that you’re putting in a lot of effort to maintain a friendship that you’re convinced you’ve outgrown. But, she’s all you know. As we head into the new year, how can you be more in...

Welcome to "Girl Problems" a bi-weekly segment from the Friend Forward podcast, coming to you every other Tuesday.   Today's episode addresses a listener’s question about how to navigate a friendship breakup with someone she works with and therefore will have to continue to see every day. Tune in as our resident friendship expert Danielle Bayard Jackson offers her words of wisdom on the matte...

You get a message and your heart sinks - “I’m going to do It, I’m going to ask him for a divorce”, it says. You knew your friend and her husband have been having trouble, but you didn’t know it would end up this way, and now you’re wondering how best to show up for her. Data shows that 50% of marriages end in divorce, often happening around the 8-year mark, and the process can take anywhere from 3...

Lately, you’ve been feeling uneasy about one of the friendships in your life, and the time has come for you to talk it out with your friend. You’re aware that the conversation could lead to either a friendship break, or a complete friendship breakup and so in preparation for your conversation, you’ve searched for tips and advice online, and the resounding advice is to just go for it and speak your...

Welcome to "Girl Problems" a bi-weekly segment from the Friend Forward podcast, coming to you every other Tuesday.   Today's episode addresses a listener’s question about how to keep your distance with an ex-friend, while not letting your friendship break-up affect your other friendships within your shared circle.  Tune in as our resident friendship expert Danielle Bayard Jackson offers...

You’re at a dinner and everyone’s having a lovely time, but you can’t help but notice that for the last 35 minutes the conversation has centred around everyone’s kids, and maybe that’d be okay if you had children too, but you don’t, and you don’t plan to anytime soon.    Here on the Friend Forward Podcast, we’ve discussed infertility and how to support friends who are on challenging jour...

Extroverts thrive on having lots of people in their social network, and there’s research that points to the benefits of having a large, expansive network, such as being happier, healthier and even getting better sleep.   However, there are also some surprising downsides to being an extrovert too, and in this episode of the Friend Forward Podcast, our resident friendship expert Danielle Bayard...

Welcome to "Girl Problems" a bi-weekly segment from the Friend Forward podcast, coming to you every other Tuesday.   Today's episode addresses a listener’s question about what is a reasonable expectation of a friend when it comes to the issue of time and how, when time is limited, can friendships be maintained. Tune in as our resident friendship expert Danielle Bayard Jackson offers her helpf...

When a tragedy strikes in a way that hits really close to home, it can be physically, emotionally and psychologically devastating, and sometimes this pain is exacerbated by a lack of care and understanding from the people we love the most. For many minorities, we know the feeling well when we have a certain identity that’s not shared with the majority, which means that we can sometimes find oursel...

There’s the engagement party, the bachelorette party, the wedding shower and then the big day itself - so many celebrations to mark a women’s transition into partnership, and when someone makes this change, they often struggle to keep their friendships intact during the process.    Last week, on the Friend Forward Podcast, we explored some of the causes of tension that can arise between...

We know that friendship is vital to everyone’s health and wellbeing but for the single woman, female friendship especially feels like a lifeline. Single women tend to exclusively turn to their friends for emotional support and companionship, and as the number of single women has increased nearly 20% in the past 10 years, more women are buying houses and raising children together under these platon...

Welcome to "Girl Problems" a bi-weekly segment from the Friend Forward podcast, coming to you every other Tuesday.   Today's episode addresses a listener’s question about how to deal with unwanted connections when it comes to friendships. Tune in as our resident friendship expert Danielle Bayard Jackson offers a few helpful insights.   If you want to submit a problem of your own, visit u...

For many of us, having a friendship break down can feel like a failure, because so often we wrongly measure the success of a friendship by its longevity. And whilst longevity can be evidence of a successful, healthy, functional relationship, these factors alone won’t insulate us from other things that pose a threat, such as people’s changing goals or desires, or the various external factor at play...

Three weeks ago you and a friend exchanged heated words at a group dinner and you’ve been left feeling a mix of regret, anger and embarrassment. Since then, you’ve been reliving every detail of what happened over and over again, replaying what you both said, what her words might have meant, and whether or not this indicates that she’s been getting increasingly frustrated with you over the past yea...

Maybe it’s nothing, but you’ve noticed that lately your friends are calling you out for your lateness, forgetfulness and your daydreaming, and after a quick Google search, you find out these are symptoms of ADHD. Whilst this may bring a sense of validation, it may also cause you to get curious on how these symptoms might be affecting your friendships.    In today’s episode, our resident friendship...

It's National Women’s Friendship Day and what better time to announce the return of the Friend Forward Podcast! In Season 5 of The Friend Forward Podcast, our resident friendship expert Danielle Bayard Jackson will be bringing you more of the content that you’ve been loving for almost four years now. She’ll be sharing the latest research on women’s cooperation, communication and conflict, paired w...

Have you ever had a birthday approaching and, instead of feelings of excitement, you start to feel a sense of apprehension at the prospect of potentially being let down by your friends who, for the last few years, haven’t quite showed up for you in the way you’d hoped?   Birthdays can be a pivotal point in female friendships and, if not managed correctly, can leave you feeling disappointed, l...

When a friend lets you down, ticks you off or hurts your feelings, how do you respond to that situation?   Research shows that people who lack the skill of emotional regulation have less relational satisfaction (you can read the study here) They also tend to group with people who also don't know how to manage their emotions, and are more inclined to receive feedback from others as hostile. &n...