Walk and talk

What is walk and talk?

Walk and talk is also known as ecotherapy, outdoor therapy, or walking therapy. Basically, it means that we have our session somewhere outdoors. This could be in the New Forest somewhere close to Ringwood, or in and around a quieter part of the main town, if that feels more comfortable.

This may or may not involve much actual walking - some people prefer for us to walk around a circuit for the duration, while others may be happier spending most of the session sat on a park bench.

The nature of the session itself can remain pretty similar to if we were in a room - exploring and talking through whatever in your life feels like it needs some attention. The main difference is having more of an awareness of what is going on around us during the session.

What are the benefits?

Therapy can feel a bit intense for some - stuck in an unfamiliar room or staring at a screen, with some person staring back at you ready to explore the depths of your experience. Walk and talk can help with that on a few counts; instead of being stuck in one indoor place, we're out in the world with plenty of space and freedom to move where and how you wish. And with that movement comes a new visual focus too - instead of watching each other we can each be looking ahead together, focusing on forging our path ahead. As we explore what's going on for you, we're also exploring our surroundings.

On top of this, spending time in nature has been proven to benefit our physical and mental health. As well as the benefit of light physical activity such as walking, studies have found that exposure to nature can improve physical healing and alleviate symptoms of mental distress.

It can be difficult sometimes to find the time and opportunity to take in some fresh air and sunlight, even when we know it helps us feel good. Perhaps having therapy as a walk and talk session can help you kill two birds with one stone!

How does it work?

There will always be at least an initial half-hour introductory session before we try a walk and talk session. That gives us a chance to meet each other and feel a little safer beforehand. Sometimes people prefer to have a few sessions before trying walk and talk. You can change session types at any time.

If we do plan to have a walk and talk session, we decide together where the session will take place - I have a list of suggestions but am open to others. If it helps you to know what route we will be walking beforehand I also have some planned ones. Feel free to let someone else know where you're headed.

If we meet somewhere in the forest, it's best to think about clothing and footwear that will be comfortable and you don't mind getting a bit dirty - we can bear in mind how comfortable you are with this when choosing our location and route.

We will meet at the agreed start location at the booked start time. And we go from there! If we're going on a predetermined route it should take roughly 50 minutes. If we are choosing the route as we go, I'll set myself an alarm for halfway through just to make sure we know when to turn back. Or we may just walk a short way then choose somewhere to stop for a while.

If the weather on the day is a bit adverse - for example raining or icy - it should be easy enough for us to switch to a session in The Nest or online according to your preferences.