walk and talk counselling: why moving can make therapy easier

Walk and talk therapy is exactly what it sounds like: a counselling session that takes place while walking side by side, rather than sitting in a room facing each other. For some people, this shift in setting can make therapy feel more accessible and even less intense. Talking while moving can help thoughts flow more freely and take some pressure off having to “say the right thing” in an enclosed space. The work itself doesn’t change. The focus is still on what you bring, at your own pace. What changes is the environment around you.

One of the benefits of walk and talk therapy is that movement can support emotional regulation. Walking can help settle anxiety, release nervous energy, and make it easier to stay present. Many people are more comfortable opening up when they’re not sitting face-to-face, particularly when conversations feel difficult or unfamiliar. Walk and talk therapy can be particularly helpful if you feel overwhelmed in enclosed spaces, struggle to sit still, or simply think better when moving. You don’t need to be especially fit or fast. The walk is not the point – the connection is.

Urban settings like Shoreditch and central London offer surprisingly flexible spaces for therapeutic walking. Parks, quieter streets, and familiar neighbourhood routes can provide a sense of containment, even within a busy city. And rather than being a distraction, the environment often becomes part of the therapeutic process, offering metaphors, pauses, grounding moments, or simply a shared experience of noticing what’s around us. The environment doesn’t replace therapy; it supports it.

What we notice during the walk – changes in pace, moments of silence, reactions to surroundings – can all gently inform the work. Sometimes being alongside rather than opposite allows deeper conversations to emerge naturally.

Walk and talk therapy isn’t about doing therapy “better”; it’s more about doing it differently. Some people prefer it immediately, while others alternate between walking sessions and in-person or online therapy.

If you’re curious about walk and talk therapy in London or Shoreditch, you’re welcome to get in touch. We can talk through how it works and see whether it’s something you’d like to try.