Full Course Description
Module 1: Walking Therapy 101
Many therapists are looking for ways to get out of their offices or break up their long days doing teletherapy. Walking therapy – or “walk and talk” therapy – may just be the solution.
In this one-of-a-kind course with Jen Udler, LCSW-C, Founder of Positive Strides Therapy, clinicians will learn the ins and outs of walking therapy. What is the buzz all about? How does it work? And what are best practices for providing psychotherapy while walking? Jen will address these questions and more in this step-by-step course. She’ll give you the tools you need – from A-Z – including the specific tools and techniques you’ll have as a walking therapist, how to structure your informed consent, risks & benefits, the history and latest research, and much more.
When it’s done, you’ll be ready to take your first client on a walk.
Program Information
Objectives
- Explore the scientific under-pinnings of walking-based format of psychotherapeutic treatment and which clients it may be appropriate for.
- Develop ethical guidelines and informed consent that include specific considerations for public walking therapy.
- Examine the risks and benefits of walking therapy.
- Learn the 3 significant factors that are active during walk and talk, combining movement, nature, and therapy.
- Learn how to conduct a session while outdoors; including seeing others on the trail, handling the various weather conditions, different terrain, and how to use nature to enhance the effectiveness of the therapy.
- Learn 4 specific mindfulness-based strategies that can be used during outdoor and walking therapy.
Outline
Introduction
Walking therapy 101:
- What is walking therapy?
- Why practice this way?
- What are the modalities used to implement outdoor therapy?
- What are the specific benefits of walk and talk?
History, research, and evidence of walk and talk therapy
- History of walk and talk therapy
- Most prominent practitioners: From Freud to Kostrubala.
- Research on walk and talk therapy
- Research on nature’s therapeutic effect and the biophilia hypothesis.
- Research on physiological response to movement, and how movement effects mood and anxiety levels
Getting started: The Most Important First Steps
- How to screen clients
- How to have critical conversations with clients prior to first sessions
- Confidentiality and how to create your informed consent
- How to shift your mindset from indoors to outdoors
- Maintaining boundaries while outdoors.
- 5 necessary therapeutic skills to meet the needs of the client during outdoor sessions.
- Case example of how to run an outdoor group therapy session.
- Audio session demonstration
How to harness the environment for therapeutic success
- How to maintain your sense of professionalism outside
- Incorporating nature and utilizing mindfulness strategies while walking.
- 3 powerful examples of meditation strategies that are effective outside
- Creative and applicable ways to weave nature into the therapeutic process. Nature as a metaphor.
- Experience a virtual walk with 5 examples of natural tools to add to your therapy repertoire.
- The importance of holding space for client’s emotions in an outdoor environment
- Tips for dealing with challenging scenarios
Putting it All Together: Strategies to Prepare for your outdoor practice.
- A checklist to prepare you for your first outdoor session
- Risks and addressing concerns about the weather; including how to handle rescheduling, or finding shelter
- Confronting critical topics related to the ethical questions of a walk and talk practice
- Best practices on scheduling and billing clients
- Managing documentation
- Use of technology in your practice
- Answers to serious questions about first aid, and a safety plan while on the trail.
- What walk and talk therapists can contribute to the world. The future of walk and talk therapy
A Client Demonstration Session with Commentary
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychotherapists
- Therapists
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Case Managers
- Physicians
- Nurses
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Copyright :
03/08/2021
Module 2: History, Research, and Evidence
Copyright :
03/08/2021
Module 3: Getting started: The Most Important First Steps
Copyright :
03/08/2021
Module 4: How to Harness the Environment for Therapeutic Success
Copyright :
03/08/2021
Module 5: Putting it All Together
Copyright :
03/08/2021
Module 6: Client Demonstration Session with Commentary
Copyright :
03/08/2021
Getting off the Couch: How to Incorporate Walking Therapy in your Practice
Now, more than ever, clinicians and clients alike, are seeking creative alternatives to telehealth. How can we safely provide individual therapy in person during the pandemic? Walking therapy – or “walk and talk” therapy may just be the answer to this challenging question. Clinicians will learn the ins and outs of walking therapy. What is it? How does it work? What are the benefits? What does it mean as a therapist, and what will clients likely experience during a walk and talk session?
Program Information
Objectives
- Investigate the scientific under-pinnings of walking-based format of psychotherapeutic treatment and which clients it may be appropriate for.
- Categorize the significant elements that are applied during walk and talk, combining movement, nature, and therapy.
- Propose how to conduct a session while outdoors; including seeing others on the trail, handling the various weather conditions, different terrain, and how to use nature to enhance the effectiveness of the therapy.
- Apply 2 specific mindfulness-based strategies that can be used during outdoor and walking therapy.
Outline
- Combining nature, movement, and therapy. Who has it worked well for?
- Origins of Walk-and-Talk Therapy. Background, research, and history of walking therapy. Explanation of the physiological response to movement, and how movement effects mood and anxiety levels.
- Demonstration of the approach
- Creative and applicable ways to weave nature into the therapeutic process.
- Getting started in offering this format of treatment.
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychotherapists
- Therapists
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Case Managers
- Physicians
- Nurses
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Copyright :
09/22/2020