“Rather than exclusively talking about emotional distress, experiential therapy strives to engage clients in actually experiencing and working through events in real time… In my practice I strive to adapt The Big 5 into each experiential session: Safety, Trust, Intimacy, Esteem, Power/Control.”
Experiential therapy can be particularly impactful when clients are seeking to go beyond traditional “talk therapy”. Often used in the healing of trauma, substance use, and depression/anxiety, the practice is highly unique, engaging, and not limited to a single form of intervention. Experiential therapy can include expressive tools such as art, music, guided-imagery, animals, and even recreational or adventure-based activities that translate emotional burdens into present moment experiences.
Rather than exclusively talking about emotional distress, experiential therapy strives to engage clients in actually experiencing and working through events in real time. This is done with intentionality, translating life experiences into activities through emotional processing, interacting with others and the environment, creativity, and reflective engagement that can strengthen the therapeutic relationship in unique and powerful ways.
As an avid outdoor enthusiast, with a passion for artistic expression and animals, experiential therapy has become an important focus of my practice. I find healing through experience to be particularly engaging in the treatment of trauma, substance use, and depression/anxiety issues. From walk and talk therapy and expedition-based programs to recreational activities and animal-assisted therapies, these approaches have shown improvement across a wide range of social, emotional, physiological, and psychological outcomes.
In my practice I strive to adapt “The Big 5” into reflective themes of any experiential activity. These include: Safety, Trust, Intimacy, Esteem, Power/Control. For clients who are trauma-focused, many experiential activities will also encompass the use of “Grounding Techniques”. These are typically either breathing, movement, or sensation-based techniques that have an immediate calming effect on the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) -redirecting focus into the present moment to mitigate a flashback, dissociation, or panic attack.
Chances are, you have seen your friends or colleagues use these techniques without even realizing they were grounding their nervous system! If you have ever seen someone take a deep sigh after a long day, pace around in anticipation, or fidget with a pen, you are watching them self-sooth their nervous system through breathing, movement, or sensation-based techniques. Grounding techniques may often practice tapping into sensations such as sound, touch, smell, taste, and sight and can be incredibly engaging in natural settings when practiced with intentionality.
At its core, Experiential Therapy is a client-centered approach that strives to translate painful experiences of the past into the present, within a safe and controlled natural setting. This may include building intimacy during a walk and talk session on a trail, building safety through introductory climbing sessions, building esteem on a challenge course, or building trust working with horses during equine-assisted therapy. In this way, clients can work through and release repressed or negative emotions in a therapeutically aligned way. If you or a loved one are struggling with trauma, addiction, depression or anxiety and have not responded well to traditional talk therapy, an experiential approach may be worth exploring.