Exploring Life’s Little Secrets and Compassion | Emma Waddington & Chris McCurry

In this episode of Compassion in a T-Shirt, I’m joined by psychologists, writers, and podcasters Emma Waddington and Chris McCurry, the voices behind the podcast Life’s Little Secrets.Emma and Chris and I talk about how they first met and began working together, what drew them into collaboration, and how a shared curiosity about the inner lives of humans led to the creation of Life’s Little Secrets. We explore the cost of hiding our thoughts and feelings, the relief that can come from being heard, and the role compassion plays in helping us live with vulnerability rather than shame.We also spend time talking about their work writing for children and families, including their ACT-based workbooks and story-driven books that help young people (and their parents) make sense of big emotions like anxiety, sadness, frustration, and disappointment. Throughout the conversation, Emma and Chris share wisdom drawn from therapy, writing, podcasting, and life — thoughtful, grounded, and deeply human.This is a wide-ranging, reflective conversation about common humanity, emotional courage, and what can change when we feel understood rather than judged.Timestamps00:00 Introduction and welcome01:46 How Emma and Chris first met and began working together06:26 The privilege of psychological work and seeing our shared humanity11:58 Why Life’s Little Secrets — and what we hide19:15 The psychological cost of keeping things hidden29:35 The power of being heard and meeting vulnerability with compassion30:52 Introducing the ACT workbook series for children31:57 Story-driven approaches to anxiety, sadness, and frustration35:04 Big Issues for Little People: helping families navigate tough questions39:31 Story, illustration, and empathy40:31 Disappointment, big feelings, and making room for what is42:07 Learning, growth, and being a lifelong student of humanity45:37 Developing a compassionate relationship with ourselves51:14 Final reflections and words of wisdomLinks:For Dr Waddington’s contact, books, resources and trainings, go to her website:https://www.dremmawaddington.com/For Dr McCurry’s contact, books, resources and trainings, go to his website:https://chrismccurrychildpsychologist.com/If you would like to learn more about compassion focused therapy, you can find Dr Stan Steindl's book The Gifts of Compassion here: https://www.ausapress.com/p/the-gifts-of-compassion-how-to-understand-and-overcome-suffering/ Say hi on social: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drstansteindl Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/StanSteindl Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr_stan_steindl/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stan-steindl-150a5264/ Website: https://www.stansteindl.com/ YouTube Video URL: https://youtu.be/CWmvqb0KpDw*Affiliate Disclaimer: Note this description contains affiliate links that allow you to find the items mentioned in this video and support the channel at no cost to you. While this channel may earn minimal sums when the viewer uses the links, the viewer is in no way obligated to use these links. Thank you for your support! Video hashtags:compassion, selfcompassion, mentalhealth, psychology, humansbeinghuman, lifessecrets