Story of an Outdoor Session

This story is a composite of themes I witness in working with different folks, in the powerful privileged space of doing outdoor therapy together.

We decide to meet at the park, my therapist and I, to walk the trails and open the things weighing me down. It feels like releasing pressure to be able to say the things I haven’t been able to say even to myself. I can feel my therapist’s presence, supporting me to listen to myself, and challenging me to grow. I experience new ideas arising in our conversations, questions I see in a different light, something new stirring within. I can feel the pressure in my body start to release a little.

We approach a beautiful place along the trail where the river bends through the forest. I stop, maybe for the first time in a long time. I notice the way the light shines off the moving water. The bubbling sound seems to release a deeply held tension I was holding without even being aware. We stand quietly listening to the river together, my therapist seems to encourage me to savour this moment of peace.

As we continue walking again, I notice the pace has changed, and the zoomed in focus has expanded. I start to actually see the trees we were walking through, no longer a back drop but active beings in our conversation about relationships and healing. The way they shift in wind reminding me that I too release things while expanding my root system. The wise old trees speak their language of connection to me, that somehow I was never as separate as I thought.

We pick up the topics from my life, and they seem more barrable, I have gained a sense of empowerment, and recognition that some things are just hard. My therapist encourages me to recount the significant points from our time, there are the cognitive but also the felt realizations of moving through these challenges. My therapist checks in about meeting at the park together and if I want to next time, and yes, doing therapy while walking alongside my therapist in this natural setting is what I choose. We will revisit this peaceful place, the difficulties of life, and with my therapist, we will await to see what possibilities emerge around the bend.

Healing Spaces Therapy

Outdoor Psychotherapy and Clinical Supervision

Melissa Clews-Hunt, MSc, RP, RMFT-SM