Talk and …walk, hike, cycle, swim with Irena and Your Alchemists around the world

‘Living differently with nature, in solidarity and in an eco-responsible way. Sport and movement can be accelerators of transition’.Alain Bernard, (one of the most decorated French Olympian swimmers)

Talk and walk, hike, cycle, sim with Irena and Your Alchemists around the world

I am delighted to introduce to you a new offering as a psychologist/ therapist yoga and meditation practitioner with thirty years’ experience in the field of dance/movement, ten years as a workshop and retreat organiser, counsellor and facilitator and 11 years of research and practice in Psychology/body/mind/spirit connection as a therapist and soon to qualify Doctor in counselling psychology.

My team and I are calling this offering ‘Talk and …walk, hike, cycle, swim with Irena/Your Alchemists‘. As a multicultural (dual French/British and Serbo-croat natioanal) trained linguist and speaker of seven languages, as an avid round the world traveller, both for personal enjoyment and also for studies and work, I combine in my offering evidence-based applied psychological intervention, findings from my own clinical practice over a five year doctoral training course, expert knowledge of each area I invite participants to retreats in and integrate respect of the local communities, their inhabitants, fauna and flora, their talented professionals, with connection to and (re)discovery of self, others, nature and and enjoyment of life.

When I worked clinically, whether it was assisting employees in organisations, or in the English National Health Service (NHS), whether it was in therapy rooms, psychiatric wards, charitable organisations, or private clinics/retreats, in Europe, Britain or anywhere around the world the one common factor which seemed to positively contribute to clients’ wellbeing, and change, were 1) building a strong working alliance and therapeutic relationship with the team supporting them, including myself as psychologist but also the wider medical team, as well as 2) connecting with each other and ourselves in living breathing spaces such as the real world and nature.

Whilst there is absolutely a space for work in the therapy room, our offering can be seen as an ‘adjunct’. We combine findings over three decades of training and practice. What I offer is an opportunity to encounter yourself your therapist and others in nature whilst moving to start a process of positive change.

And so, observing clients who struggled to connect in the therapy room, (when safe and agreed with their medical teams) when I started to accompany them to gardens, hospital cafeterias, to further afield (agreed as part of a protocole) to local coffee shops, events, proved hugely therapeutic and more importantly met the clients’ goals (overcoming phobias, etc.) and strengthened the therapeutic psychological relationship to themselves and to me. I now apply this concept wider and further afield offer all of this and more such as mountain climbs, cycles in nature and sailing and snorkelling . Many of them took up activities for themselves and never needed my support again. Others join me on more discoveries as they continue their journey. It is my honour and privilege to support clients on their journey in joy and authentic relationship doing something that I love.

Source: Arriving to the port of St Tropez Cote d’Azur retreat, France, 2024

These interventions are based on evidence-based concepts from Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) (for ex investigating irrational beliefs and exposure therapy), somatic work, green therapy, art therapy and integrative psychotherapy as well as my experience as a yoga and meditation teacher.

I am hugely grateful that the below three retreats are now full, however if you are interested in taking part, please register your interest so that my team and I can organise more dates. We can also tailor make retreats for you:

• Talk and cycle along the Canal de Bourgogne (with yoga and meditation, 26-29 October 2024, FULL). Next retreats: July, August, September, October 2025 please Click RETREATS to learn more.

• Talk and Walk along the Bronte’s Wuthering Heights trail (with yoga and meditation. 22 to 24 November 2024 FULL) Next retreats: February, July, August, September, October 2025 please Click RETREATS to learn more.

• Talk and sail, snorkel, hike, cycle in St Tropez and the Cote d’Azur, France (25 to 29 June 2025, FULL).Next retreats: July, August, September, October 2025 please Click RETREATS to learn more.

New offerings:

• Talk and walk in the Champs Elysees and along the Seine to the Eiffel Tower, France (13-15 December 2024, 4 places left).Next retreats details: tbc. please connect with me here to register interest.

• Hike in the Alps along the Tour de France trail, France (August 2025, 4 places left, September 2025: 4 places left, October 2025: 4 places left).Next retreats details: tbc. please connect with me here to register interest.

We offer these retreats to small groups of 4 or individually where you can hire us privately to guide you one one one. Costs vary and retreats include usually two full hour individual therapy sessions per day or one individual and one group session per day.

What is included: Facilitation, expert sailors guide, travel schedule/details and personal therapy sessions (five x 1-hour individual therapy sessions. Tour and movement guide, stretching and meditation instruction. Questions & Answers throughout the event on all elements offered during the event, an opportunity to work in-depth on issues and to experience body/mind/spirit connection, light lunch snacks during the four days.

What is not included: Travel, transfers, hotels, bike hire, out of hours support, morning and evening meals, cycling and bike gear, personal, health and travel insurance.

Minimum requirement to be considered for the retreat:
Some experience of counselling and/or psychotherapy, an openness to learning and if working in group a capacity to work with others, walking/hiking experience in city terrain/countryside, ability to walk uphill, some cycling experience and an ability to cycle from 10kms to a maximum of 50kms per day (depending of event, at leisurely pace), ability to hike 2.5 hours in the morning and 2.5 hours in the afternoon, ability to sail up to 2.5 hours each way, (snorkelling optional), stay in nature for therapy under various environmental conditions and temperatures, medical certificate. (Please note venues are identified and might be booked should it be required).

Source: Bronte Talk and hike in Haworth, West Yorkshire, 2024

My team of local collaborators (tour guides, athletes, sailors, mountaineers, professional hikers, sports masseurs, local cooks, biologists, botanists etc.) and I take our retreat participants to world that we’re passionate about, know intimately, where we have been ourselves, have the knowledge of and contacts. Together with you we create unique and unforgettable experiences with an opportunity for you to work through any matters you have not been able to open about before.

What is Talk and Walk/cycle? Are you a psychologist or a tour guide?

I am offering clients an opportunity to work intensively with me along various themes and honing on matters important to clients both one on one and with others in group therapy sessions mornings and afternoons. The particularity of my offering is that you will get to work in confidential places in nature, interspersed with movement and sight-seeing, connecting with nature, getting to know and respect the local communities hosting us.

I started implemented these ‘interventions’ used in silent mindfulness and monastic retreats when I worked a volunteer working with autistic students since 2001. I continued researching their benefits during my Master and took many diverse groups in ‘walk and talks’ in London in large corporate organisations as a Wellbeing Advisor. I then also implanted these with great outcomes as in the NHS during my Doctorate.

What we call our ‘working alliance’ and our ‘therapeutic relationships’ not only improved, but clients’ goals and markers also. Many looked forward to being held in the space, sometimes not even sharing or talking, simply being and enjoying connection in presence with another in other environments. This method proved to be very effective in certain charities taking youths who experience distress on walks in France for example. The French organisations ‘Seuil’ employs a version of these. CBT exposure therapy for ex. also proved successful with clients who isolated or struggled to re-join their communities by public transport or simply to go about their own daily lives.

As an integrative therapist, researcher, psychologist, yoga & meditation teacher, cyclist and ex dancer, I combine all I’ve studied and experimented ( rooted in evidence-based research) and now offer something very dear to my heart which also helped me in my own journey with anxiety and depression before I understood their root cause.

There are so many different ways of enjoying life, being happy within ourself, of supporting local economies working collaboratively together in a therapeutic relationship but also with our local communities.

As a neurodivergent person I understand how important the environment is, how considering ‘the whole’ and not just a part, how sensory input and sensitivities, movement and communications might be.

If you are interested in learning more, please connect with me here.