Less Couch, More Path: My Conversation with Airdrie Inside
- Kristy McConnell, R. Psych., OBP Founder
- May 27
- 4 min read
By Kristy McConnell, R. Psych., Founder
I recently sat down with Chris Glass for an episode of Airdrie Inside, recorded over at Microacres, which, for the record, smells incredible. We talked about how Off the Beaten Path got started, what walk and talk therapy actually looks like, why EMDR works a little like a paper shredder, and how you know when it might be time to reach out. Here are a few of the moments I keep coming back to.
It started on a marathon training run
People sometimes assume there was a grand plan behind taking therapy outdoors. There was not. I was out on a long training run, working with a coach because I am fairly sure nobody finishes a marathon without a bit of support, and I noticed how much the running was doing for my own mental health. Somewhere around the part of a run where the brain finally goes quiet, I thought, would it not be something if movement and therapy could happen together? That small idea became Off the Beaten Path in 2017. Eight years later there are ten of us, and we are still walking.
Why we take therapy outside on the path
There is real substance under the romance of it. When we are outside, the system that hums away under the surface, the fight, flight and freeze response, tends to settle. For a lot of people that means we begin a session from a calmer starting point than we would in a closed office. Nature is also expansive, which helps when small rooms feel a little too close.
Then there are the metaphors that show up on their own. I might pick up two leaves on the path and notice they are completely different and both worth keeping, the same way two people can move through a similar hard thing and carry very different beliefs about themselves afterwards. You do not get that on a couch. Walking side by side rather than face to face changes things too. It takes the spotlight off, and the steady left, right, left of walking helps the mind move material in its own quiet way.
EMDR, or why your brain sometimes needs a bigger paper shredder
EMDR stands for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, and it is one of the more well researched approaches we use. The way I explain it to clients is this: Most of the time your brain processes experiences like a paper shredder, feeding the day through and filing it away. But sometimes a hard experience goes in like a sheet of construction paper with a staple in it. It jams. And every time you bump into a reminder of it, the whole system tenses as though you are right back there.
EMDR is the bigger, industrial shredder. Using gentle back and forth stimulation, eye movements, tapping, or small buzzers that pulse in each hand, we help that stuck material move through toward something more adaptive. I made it through. I am safe now. I am stronger than I knew. One detail I love: Francine Shapiro first noticed the effect while walking in a park and letting her eyes move along the path. So the outdoor connection was there from the very beginning.
So how do you know when it is time?
Chris asked me how a person knows it is time to reach out, and honestly, if you are already asking the question, some part of you knows the answer. You do not need to have been through something enormous to deserve support. Often it is a sense of stuckness, a feeling that you keep landing in the same spot and would welcome a fresh pair of eyes.
My first suggestion is usually not therapy at all. Talk to your people first. A neighbour, a colleague, the friend who always picks up. Relationship itself is healing, and that conversation is frequently a good first step. Therapy is there for when you want to look under the hood a little more, with someone whose job is to gently poke at the parts a good friend would politely leave alone.
Come find us
You can watch the full conversation above, and a big thank you to Chris and the Airdrie Inside team for having me. If any of this landed for you, we offer walk and talk sessions, EMDR, couples counselling, and in-office and online support for all ages across our Airdrie, Calgary and Cochrane locations. You are welcome to book whenever you are ready, or just come by the old house on First Street and have a sniff of the place. Bring good walking shoes.
This blog was written by Kristy McConnell, R. Psych. & Owner | Off the Beaten Path Psychology and Wellness | Airdrie, Calgary, and Cochrane, Alberta
Feeling disconnected and wondering if therapy might help? OBP offers individual counselling, Walk and Talk sessions, and intensive formats across our Airdrie, Calgary, and Cochrane locations. You don't have to have it all figured out to reach out.