Walking therapy
On the move
“Walking therapy provides things that the consulting room does not. Normal life. Rain. Dogs and small children. My hair frizzing. In many cases this can be very powerful for the work. For some people I work both outside and inside, blending the security of the consulting room with the grounding of nature and the mundanity and normalcy of passing strangers.”
— Audrey Stephenson
Walking THERAPY WITH AUDREY STEPHENSON
When thinking of therapy, many will conjure up a grey-haired, bespectacled man on a large leather chair, facing someone musing on a couch, contemplating life, the universe and everything. Or a kindly, sweater-wearing woman, nodding sympathetically, across from someone crying in one of those slightly bouncy Ikea Poang armchairs, you know the ones.
Therapy, however, over the last decade or so, has often moved outside. Therapeutic retreats have always integrated nature into the healing paradigm, but for individual one on one sessions, not so much.
In the early 2010’s I started doing one off walking therapy sessions in Hyde Park - I’d met clients and we would have a single session in the park, only to return to container of my consulting for the following session. At times, the walking therapy, provided a shift of environment that allowed for new insights to emerge, other times, it provided a grounding of the work inside the safety of the room - now it existed in the world. There were many uses for this type of therapy. I used it sparingly and only when I could see that something may be offered by the shift, that would benefit the client.
During Covid-19 craziness, I met several people for walking therapy sessions in Bath. I had stopped going into London and for some clients, the face to face contact made all the therapeutic difference. For others, we had been working on something so traumatic, it necessitated the holding provided by being in the same space.
Audrey often works with people suffering with trauma (acute, chronic, & complex/developmental), fractured relationships, dissatisfaction with life, addictive and compulsive behaviours, feelings of failure and overwhelm, imposter syndrome, mental health issues and self-esteem.
She also specialises in working with chronic overachievers and perfectionists, helping them to find joy in living in the moment. Counselling and psychotherapy lie at the centre of the contemporary talking therapies, whatever style or discipline. Audrey’s core training was in transpersonal and integrative therapy which brought together several lenses through which to look at an individual’s distress and ‘stuckness’ as well as the human condition generally.
Audrey trained creatively and to a high academic standard, but what truly makes her unique is her love of helping people to become unstuck and find their joy.
Her therapy is highly relational at its core, recognising that all of our pain and growth comes from our relationship with ourselves and others. Its through the emerging therapeutic relationship that understanding, reframing and transformation occurs.
Clients can expect to bring current challenges, blocks and anxieties, and work through them, not by analysing the present or the past but through connecting with their lived experience and exploring how that shows up in their bodies and behaviours.
Through an in depth discovery process of their particular body-mind connection, clients are able to meet themselves in a new way, leading to compassion, understanding and freedom.
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Walking Therapy in Bath
£180 for a 50-minute session
FAQs
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This is a very personal question, the answer of which I believe can only be truly chosen by the individual him or herself. If you are having difficulty coping with a particular circumstance in your life, if you are experiencing emotional disturbances that you don't understand, if you are having difficult relationships you can't seem to get a handle on, or are having trouble changing an area of your life, no matter how hard you try...therapy may be for you.
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Firstly, I would invite you to consider yourself not as a defective or broken person, but rather a person under the influence of a pain that hasn't been properly supported, held and met. Pain unheard, can become a pretty horrendous injury.
As an integrative therapist, I have great respect for many therapies, and practices. I believe healing can come from many different practices, not just counselling or psychotherapy. Understanding, however, coupled with compassion, and leading towards healing, is something I think counselling and psychotherapy do particularly well. -
As children, we can find a wide range of things traumatic, and we lack the consciousness and vocabulary to express it. This can often mean that we think things are fine, until some later point in adulthood when “out of the blue” things start to ”go wrong”. This is very common, and almost always terrifying for people. Coming into therapy and dealing with the effects of past trauma can put some of those feelings into a less overwhelming context.
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Within the UK, counsellor and psychotherapist aren't protected terms. Therefore understanding the differences between the two terms can be confusing. I see counselling as being able to tackle everyday problems, which may span the mundane to the catastrophic. Counselling is often linked with more short term work and may be more structured.
Psychotherapeutic work explores more deeply held patterns which may lie within your past history. While psychotherapy absolutely deals with current issues a client may have, we often explore how those current issues may link to self beliefs or identity. Psychotherapy is often linked with longer term work. -
Some of the goals of therapy are to help create safety, mindfulness and compassion in the life of the client. For some clients, having a session or series of sessions that occur ‘out in the world’ can aid in that process. Some examples of where this has benefited my clients:
1. Taking a recovering agoraphobic out for a walk, grounding the anxiety in situ and being able to talk and walk through the anxiety. It also builds confidence.
2. Taking someone dealing with childhood trauma out to buy coffee during deep dives, grounding the reality of the now - no longer a traumatised child, also being in the world with someone who has seen the traumatised child (at least in flashback) and yet being without shame.
3. Using the environment as a teacher. ‘Do you notice that you can’t breathe properly right now but you find it hard to slow down, almost as if you are ignoring your distress…’. -
Even if the weather is bad, I encourage my clients to still attend their session. Particularly because often I've had people travelling to see me, and I want to honour that commitment. Also, challenging weather can become a useful part of therapy… sometimes you get stuck in the rain and you still have to do things. However, if the weather is particularly disruptive, I would reschedule and the prospective client wouldn't lose any money.
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I hear this very often from new clients - my issues aren't THAT bad, or ‘this feels utterly indulgent’. One of my favourite writers, Vicktor Frankel puts it this way,
"A man's suffering is similar to the behaviour of gas. If a certain quantity of gas is pumped into an empty chamber, it will fill the chamber completely and evenly, no matter how big the chamber. Thus suffering completely fills the human soul and conscious mind, no matter whether the suffering is great or little. Therefore the 'size' of human suffering is absolutely relative." from “Man’s Search for Meaning”
Whatever is causing you pain is real; and in some way, untenable to you. That is where we begin - not with someone else's story. With yours.
“Working with Audrey has changed my life immeasurably. She is warm yet professional. She has the best laugh. Her compassion is truly genuine.”
— Client Testimonial
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COUPLES THERAPY
A bold and compassionate approach to the challenges in long term relationships. This could include emotional distance, sexual issues, infidelity, differences in beliefs, and any combination of the above.
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Book a FREE 20 minute call
Working with a therapist is about more than just finding someone with expertise, it's important to find the right fit. If you have any concerns, please book in for a free 20 minute clarity call.
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Psychotherapeutic Coaching
The practice of running your life more efficiently, with less stress. This is not therapy, but is for those looking for a supportive, creative environment within which to experiment with positive change.