Outdoor Therapy
Outdoor therapy offers a different kind of therapeutic space. Instead of meeting inside, we meet outdoors and spend time together in the natural landscape. There is the opportunity to move and walk together, or to find a place to sit, pause, or simply be still.
Connecting with nature
As well as talking and exploring your experiences and difficulties, as we might if we were sitting together in a therapy room, working outside provides a space to cultivate a deeper sense of connection with the natural world and the multitude living beings within it. This connection reminds us that we are all part of a greater whole — the interconnected web of life. For many people, this awareness can have a profoundly positive impact on wellbeing.
The changing landscape, the weather, the rhythm of movement, the seasons, and the rich sensory qualities of the natural environment all become part of the therapeutic experience. They help shape and support the work we are doing together.
Working outdoors can support a more embodied way of engaging in therapy. Paying attention to the sensory landscape can help us slow down and ‘tune in’, listening more closely to your inner experience. By noticing and gently exploring your bodily experience, something that may have felt unclear or stuck can begin to unfold. This can bring new understanding and sometimes a tangible sense of easing or movement.
The grounding qualities of the natural world can support emotional regulation. The metaphors that often emerge when working outdoors can deepen reflection, meaning-making and understanding, helping experiences to settle in a more integrated way.
How it works
Many of the practicalities of working outside are similar to those that apply when meeting in a therapy room.
I offer a free initial online appointment which offers us an opportunity to meet and gives you a chance to ask any questions you might have about the process of therapy and any specific queries you may have about working outside.
Once we have agreed to start working together, I will offer you a consistent time slot each week and each session will be 60 minutes long.
We will meet outdoors on the Mendip Hills all year round, whatever the weather (unless there is a weather warning in place)! In the event of a weather warning I will offer you an online session instead.
The location of the work is in a wild landscape and suitable clothing and footwear is needed, including clothes suitable for wet and cold weather.