Walk-and-Talk Ecotherapy Sessions Could Change Your Practice

Source: Aaron Burden / Unsplash

Taking therapy sessions beyond the four walls of the office transforms practice. While traditional indoor sessions offer a predictable and stable environment, outdoor sessions provide a co-created experience by combining therapy with the benefits of time in nature with physical movement.

The walk-and-talk therapy format has grown rapidly over the past five years, accelerated by the pandemic and therapists taking sessions outdoors to reduce COVID-19 exposure risks. What was initially a temporary setting change for many became a permanent part of their practices, as therapists recognized the benefits of this format not only for their clients but also for themselves.

Below, I share nine ways that moving a session from the office to the trail may shift the practice of therapy. An APA article sharing best practices for integrating walking sessions into a practice is also worth a read before lacing up your shoes.

1. The removal of a barrier to seeking therapy.

Many clients have told me: "I would not have gone to therapy, but when I saw that I could do a walk-and-talk session, that felt more approachable." For some cohorts, therapy in the office may feel too direct, clinical, or intimidating. But walk-and-talk sessions remove a barrier to accessing mental-health care.

2. The co-created experience facilitates embodied empowerment.

When I begin a walking session, I check in with the client to determine the type of trail they are up for that day. Sometimes, they may choose a flat, easier route, while on others, they may opt for a steeper, more challenging path. For some individuals, their presenting issues have to do with feeling disempowered, having been silenced by those around them, and not knowing how to advocate for themselves and communicate their needs. By its very nature, navigating a trail together in session provides opportunities to practice their growing skills of empowerment. As we co-create the session, individuals have choice, a voice, and the ability to dictate our route based on how they feel that day. These skills don't lose momentum after the session; they leave with the individual as they return home, in the form of empowerment and an expanded comfort zone.

3. Outdoor sessions may expand the scope in which we view and understand our clients.

As therapy has evolved over time, therapists have come to recognize the impact of external factors on people's mental health. Systems theory recognizes that people are impacted by their relationships, family system, media, social inequalities within society, and the local and national governments that they exist within. The ecotherapy perspective has expanded the scope of understanding individuals even further- considering their relationship with the environment and natural world. Issues related to climate change have a direct impact on mental health– the destruction of beloved places, poor air quality due to wildfires, or excessive heat that constrains people to be indoors. When we take sessions outside we witness clients' relationship with nature firsthand and can more fully understand their identity and issues within this environmental context.

4. Nature plays a relational role in the healing process.

The clients I work with often return to the trails that we walk together outside of our sessions. They return on their own to seek solace during difficult times—a divorce, a cancer scare, the loss of a loved one—as they intentionally seek out the comfort that comes with the familiarity of a place where they already feel safe and secure, where the trials have held space for their processing. Walk-and-talk sessions facilitate a relational bond between the client and a place. This concept, known as place attachment, is a therapeutic resource clients can utilize to support their mental well-being outside of sessions.

Source: Sage Friedman via Unsplash

5. It may change your theoretical approach.

Some theoretical orientations lend themselves to walk-and-talk sessions more naturally than others. It's hard to make a CBT thought reframing chart while walking on a forested trail. I smile fondly at the younger therapist version of myself when I recall guiding clients to pause, reframe a thought, and write it on their paper, before we resumed walking. But some theoretical orientations are a natural fit for walk-and-talk sessions. In my opinion, the best fits are ecotherapy, experiential therapy, interpersonal, solution-focused, mindfulness, somatic, existential, and psychodynamic.

6. The natural environment has the power to shift a mental state.

The ecotherapy orientation believes that the human-environment connection is powerful. The science backs that up, showing measurable impacts of time in nature: lower cortisol levels, improved mood, increased self-confidence, and better sleep. While there are benefits to the stability of sitting in a temperature-controlled office surrounded by four walls—it doesn't rain indoors—being in nature may offer even greater benefits.

7. AI can not replicate these sessions.

Artificial intelligence is now being used by many for mental-health support, giving therapists a run for their money. Therapists must innovate in ways that AI and technology cannot replicate; integrating walk-and-talk ecotherapy provides one such path. Being in a living environment that regulates the nervous system enhances mood and offers a transformative experience AI cannot match.

8. It connects us to awe.

Walking in nature often offers opportunities to experience the emotion of awe: A delicate spider web being woven with instinctual ease, a deer pausing to make eye contact with us, sun rays shining through the green trees above. Awe, characterized by feelings of wonder or a sense of connection to something larger than oneself, shifts perspective outward, reduces ruminating thoughts, and allows one to feel a sense of belonging.

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9. Walk-and-talk supports the clinician.

Qualitative research from the UK revealed that therapists reported feeling less burdened by the weight of clients' issues during walk-and-talk sessions. Therapists also report fewer incidences of burnout and better moods for themselves following walking sessions.

When clients and clinicians step outdoors, they enter a shared environment that offers numerous benefits to both parties and enhances the therapeutic experience itself. As therapy continues to evolve, walk-and-talk ecotherapy offers embodied pathways to supporting mental health and facilitating healing in ways that office sessions and AI can't match.

To find a therapist, visit the Psychology Today Therapy Directory.