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My turtle always reaches her head around to bite me when I hold her. Sometimes, if my hands are in the right spot, she can reach my knuckles because they are curved outward. Does anyone have any tips on the safest way to hold a turtle (safest for the turtle and the person) and also some comments on if its ok to hold a turtle that is so obviously distressed.

Some wont agree with this tips but let it bite you. If they know they can hurt you by bitting they will always does it.
What i did is put my finger in there mouth when they try to bite me,they bite hard but eventually they stop and see it doesn't do much.

that was a trick i heard on this forum or another one but it worked for me and my turtle rarely bite me now.

You really only need to handle your turtle for cleaning or transporting. That being said, when I grab mine, I sandwich him between my thumb and four fingers. But I only grab him half way down his shell. He can't reach my hand to bite it and it allows me to maintain a firm grip so I don't drop him when he tries to kick free.

I wouldn't recommend allowing the turtle to bite you because you could be exposing yourself not only to a painful injury but a possible infection.

Generally speaking, turtles don’t like to be picked up. Some bite and some don’t. In the wild when something picks them up it is to eat them. They are fearful and will either tolerate it or bite. I suggest that you limit your picking him up and make sure when you do support them under their plastron.

Mine don't try to bite, but I move quickly to wrap them in a towel because they can do serious damage with their nails.