It may look like two men strolling along the shores of Lake Michigan on a nice day, but Glenn Sevier is actually conducting a therapy session with a client.
“This is my office. Here, what you see is what you get,” said Sevier, LCSW and executive director of Advance Potential Psychological Services (APPS).
Sevier, a school social worker and private therapist, began conducting sessions outdoors more than 20 years ago and coined the term “walk-and-talk” therapy.
“One day I said to my client, ‘Do you want to go outside for a walk?’ This is a great place to try things and not have to be in this closed environment,” says Sevier. he said.
Chicago resident Tom Miller, a filmmaker who lost his job due to a back injury, became a customer five years ago.
“I was lying there, I couldn’t work, I couldn’t go out, I was really depressed,” Miller said.
His wife learned about Sevier’s ‘walk and talk’ approach online And shared it with Miller.
“I grew up doing Boy Scouts and stuff. So I’m very aware that when you go on long walks and hikes, you get to have conversations that you wouldn’t normally have, so I’m like, ‘Okay, let’s try this. ’” Miller said.
Sevier says the benefits are not just psychological, but physiological.
“When you’re walking outside, you’re energized by the movement and your heart rate increases. You start to feel that moment of comfort and you’re able to really open up,” Sevier said.
“It didn’t feel like I was being studied, it felt like a side-by-side collaborative activity, so I felt like I was able to talk more and be vulnerable,” Miller said.
The strategies Sevier uses are useful not only for therapy, but also in everyday life when you need someone to open up to you, such as a friend, spouse, or even a child.
“That’s what I do with my daughters. A lot of times, if there are difficult things that they want to talk about or don’t want to talk about, I say, ‘Let’s go for a walk,'” Sevier said. Told.
Walking side by side reduces eye contact and people are often less susceptible to criticism.
“It’s not just the two of us talking during the walk. It’s therapeutic. It’s very intentional, but it didn’t feel like we were under a microscope,” Miller said.
The therapy is literally like a walk in the park, as endorphins are released with every step.
