Friend Forward

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...

In Part 1 of our Men’s Friendship episode, we met several men who shared their experiences of male platonic relationships. Despite the differences and the nuances of their various situations, their stories all supported the recent findings that most men are having fewer friendships that they had just 30 years ago, and that the friendships they do have fail to offer a safe space for them to share e...

In three years of the Friend Forward Podcast, our resident friendship expert Danielle Bayard Jackson has only ever focused on female friendships – until now.   If you search “Men’s friendships” online, you’ll likely be hit with a tonne of recent headlines about the current ‘crisis’ concerning men’s friendships, and maybe this is something you’ve even observed with the men in your own life, pe...

A few months back, you met someone special - he’s cute, funny, attentive, ambitious, and basically ticks all of your boxes, but whenever you speak to your best friend about how things are progressing, there is something that feels ‘off’ about her advice. Is she jealous or projecting, or is it rooted in love for you and is she just being cautiously sceptical with your best interests at heart?    Ou...

There’s so much talk on how to effectively set boundaries, but what about receiving them? If you’ve recently found yourself in a situation where a friend called you out on something, you might have been left feeling confused, defensive, indignant, and not quite sure how to respond. But these are the moments that test the strength and resilience of a friendship, and so it’s crucial they are handled...

Coordinating a bachelorette party, divvying up bridesmaid responsibilities, and navigating the engagement party group chat-- to the untrained eye, this all looks like a bunch of unnecessary wedding drama. But for women who are in the thick of wedding season, they know that it's about so much more: during wedding season, a lot of our secret friendship stuff bubbles up to the surface, and we're forc...

Have you ever wondered where to find your crew? What if we told you it's not a matter of joining the right clubs or pretending to be more of an extrovert? In this episode, we interview Laura Tremaine ( ⁠https://www.lauratremaine.com) ⁠ host of "10 Things to Tell You" podcast and author of the new book "The Life Council".   You'll learn:   -why the search for an "all-inclusive" bestie might be rest...

There are many factors that impact the health of our female friendships, but one that goes unnoticed is the dynamics of our ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS. In today's episode of the Friend Forward podcast, Danielle Bayard Jackson-- female friendships coach and educator-- will break down 4 surprising ways that your man but be standing in the way of having more fulfilling friendships (whether it's intention...

The latest statistics reveal that 58% of women who are childless don’t have any childless friends or family members. Who do they turn to for support? And how do their fertility journeys impact their friendships? In this episode, friendship expert and educator Danielle Bayard Jackson is joined by the founder of Chasing Creation and host of Lighthouse Women , Katy Seppi, to discuss the ways that wom...

As seasons change, so do our friendships. And sometimes these shifts involve realizing that it’s time to move on from a friendship and break ties. If you currently find yourself mulling over this decision, have been in this situation before, or are about to enter into that space, friendship expert and education Danielle Bayard Jackson can offer some perspective. In this episode, you’ll learn how:...

Better female friendships are earned, and for some, may require a change in behavior and habits. As every one of us is a multifaceted, busy human being just trying their best to remain happy and have meaningful relationships, we may not notice when we’re getting in our own way. So what are some steps women can take to be better friends to the important females in their lives? In this episode, you’...

Ready to get out of the group chat and into a group trip? Summer is approaching, and it’s time to stop talking about the friend-cation and get ready to make it happen. Though, this can be easier said than done, especially when it’s more than two or three female friends trying to coordinate. So what are the best ways to get over the barriers of planning a group trip?  Friendship expert and educator...

Welcome to "Girl Problems" a new weekly segment from the Friend Forward podcast. Today's episode addresses a listener question about feeling limited in her friendships because of her lifestyle as an entrepreneur. Tune in as resident friendship expert Danielle Bayard Jackson offers a few helpful insights.   If you want to submit a problem of your own, visit us at ⁠Betterfemalefriendships.com ⁠ or o...

One common reason women offer for why they don’t engage more in their friendships is because of a lack of time. For many of these women, the lack of time is due to their obligation to manage a busy household. They may have serious “mom guilt” or feel overwhelmed after tending to all of the familial duties that are unnecessarily placed on the women. Women in general, globally, are doing more domest...

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering what to make of not being invited to a function or hang out, this episode is for you. Being left out can hurt and make it easy to assume ill intentions, writing them off as mean or inconsiderate. But before we start cutting people off, taking a moment to try to understand the bigger picture might help manage these feelings and unveil actions that can help mo...

Have you ever found yourself in a situation with a friend where you needed or wanted to say no, but struggled to find the right way to say it? Telling anyone, especially a friend, ‘no’ can be difficult, but neglecting this truth can create more problems down the road. In this episode, friendship expert Danielle Bayard Jackson encourages women to assert affirmative boundaries. This tactic can help...

Not every apology is a good one. Honestly, a poor, half-hearted apology from a friend can feel worse than the harm that was caused. So why does it sometimes feel like apologizing isn’t enough? Let’s look at the context more closely. Whenever one wants to take ownership of the damage done to a friend an apology is owed. Even if there’s no interest in repairing the relationship, an apology is owed....

Relationships are a woman’s greatest resource. Yet so often, female friendships are stifled by the poor choices we make to manage conflict and express ourselves. This can mean gossiping, excluding, or giving the silent treatment to friends and other women instead of opening up and having a real conversation with them. Why does it feel easier to resort to these tactics to cut others down? Let’s get...