Some of your best thinking happens on the move.
You might feel most like yourself on a trail, a path or a quiet street.
Moving can help your thoughts become clear and your feelings flow.
You might already know that fresh air helps you breathe a little deeper.
Maybe you feel:
- at home outdoors
- drawn to nature
- energized by movement
- restless sitting still
Steady, rhythmic movement like walking can help your nervous system settle into a calmer state.
Walk and talk therapy brings therapy outside and into motion.
What is Walk and Talk Therapy?
Walk and talk therapy is therapy that happens while you walk, usually outdoors.
It starts from the idea that movement and nature can help your body settle and put your mind at ease.
Walk and talk therapy works by pairing a therapy conversation with gentle movement, side by side.
Sessions might happen on a park path, a river trail or a quiet neighborhood route.
It’s especially helpful for stress, depression and ADHD, and for people who find sitting still hard.
Walk and talk therapists bring the same care to the path that they would to an office.
What is a Walk and Talk Therapist?
A walk and talk therapist is a registered therapist who offers sessions outdoors while walking.
Walk and talk is a way of meeting rather than a separate approach, so there’s no required certification.
Some therapists take extra training in walk and talk or nature-based therapy.
These courses often cover outdoor safety, privacy and how to plan routes and sessions.
Some offer walking sessions only in certain seasons, or mix walking and office sessions.
What matters most is that the therapist is a good fit for you.
The Process of Walk and Talk Therapy
Walk and talk therapy is relational and flexible, shaped by your pace and the place you walk.
You begin by choosing a route together and talking about privacy, weather and what feels comfortable.
As trust builds, you might find it easier to say hard things while looking at the path ahead.
Between sessions, you might notice how walks on your own affect your mood.
There’s no set length, and the goal is to work through what matters to you.
Trauma-sensitive walk and talk therapy lets you choose the route, the pace and when to stop.
The origin story starts on a running track.
On his 42nd birthday in 1972, psychiatrist Thaddeus Kostrubala learned he was headed for a heart attack.
His cardiologist, John Boyer, invited him into a new running program for heart patients. It took Kostrubala more than two months to run a mile comfortably.
About four months in, he began using running as part of therapy. He brought six of his hardest-to-help patients to a school running track in San Diego. They ran three days a week, then talked together in a classroom. Within weeks, all six were opening up more.
In 1976, his book The Joy of Running spread the idea widely.
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Others asked why being outside might help. In 1984, researcher Roger Ulrich compared patients recovering from the same surgery. Those with a view of trees went home sooner and needed fewer strong painkillers than those facing a brick wall.
Around 2007, New York social worker Clay Cockrell began walking with a busy client who kept missing appointments. He soon offered walking sessions in Central Park to others. He found movement helped many clients open up, especially men. He’s often called a pioneer of walk and talk therapy.
Therapists began meeting clients on trails and in parks, walking side by side instead of sitting face to face.
In 2020, the BC Parks Foundation launched PaRx so health care providers could prescribe time in nature. The suggested dose is two hours a week, at least 20 minutes at a time. Prescribers can even give patients a free Parks Canada pass.
Nurse researcher Sonya Jakubec at Mount Royal University in Calgary helped bring PaRx to Alberta in 2022. Jakubec said nurses know that everyone belongs outside.
But walking outside isn’t always safe.
Walk and talk therapy assumes a body that can walk easily. People with disabilities, chronic pain or limited mobility can be left out.
Being outside isn’t neutral. Racism, harassment or past harm in open or public spaces can keep your body braced.
Outside is less predictable than an office. A loose dog or a sudden noise can bring the past rushing back. A familiar face can change what feels safe to say.
And the land carries its own history. Many Indigenous communities in Alberta were moved off the land we now walk on.
Trauma-sensitive walk and talk therapy works inside those gaps. It offers options and adapts the route, pace and distance to your body. It chooses places where you feel safe and lets you change your mind. It plans for surprises and gives you ways to pause. And it respects the land you walk on and your relationship to it.
Trauma-sensitive therapy starts where you feel safe.
Trauma-Sensitive Walk and Talk Therapy
What if a racing heart feels like danger?
Movement raises your heart rate and quickens your breath. After trauma, those signals can feel like panic.
In trauma-sensitive walk and talk therapy, you might walk slowly, check in with your breath and pause whenever you need.
5 phrases you might hear in Trauma-Sensitive Walk and Talk Therapy:
- Which way would you like to go today?
- Let’s find a pace that feels okay.
- Your heart is beating faster because we’re moving.
- Would you like to sit on a bench for a bit?
- What helps you settle?
Trauma-sensitive walk and talk therapy invites you to move at your pace.
Principles of Trauma-Sensitive Walk and Talk Therapy
You set the pace
Fast, slow or sitting on a bench all work. Your body tells you what it needs, and the walk can change with it.
Unexpected reminders
A sight, smell or sound can bring back something hard. You can notice it, and you can change directions.
Plan for privacy
Being outside means being seen. You can plan what to do if someone you know walks by or stops to talk.
Safe places
Not every trail or park feels safe. You can choose a path that feels right and change it if you need.
Trauma-Sensitive Care
Walk and talk therapy was built to bring therapy outside.
After trauma, the world around you can pull your attention away from the conversation.
Glancing over your shoulder or watching people pass can be how your body keeps track of safety.
Trauma-sensitive care is a way of practicing walk and talk therapy that notices the surroundings.
It honors what your mind is doing naturally.
A trauma-sensitive walk and talk therapist might notice and name what you both see and hear.
Trauma-sensitive care lets noticing become a way of feeling safe.
Questions About Walk and Talk Therapy
What happens in bad weather?
Do I need to be fit?
Can I use a mobility aid?
What about privacy?
Does walk and talk therapy work?
How do I find a walk and talk therapist?
Where would you like to go next?
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