Thanks for posting your video on Narrative Walks, it’s a really interesting idea. I am currently in the process of developing a proposal to offer something similar in a new Therapy Services program in the Geelong region of Victoria (Wadawurrung country) and wondered if you would be willing to share your resources if you have a manual or outline of the program you could send to me? Thanks again for your very creative and inspiring work. Sarah

Hi Angela, thanks for the feedback. I also run a 10km half day version of the walk a few times during the year. It still works well and actually attracts more participants who report finding it very helpful. But for me I much prefer the running longer walks and having a larger amount of time. There are some people already running the program in the UK that Ive been support and I may be able to connect you with if you are interested?

This is fascinating, and something I have often wondered about, as a clinical psychologist working predominantly within hospital settings at the moment. (I asked in my interview for one of my posts whether we could meet clients outside the hospital, to change the cues, and that’s a work in progress!)

In a previous life as a support worker, I took people out from a day centre on walks (2-3k rather than 20ks), which anecdotally was helpful for some people.

I’d be interested in finding out more about your experiences if possible, and looking forward to hearing about the research being done by the med students this year!

Thought this article might be of interest too – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jul/28/its-a-superpower-how-walking-makes-us-healthier-happier-and-brainier

Best wishes from the UK.

Charlie

Hi Cal, thanks for the interest. At this point the only followup has been through conversations with with people who return to volunteer on additional walks or engage with our other programs.

However, a group of fourth year medical students at a local university have offered to run a pre and post measured study / report in 2020 as part of their studies which should be interesting.

Let me know if you would like more information.

CD

I the ED of a Friendship Center in Terrace, BC where were mostly target the indigenous population in our city of 12,000. I found your video interesting and something that we may want to try. Havee you been able to to do any follow ups studies to gage the long term effect of your program?

Regards

Cal Albright
ED
Kermode Friendship Center
http://www.keremodefriendship.ca
Terrace, BC
Canada

Hi Paul, m

Much of my early attempts of the program were with the 15-20 year old age bracket and I found it worked really well. When I recently had an opportunity to run the program again with this age bracket – I extended the finish time so that could spend more time at the stop points and have a fire at the last resting place to talk about our intentions after the walk. This meant that we used head torches for the 2km which added a bit of a sense of theatre to the day. It was pretty cool.

If you email me on hello@embarkpsych.com I can send you the manual. Or ask any other questions via this page so others might share in the answers.

CD

I really enjoyed watching your video about Narrative Walks. My project is based in Blaenau Gwent, in South Wales, Uk. I’m wondering whether I might use such an approach in my work with our Youth Service, who support young people between the ages of 11 and 25. Have you any thoughts on this? Are there any resources available, either free or to purchase?

Best wishes

Paul

Thanks Angele. Id be happy to connect and hear how you might adapt this program or other outdoor programs to suit the women you work with. Email me or find me at the conference if you like, I’ll be there for the full three days. CD

Hi Lucy – sorry I’ve been connecting with a lot of different people – I may have missed responding to you. I’ll get onto that this week. And yes I’ll be in Queensland for the conference to present and will look forward to catching up in person. Speak soon. CD

It was a real pleasure to walk the journey that you take the young people on through the narrative walk.

I love my work as a counsellor and being outdoors equally and am excited by the idea of bringing this concept and experience to women recovering from family violence.

I think from memory you are presenting at the AABAT Forum “Turning Over a New Leaf” as am I and I hope to have the opportunity to hear more of the walk process then.

cheers

Thankyou Paul – Sounds amazing – dont let the weather put you off, wet weather and storms brings all kinds of opportunities for the narrative metaphor and reflective thinking I have found. Ill send you over the resources I have and would love to here how it goes. Chris

Hi again Chris, Thanks a lot for your answer and enthusiasm. Could you share with me your manual and workbook for reference? Looking forward to hearing from you. Best regards, Anne-Sophie.

Hi Barb, you put the intentions of the program into such wonderful words. I’ll send over the Hosts Manual. You can also read about the program in the latest International Journal of Narrative Therapy and some examples of trials I ran initially in developing the program.

I have had so many people contact me and discuss the different ways and populations that they may use the program with. Please keep me informed as to how you go. CD

Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful program through your video!