{"podcast":{"title":"Woman's Hour","slug":"woman-s-hour-60819","podcast_index_feed_id":60819,"rss_url":"https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/b007qlvb.rss","website_url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007qlvb","image_url":"http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/3000x3000/p0m1q1df.jpg","author":"BBC","episode_count":2000,"summary":"Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire. The Woman's Hour Guide to Life collection is here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/guidetolife","last_synced_at":"2026-07-29T00:19:30.128245+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/woman-s-hour-60819"},"episode":{"title":"How to have difficult conversations","slug":"how-to-have-difficult-conversations","published_at":"2026-05-04T10:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/woman-s-hour-60819/how-to-have-difficult-conversations","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/woman-s-hour-60819","url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002vx35","audio_url":"http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss/proto/http/vpid/p0nhtprz.mp3","summary":"We all have to have difficult conversations at some point in our lives. We have them at work, at home, and with friends and family. So why do we often feel ill-equipped to initiate that challenging chat? And why are we not more optimistic that airing our issues will lead to a more positive outcome for all involved? In this special edition of Woman's Hour, Nuala McGovern explores how we can have better difficult conversations. She is joined by psychotherapist, international conflict mediator and author of How to Agree to Disagree: Turning Conflict into Connection, Gabrielle Rifkind. She reflects on what makes a conversation difficult and the skills we require to tackle them. In our personal lives, difficult conversations can feel especially daunting, because they’re usually with the people we care about most. TV and podcast host Vicky Pattison and comedian and author Helen Thorn reveal how they approach discussing sensitive topics with their loved ones. And difficult conversations at work can make even the most confident among us feel strangely tongue‑tied: asking for a pay rise, giving feedback or managing conflict. Entrepreneur Izzy Obeng MBE and former social worker Sophie Baker explain how to have the hardest conversations at work. And romance author, Talia Hibbert, explains how she scripts difficult conversations and explores how they work as plot devices in novels and on screen. Presenter: Nuala McGovern Producer: Sophie Powling","meta_description":"We all have to have difficult conversations at some point in our lives. We have them at work, at home, and with friends and family. So why do we often fee…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3427,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/woman-s-hour-60819/episodes/how-to-have-difficult-conversations/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/woman-s-hour-60819/how-to-have-difficult-conversations.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}