Having an engrained, deep rooted negative core belief stops you from believing that you are worthy of joy, happiness or love but keeps you stuck in the belief that you have nothing to offer yourself or anybody else. Your relentless, powerful, negative thought repeatedly saying to you, "What is the point!", then takes you to the conclusion that it all would be solved if you weren`t here, these suicidal, intrusive thoughts then become more frequent and spiral out of control.

Maybe you are aware of suppressing unresolved feelings from previous trauma or abuse that you no longer feel able to contain. You may have experienced a controlling or dominant relationship when growing up, where you were not ever encouraged to express how you feel or to think for yourself, which is now causing you issues as an adult such as low confidence, people pleasing, inability to trust your own decision making and continually doubting yourself. You may feel isolated constantly, always trying to fit in but never experiencing a sense of truly belonging.

Research shows how being out in nature doing just mild exercise reduces the symptoms of anxiety and depression. Mainly due to the release of endorphins through movement which introduces a more positive element, changes physiology and leads to feeling more motivated. Simply by moving forward step by step together helps to release any tension or stress more easily than when sat down with your counsellor. Having the opportunity to get outside and deepen your connection with nature enables you to experience feeling more connected with the more difficult parts of your story and yourself. Experiencing the restorative, enriching and healing wonders of nature, whilst also getting your daily required amount of vitamin D and melatonin, can really boost your immune system as well as your mental and physical health and well being. A vitamin D deficiency has been proven to heighten symptoms of depression and Melatonin is important for regulating our circadian rhythm which helps us maintain a healthy sleeping pattern.

For those who find sitting with their therapist quite daunting due to feeling uncomfortable with the eye contact element of this, then walking therapy can really alleviate this fear. Looking ahead rather than being drawn into making eye contact can help you to really open up and say what perhaps would have been more difficult to do in an office or facing a screen.

Walk and Talk therapy could be a good option for you if you spend a lot of time indoors either with work or your family, sitting down more than you would like to, this gives you the added benefit of getting you gently moving outside, particularly if you are worried that you are not moving enough in your day to day life.

However, if you would prefer office, zoom or telephone counselling, it is entirely your choice and whatever feels more natural and comfortable for you.