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November 17, 2025 45 mins

Navigating female friendships at midlife can be challenging, especially for highly sensitive women. Host Elizabeth Cush and author Susan Shapiro Barash tackle the topic in this episode of the Awaken Your Wise Woman podcast.

“Seventy-five percent of the women with whom I spoke said that it's harder to leave a best or closest female friend than it is to leave a romantic relationship or a marriage.” 
 — Susan Shapiro Barash

Are you close with your sister, or do you have friends who feel like sisters to you? Do you have a female friendship that feels like it’s not working any more, but you’re not sure how to heal it or end it? As a highly sensitive woman, you may feel these friendships—and any conflicts—more deeply than others do. And have you ever stopped to wonder how our culture affects it all? In this episode of Awaken Your Wise Woman, host Elizabeth “Biz” Cush, LCPC, a licensed professional therapist, founder of Progression Counseling in Maryland and Delaware, and a mid-life women’s coach, welcomes Susan Shapiro Barash, author of Estranged: How strained female friendships can be mended or ended, 13 other non-fiction titles, and four novels. Listen in on their conversation about friendships, the importance of community for women and how the patriarchy and capitalism have impacted our sense of how our relationships should be and how we interact with other women. 

You can find the full show notes and resources mentioned here.

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