"Caring feels like part of who I am": Aimee Cliff on empathy, emotional sensitivity and how to switch off
Dial Emma
Emma Reed Turrell
4.8 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 23 February 2026
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome back to Dial Emma! 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. If you've ever wished you had a therapist in your back pocket, Dial Emma is here to help.
This week on the podcast, I'm responding to a listener dilemma all about empathy - and who better to help me answer it than an integrative psychotherapist who describes herself as someone who 'empathises for a living,' Aimee Cliff.
Aimee joins me to explore the complexities of empathy, emotional sensitivity, and the challenges faced by those who feel deeply for others. We discuss the burden of emotional intuition, the importance of setting boundaries, and the impact of childhood experiences on one's ability to manage empathy. Aimee also emphasises the importance of self-care, and understanding the difference between genuine emotional connection and anxiety-driven responses.
If you have a dilemma for Emma, please fill out this form.
To pre-order Aimee's book, click here.
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Dial Emma is hosted by Emma Reed Turrell, produced by Lauren Brook.
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Social media:
Emma Reed Turrell @emmareedturrell
Dial Emma @dialemmapodcast
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Now time to thank our partner of this episode, Alzheimer's Society. |
| 0:05.0 | Dementia affects all of us. |
| 0:07.0 | Maybe you have a parent, grandparent, friend or neighbour living with dementia. |
| 0:12.0 | Well, this summer, Alzheimer's Society wants all of us to grab our walking boots and beat dementia together by signing up to a Trek 26 challenge. All you need to do is walk |
| 0:23.7 | one of their 13 or 26 mile walks at one of their beautiful locations across the UK. You could find |
| 0:29.8 | yourself going along the coast, through a meadow, passing by a huge waterfall or something else |
| 0:35.1 | equally amazing. The choice is yours. The best part is you're raising |
| 0:39.8 | money for Alzheimer's Society with every step you take. And that money you raise will fund |
| 0:45.4 | groundbreaking research as well as give support to people who need it most. To enter, search Alzheimer's |
| 0:52.1 | Society Trek 26 online and use code podcast to save 20% on your |
| 0:57.8 | registration fee. |
| 1:00.1 | Hello and welcome to Dial Emma, the podcast where your dilemmas meet my therapeutic insights. |
| 1:06.9 | I'm Emery Terrell, psychotherapist, author, and Well-Recovering People Pleaser. |
| 1:11.5 | Each week, I'll be unpacking real-life questions from listeners just like you. |
| 1:16.0 | The big ones, the small ones, the ones that keep you up at night, |
| 1:19.6 | offering practical tools and gentle truths to help you find your way through. |
| 1:24.3 | So if you've got a question, you don't know how to ask out loud. |
| 1:28.7 | You've come to the right place. |
| 1:37.0 | Welcome to this week's episode of Dial Emma. And this week, I really wanted us to do a deep dive into a subject that comes up for me personally a lot, for lots of you listening, and it's about empathy. |
| 1:52.2 | And to do that, I also wanted to bring someone in to help me and who better than Amy Cliff. |
| 2:00.3 | Amy began as a music and culture journalist. She's now an |
| 2:04.0 | integrative psychotherapist about the way she described her work is that she said she empathizes |
... |
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