Picture this: you’re in the middle of a relaxing walk on a quiet trail, listening to the sounds of nature. You hear the crunch of the gravel under your feet, feel the cool breeze against your cheeks, and sense your soul gradually unwinding. In nature, you get to explore the deepest parts of yourself, with a trusted companion by your side, helping you dig deeper. Does this sound like a therapy session? Well, it is. It’s part of a newer therapeutic modality, outdoor therapy, where counselors and clients use the benefits of nature and movement to aid the healing process.
In this article, you’ll learn more about the benefits of outdoor therapy, including:
- What it is and how it’s different from indoor talk therapy
- The pros and cons of outdoor therapy
- How you know if outdoor therapy is right for you
- How to find someone who does outdoor therapy
What Is Outdoor Therapy?
Put simply, outdoor therapy takes traditional talk therapy and transfers it to the outdoors. Usually, outdoor therapy takes the form of walking on a beautiful nature trail or through a garden. The client is accompanied by a trained and licensed counselor, who will work with you to achieve your mental health goals.
Typically, the walking is not vigorous, and the therapist allows the client to set the pace. You can also stop and take breaks as needed. So, this type of counseling accommodates many fitness levels. However, the sessions aren’t fitness classes.
The Benefits of Outdoor Therapy
Improved Mental Health
Like other forms for counseling, outdoor therapy benefits a wide range of individuals who want to work through life’s challenges with a trained professional. And contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to have a mental health condition to benefit from therapy. Therapists receive extensive, multi-year training on how to help people achieve all types of behavioral, emotional, and social goals.
Here’s a small sample of the people who may benefit from outdoor therapy:
- People with depression, including but not limited to those who self-harm or have suicidal thoughts
- People with anxiety
- People with neurodivergent conditions, like ADHD, autism, or OCD
- People who are having relationship or career troubles
- People who are going through a significant life change, such as having a child or going through a divorce
- People who have experienced a traumatic event
Please note that not everyone benefits from therapy, and some therapists will be a better fit for you than others. In fact, the most significant cause of successful therapy sessions lies within a positive relationship between the counselor and the client. So, for the best results, look for someone whose style and personality suits you well.
Developing a Mind-Body Connection
In recent years, mental health professionals have emphasized the way the body stores and holds emotions. Often, emotions cause physical effects in the body, such as tensed muscles, headaches, or even sicknesses. Likewise, some emotions, such as those produced as a result of trauma, keep the body in a constant fight-or-flight mode.
So, many therapy modalities have focused on noticing what’s going on in the body. For example, Dr. Dick Schwarz developed Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, which asks the client to isolate different parts of someone’s personality, find where they’re located in the body, and pay attention to what those parts need. Likewise, some therapists encourage their clients to locate certain emotions in their body to bring greater awareness to how their emotional states are impacting them.
When you partake in outdoor therapy, the mind-body connection naturally becomes emphasized. Even if the therapist isn’t using any of the aforementioned techniques, you’re still moving your body as you’re talking. So, your brain more naturally notices what’s going on within you in both a physical and emotional sense.
Increased Mindfulness
When you’re in a typical therapy setting, you sit indoors and either stare at a screen or are surrounded by 4 walls. As your therapist asks you to dig deeper, you may have nowhere else to focus except for on your inner thoughts.
During outdoor therapy, your therapist may direct you to focus on the nature around you. Doing so might assists you with feeling calmer and increase your mindfulness in your life.
More Energy and Better Mood
Research supports the fact that moving your body on a consistent basis gives you more energy and improves your mood. When you exercise, your body becomes stronger and burns excess calories, helping you better able to handle the physical wear and tear of normal life.
Please note that outdoor therapy is not meant to be a workout session. Your counselor will not have enough knowledge to advise you on your physical health. If you have health concerns, please consult a doctor, and if you want to learn how work out, speak with a trainer.
Exercise also releases endorphins, which make you feel happier.
The Disadvantages of Outdoor Therapy
Even though outdoor therapy has many advantages, it also has some significant drawbacks. Before you jump into doing this type of therapy, please take the points below into consideration.
Decreased Confidentiality
One of the major advantages of speaking to a therapist is the freedom to speak about what’s on your mind without a great risk that someone will overhear. These safe, non-judgmental zones are designed to allow you to do, say, and process whatever you need, with a few important exceptions.
In most therapy sessions, counselors guarantee complete confidentiality except for in these situations:
- When the client says they plan on hurting themselves or someone else.
- When the client talks about child abuse or elderly abuse.
- When a court subpoenas the therapist’s records and/or the counselor gets summoned to testify. In some cases, the counselor may be able to request that certain information be kept confidential. However, judges have the right to overrule the therapist’s request.
- In the case of minors receiving therapy, the legal guardians have the right to know about the child’s sessions.
Some other counselors may add limits to confidentiality. For example, in couple’s counseling, some therapists refuse to keep affairs secret from the other partner. If there is an exception to confidentiality, the counselor should let you know about it at the outset.
However, confidentiality becomes even more limited in outdoor therapy. While the therapist should only choose relatively secluded places for the walk, people may still pass by and overhear parts of your conversation. It may even be someone you know. Ultimately, it’s up to you whether or not this level of confidentiality is sufficient.
Accessibility Issues
Even though outdoor therapy is accommodating to many fitness levels, its suitability for everyone varies. For example, if you have trouble walking, you might find the trails or pathways difficult to navigate.
In addition, people who have to avoid strenuous activities because of a medical condition or procedure recovery may not be suited to outdoor therapy.
As always, please consult with your physician before undertaking even gently strenuous activities.
Increased Distractions
Finally, outdoor therapy paves the way for greater distractions in the therapy session. From other people passing by to dogs, wasps, and unwanted noises, the outdoors are a lot less controllable and unpredictable than indoor environments.
So, if you’re prone to easy distraction, you might want to opt for indoor therapy.
Reduced Diagnostic Opportunities
If you’re looking for a diagnosis, outdoor therapy might not be for you. Mental health professionals who do outdoor therapy tend to specialize in talk therapy, and they’re typically counselors, psychologists, or social workers. While these professionals can diagnose, most can’t prescribe medication unless they’ve also been through medical school.
Psychiatrists are medical doctors, and they can diagnose. However, the assessments for diagnosing aren’t available in an outdoor format. So, if you want to take these assessments, you’ll want to find a psychiatrist in addition to doing outdoor therapy.
Start on Your Wellness Journey
People who undergo outdoor therapy often achieve transformational results. However, if you want the best results from your sessions, you should come ready to talk about some potentially difficult topics and be willing to work toward better health both with and without your therapist.
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