Abstract
Background: Over the past two decades, there has been a growing number of practitioners taking their work outdoors, either identifying with specific outdoor therapy modalities or simply taking their existing clinical practice outdoors. This emerging field appears to have been fuelled by the 2019 COVID-19 health pandemic, during which, in the UK, health services altered their structure and accessibility. During this time, many practitioners used outdoor spaces as a means of maintaining clinical practice while considering health risk mitigation. An increasing body of interdisciplinary literature relates to the feasibility of this approach, raising questions about how and why this work depicts a shift away from traditional methods of delivering therapy.Aims and contribution: ‘Stepping out of the Therapy Room’ seeks to explore how practitioners offering one-to-one talking therapy in the UK experience walking alongside clients in therapy. More specifically, it examines practitioners’ understanding of the therapeutic process and their experiences of any impact that walking alongside their clients may have. The research aims to contribute to the expanding body of knowledge surrounding walk-and-talk therapy, providing specific insight into how this innovative embodied paradigm functions in therapy. The aim is also to influence counselling psychology practice, stimulating practitioners’ imaginations, encouraging reflection on how we engage with clients in therapy, and examining the potential for innovation within the therapeutic process.
Methodology: This qualitative research uses phenomenology as a philosophical base. Six participants, considered experts in the field of walking alongside clients in therapy, engaged in online semi-structured interviews. The interview transcripts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).
Findings: From the analysis, four themes emerged regarding the phenomenon what walking alongside clients in therapy offers the therapeutic process. Firstly, therapy interactions are influenced by the dynamics of the therapeutic relationship has significance in the changed positioning of the client and practitioner side by side and walking. Secondly, the impact of the environment on the therapeutic process encompasses what the outdoors offers, along with necessary adaptations. Thirdly, clients’ experiences are transformed by being afforded a sense of empowerment within the therapeutic process and their relatability to therapy. Finally, walking with clients influences practitioners’ positioning by engaging their values as well as perspectives on professional support. It was also found that the therapeutic process is considered intangible as a collectively agreed concept; nevertheless, it is integral to therapy, encompassing various facets that can be flexibly designed for individualised therapy.
Conclusion: This research has deepened the understanding of walking alongside clients in therapy by examining practitioners' lived experiences of integrating walking into their clinical practice. It has provided an opportunity to consider the often unspoken manifestations of the therapeutic process while walking alongside clients. The research suggests that walking alongside clients in therapy offers an innovative, embodied paradigm characterised by a blend of flexible, experiential, and relatable elements in the therapeutic process, thereby creating a supportive framework for therapy in outdoor contexts. This research also considers developments in neuroscience regarding the benefits of walking and being outdoors, as well as the enhanced collaborative and equalising effects on the therapeutic relationship, enriching the understanding of this approach to therapy.
| Date of Award | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Supervisor | Roiyah Saltus (Supervisor) & Sheila Spong (Supervisor) |