Pretty Psyched

In this week’s episode, Dr. Phoebe is joined by her colleague Dr. Sofie Kent. Sofie is a licensed Sports Psychologist currently lecturing at Leeds Beckett University, practicing in professional sports organizations, and researching about the romantic partners of elite professional athletes. Sofie and Phoebe hope that you walk away from this episode with a better understanding of the key distinctio...

This week Dr. Phoebe talks through her published research- a review of the existing academic literature about the experiences of romantic partners of professional athletes across different countries and sporting affiliations. The hope is that partners may feel some comfort in the reflection of their experiences in this research, being acknowledged and heard by academics in research. Also for sport...

With the formal return of Pretty Psyched and the start of Season 2, Dr. Phoebe sits down to catch everyone up on the past year and update on what’s to come with the podcast. She speaks about her positive experience in the family lounge at TFC this season, as well as the challenges faced when her husband picked up an injury near the end of the season. Dr. Phoebe also explains the work she has been...

Dr. Phoebe sits down with her friend, Bec Westwood. As funny as it can feel to sit down and do an interview with a best friend, the two cover numerous important topics within their chat. Bec details how she and her husband, Charlotte FC captain Ashley Westwood, first met and built their life together in the EFL’s league one. Life in football is a rollercoaster, and the pair quickly found themselve...

Shannon Horlock (long-term partner of Nick Pope) and Danika Hutton (long-term partner of Charlie Taylor) join Dr. Phoebe in this week’s episode, and the final episode of Pretty Psyched’s first season. They speak about making friends in football, as the two became best friends during their time at Burnley Football Club. Even though both have moved from Burnley since, Shannon to Newcastle and Danika...

As per the request of Dr. Phoebe’s colleague’s mom, in this episode she discusses the first season of the “Welcome to Wrexham” docuseries on Disney+. In the nature of her own interests and research within the elite levels of professional English football, she ties in comparisons to her lived experiences and research outcomes. In the world of professional sports which mostly occurs behind tightly c...

Dr. Phoebe gets to catch up with her friend from “the Burnley days” today, Georgina Roberts. Georgina is an accomplished singer (Rendezvous At Two), a mom, wife to Welsh international player Connor Roberts, and mom of two. In today’s episode they catch up, reminisce, and dive deeper into certain topics like the stereotypes in football and mental health. Particularly toward the end of the episode,...

This week's episode is the second in Dr. Phoebe's mindfulness series. Here she gives a brief explanation on what mindfulness is in the context of psychology and therapy, includes a guided “progressive muscle relaxation” (PMR) practice that you can refer back to whenever you're wanting to practice yourself, and notes the difference between practicing mindfulness exercises versus being mindful in da...

This week Dr. Phoebe catches up with Lukas Jutkiewicz. With 350+ appearances and 65+ goals for Birmingham City Football Club, he is known and loved by their supporters. Often times in professional sports, people don’t get to know the person behind the player. In today’s episode Phoebe and Lukas talk through his impressive career while reflecting on themes of comparison and struggle, while noting t...

This week's episode marks the first in Dr. Phoebe's mindfulness series. Here she explains what mindfulness is in the context of psychology and therapy, includes guided practices that you can refer back to whenever you're wanting to practice yourself, and tips for how to incorporate mindfulness into daily life without it feeling like a chore. The "mindful breathing" exercise c...

Dr. Phoebe is joined by her colleague, Dr. Ella White, in this week’s episode. Dr. Ella White is a licensed Counselling Psychologist currently practicing in England. Through both of their personal and professional experiences with grief and loss, the two discuss psychological theories that have helped their clients as well as how they have coped in the midst of their own personal losses. This epis...

As a sort of “Part 2” in Dr. Phoebe’s discussion of the research literature about the partners of elite professional footballers in England, this week she explains the two-person career. This concept was first discussed in sociology in the 70s as it pertained to demanding industries like academia, medicine, and military. More recent research has linked this relational model to the lifestyle of eli...

This week Dr. Phoebe sits down with Elinor Fay Sheehan and gets to know her experience within the professional footballing lifestyle. Elinor is a successful influencer, with 10s of thousands of followers accumulated on Instagram and TikTok. The two talk about how Elinor got her start in social media, what her life has been like being married to a footballer, and where she would like her business a...

In an introductory guide to therapy, Dr. Phoebe talks about what she believes therapy to be. She also answers some questions from you via her Instagram account, and discusses her own experiences as both a therapist and a client in the therapy room. Because she believes knowledge is power when finding your own therapist, Phoebe also explains some of the most popular types of therapy so that you can...

Emma Wood joins Dr. Phoebe in this week’s episode. The two talk about Emma’s career as a solicitor, and how she’s maintained this part of her identity amidst the chaos of club transfers within Premier League football. Emma talks about her very relatable experience of wondering whether she would fit into a new group of girls in the player’s lounge at Burnley, tying in her old ways of thinking about...

This week Dr. Phoebe gives her tips for moving countries, cities, and even moving within the same city. You don't have to be within elite sports to take some learning away from this episode, but she also discusses her experiences with quick transfer window moves and building a sense of community within the family lounges at football (soccer) clubs as well as outside of them.

It’s only right that the first guest of Pretty Psyched Season 1 is one of Dr. Phoebe’s best friends, Samantha Tarkowski. After meeting in the family lounge at Burnley, the two have kept a close friendship since Samantha’s husband’s move to Everton and Phoebe’s relocation to Canada. The two talk about Samantha’s experience on Season 1 of the Amazon Prime docuseries “Married to the Game”, and some i...

Dr. Phoebe uses research and personal anecdotes to describe the history of the WAG stereotype and how it functions today. Being at the intersection of academia and the elite footballing lifestyle, she shares her expertise in the research and theories around this topic as well as the ways in which is has impacted her lived experiences.

This week Dr. Phoebe introduces herself and the Pretty Psyched podcast. She talks about her path toward becoming a counselling psychologist, life within elite English football, her research, and what she hopes to accomplish in this podcast. Come back to this introductory guide if you want to know how we got here, what we'll be talking about on the podcast, and what is to come this season.