Get out! A Narrative Inquiry with Four Therapist who Practice Walk and Talk Therapy
Abstract
There is a traditional idea that therapeutic conversations are best suited for office environments. Therapists are reconsidering this practice by taking clients outside into nature to reconnect with the world around them, get some exercise, and reflect on life problems in natural spaces. This study is a narrative inquiry into the experiences of four therapists who participate in walk and talk therapy as part of their therapeutic practice. Narrative inquirers attend to a three dimensional narrative inquiry space that includes temporality, sociality, and place located within stories of experience. Over a period of ten months, the therapists and I participated in conversations about their experiences with walk and talk therapy. This fieldwork resulted in four co-composed narrative accounts that represent each of their individual experiences. Across these four narrative accounts four narrative threads emerged: social complexities, connecting to a greater sense of the world, acknowledging the therapist, and innovation and creativity. Implications for practice, further conversations that are needed in the counselling profession about walk and talk therapy, and ideas for future research are also presented.
Description
Keywords
Educational Psychology, Education--Guidance and Counseling, Education--Health, Psychology
Citation
Charbonneau, T. (2016). Get out! A Narrative Inquiry with Four Therapist who Practice Walk and Talk Therapy (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/26301