Jordan Pickell and Alison McCleary
170 episodes listed below
Therapy-process talk for the messy middle.
Edge of the Couch sits close to the messy parts of being a therapist. Its recurring speakers use friendship, clinical reflection, and everyday examples to think through timing, reciprocity, client distress, relationship red flags, and the limits of care.
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Edge of the Couch is a therapy-process show with its feet in the awkward middle of clinical work. It does not sound like a manual. It sounds like two reflective practitioners trying to catch the thing that happens between policy, instinct, client need, and therapist anxiety. The clips repeatedly return to relational pressure. What happens when clients want mutual care from friends but do not ask directly for what they need? What changes when a therapist gives one distressed client extra time, then ends another distressed client on schedule? Those questions are small on the surface and big underneath. The show is good at staying with that underneath. It treats boundaries as care, not as coldness. It treats humor as useful, but never as an excuse to dodge the clinical point. In the episodes sampled, Alison McCleary and Jordan Pickell are named in the intros, and their back-and-forth gives the show much of its shape. One example opens into another. A social pattern becomes a therapy-room pattern. A joke about being a wet blanket turns into a serious question about helping clients see the full landscape of a relationship. The show is especially interested in the therapist's own participation in the dance: the wish to be liked, the pull to rescue, and the temptation to make exceptions that feel kind in the moment but become uneven later. Recent topics include session endings, despair, shame, fit, drama, reciprocity, and romantic idealization. The stance is compassionate, but it still draws lines. It makes space for ambivalence without letting ambivalence become avoidance. For working therapists, that combination matters. Edge of the Couch offers the feeling of a thoughtful post-session conversation where uncertainty is allowed, but so are clearer policies, cleaner boundaries, and more honest clinical language.
Made for: Therapists and therapy students who want reflective, candid discussion of clinical judgment, boundaries, client dynamics, and therapist self-doubt.
What sets it apart: The show turns ordinary therapy-room discomforts into concrete process questions, with a warm duo rhythm that allows uncertainty while still naming firm clinical boundaries.
Two good friends and experienced therapists explore the topics that were either shied away from or dismissed because they were too big, too nuanced, too risky, or too uncomfortable to address in school or even in supervision. We want to inspire and encourage therapists to think more deeply, show up more fully, and find humour and self-compassion in navigating the messier parts of being a therapist.
Based on 4 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Alison McCleary and Jordan Pickell make the judgment calls behind therapy clearer through candid, self-questioning conversation.
Edge of the Couch turns the everyday judgment calls of therapy into frank conversation. Alison McCleary and Jordan Pickell speak as working therapists and friends, testing their instincts against each other while keeping the uncertainty visible.
The extra fifteen minutes sound generous until you wonder what they tell a client about your care.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A grounded look at reciprocity, projection, and how easily unmet needs stay unsaid.
An episode that starts with a familiar therapy question and ends up doing more with it than expected. Alison McCleary and Jordan Pickell keep their focus on ordinary friendship moments, then circle back to what people assume will be understood, what they actually say, and how…
A steady look at how a few extra minutes can blur care, trust, and professional boundaries.
Alison McCleary and Jordan Piquel spend the episode on a small but thorny question: what clients may hear when a therapist gives extra minutes. It can read as care, favoritism, or a sign that the relationship is bending toward one person.
Therapists sometimes have to slow the room down before the fantasy gets too comfortable.
This episode treats therapists as the people who slow the room down, name what is happening, and keep it from turning glossy. Allison McCleary and Jordan Pickell lean into that tension, especially when a client is idealizing a partner, skipping past warning signs, or getting…
Therapy gets more complex when the work shifts from one person to couples and parenting.
The piece frames couples work and parenting therapy as a demanding kind of treatment, where the therapist has to hold history, habits, boundaries, and whatever each person can still manage to say to the other.
Jonquilyn Hill chases one listener question per episode to the experts who can answer it.
Three hosts and psychologist Dr Emily talk vulnerability, therapy, and imperfection with guests.
Fearne Cotton interviews guests like Boy George and Bryony Gordon about mental health and identity.
Dr. Joy Harden Bradford pairs therapy insight with Black TV recaps, maternal health, and history.
Alison McCleary and Jordan Pickell start with the familiar complaint that someone wants the village, but does not quite show up like a villager.
Alison McCleary and Jordan Piquel open with a therapist clip that gets them talking about ending sessions on time.
Allison McCleary and Jordan Pickell take up the idea of therapists as wet blankets.
Jordan Piquel and Allison McCleary debate touch in talk therapy, including hugs, greetings, goodbyes, and touch requests from clients.
Two therapists discuss topics often avoided in therapy training, aiming to inspire deeper thinking and self-compassion among therapists.
Two therapists announce their live tour and promote Jane practice management software before the main episode.
The hosts announce a live tour and promote Jane practice management software, setting up the episode's focus on therapist support.
Two therapists announce their live tour and promote Jane practice management software, discussing the challenges and humor in therapy.
This episode discusses strategies for therapists to effectively work with clients who thrive on drama, focusing on professional approaches in mental health practice.
Two therapists discuss challenging topics in therapy to inspire deeper thinking and self-compassion among therapists.
Edge of the Couch starts with a simple but tricky question: what changes when therapy moves beyond the individual?
Two therapists announce a live tour and discuss the importance of supervision in therapy practice, sponsored by Jane software.
Two therapists announce a live tour and promote Jane practice management software before discussing therapy topics.
The hosts announce a live tour and promote Jane practice management software before beginning the episode.
Two therapists introduce their podcast and a sponsor, discussing the challenges of charting and the importance of exploring uncomfortable topics in therapy.