Outdoor, Walk-and-Talk, and Land-Informed Session Risk Policy

Practice Name: Fireweed Counselling & Healing Arts
Practitioner: Renae M., Registered Social Worker

Applies To: Outdoor counselling, walk-and-talk sessions, land-informed healing sessions, nature-based reflection sessions, and any counselling or expressive arts session held outside of a traditional private office setting.

1. Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to support client safety, informed consent, privacy, professional boundaries, and ethical practice during outdoor, walk-and-talk, and land-informed counselling sessions.

Outdoor sessions can offer meaningful opportunities for reflection, grounding, movement, connection with the land, and emotional regulation. They also involve risks distinct from office-based counselling, including exposure to weather, uneven ground, public visibility, reduced privacy, wildlife, injury, transportation issues, and unexpected interruptions.

This policy outlines how those risks will be discussed, mitigated, documented, and addressed.

2. Scope of Outdoor Sessions

Outdoor sessions may include:

  • walk-and-talk counselling

  • seated outdoor counselling

  • land-informed reflection

  • nature-based grounding or mindfulness

  • expressive arts or creative reflection outdoors

  • sessions held in parks, trails, public green spaces, private rented outdoor spaces, or other agreed-upon outdoor locations

Outdoor sessions are not appropriate for every client, every issue, or every day. The practitioner may recommend an indoor, virtual, or phone session when safety, privacy, weather, mobility, emotional intensity, or clinical needs make an outdoor session unsuitable.

3. Informed Consent

Before participating in outdoor sessions, clients will be informed that such sessions involve additional risks and limitations.

Clients will be asked to review and sign an Outdoor Session Consent Addendum before their first outdoor session.

The consent discussion will include:

  • The purpose of outdoor sessions

  • possible benefits and limitations

  • physical risks

  • privacy limitations in public spaces

  • weather cancellation procedures

  • transportation expectations

  • emergency procedures

  • boundaries if the client and practitioner are seen by others

  • client's choice to pause, stop, or move indoors/online at any time

Clients may choose not to participate in outdoor sessions. Declining outdoor sessions will not affect their access to regular counselling services.

4. Client Suitability and Screening

Outdoor sessions will be considered based on the client’s needs, preferences, safety, and clinical presentation.

Before offering outdoor sessions, the practitioner will consider:

  • current mental health stability

  • risk of self-harm, suicide, harm to others, or acute crisis

  • trauma triggers related to public spaces, land, walking, isolation, or visibility

  • mobility, pain, fatigue, dizziness, allergies, asthma, heat/cold sensitivity, or medical needs

  • emotional regulation capacity

  • client comfort with possible public encounters

  • whether privacy can be reasonably protected

  • whether the location is accessible and appropriate

Outdoor sessions may be paused or discontinued if they are no longer clinically appropriate.

5. Weather Policy

Outdoor sessions will only proceed when weather conditions are reasonably safe and appropriate.

Sessions may be moved indoors, online, by phone, rescheduled, shortened, or cancelled due to:

  • thunder or lightning

  • severe weather warnings or watches

  • extreme heat or cold

  • heavy rain or snow

  • poor visibility

  • icy or unsafe walking conditions

  • high winds

  • wildfire smoke or poor air quality

  • unsafe trail or road conditions

  • flooding, mud, unstable ground, or blocked access

  • darkness or inadequate lighting

  • any condition that creates an unreasonable risk

The practitioner has the final decision about whether an outdoor session can proceed safely.

Clients are encouraged to dress for the weather and bring what they need, such as water, appropriate footwear, sun protection, insect protection, mobility supports, medication, or other personal items.

6. Injury and Physical Safety

Outdoor sessions may involve uneven ground, stairs, curbs, roots, rocks, ice, mud, insects, plants, heat, cold, or other environmental hazards.

Clients are responsible for:

  • wearing suitable footwear and clothing

  • informing the practitioner of mobility or health concerns that may affect participation

  • choosing a pace and activity level that feels safe

  • asking to pause, sit, slow down, return, or stop at any time

  • bringing necessary medical items, such as inhalers, EpiPens, water, or prescribed medication

  • making decisions about their own physical limits

The practitioner will:

  • choose reasonably safe and accessible routes when possible

  • avoid isolated or unsafe areas

  • adjust pace and distance to the client’s needs

  • stop the session if physical safety becomes a concern

  • carry a charged phone

  • document any injury, incident, or near miss

  • call emergency services when necessary

The practitioner does not provide medical care beyond basic emergency response and will contact emergency services when required.

7. Emergency Response

If an emergency occurs during an outdoor session, the practitioner may take steps including:

  • calling 911

  • contacting the client’s emergency contact, where appropriate and permitted

  • remaining with the client if safe to do so

  • moving to a safer or more visible location

  • ending the session

  • arranging transition to emergency, medical, crisis, or other appropriate supports

  • documenting the incident

  • seeking clinical consultation afterward

If a client appears unable to safely leave or drive after a session due to emotional distress, medical concern, substance use, dissociation, or crisis, the practitioner may take appropriate safety steps. This may include contacting emergency services or an emergency contact if there is a risk of harm.

8. Wildlife, Plants, and Environmental Risks

Outdoor sessions may involve contact with wildlife, insects, plants, domestic animals, or environmental hazards.

The practitioner and client will avoid:

  • approaching wildlife

  • feeding animals

  • entering unsafe or restricted areas

  • walking off designated trails where risk is higher

  • continuing if wildlife activity creates concern

  • continuing if insects, plants, terrain, or other environmental factors become unsafe

Sessions may be relocated or ended if wildlife or environmental risks arise.

Clients are responsible for notifying the practitioner of relevant allergies, phobias, sensitivities, medical concerns, or safety needs related to outdoor environments.

9. Transportation Policy

Clients are responsible for their own transportation to and from outdoor session locations.

The practitioner does not normally transport clients in the practitioner’s personal vehicle. Sessions will not be conducted while driving together in a private vehicle.

The meeting location, parking expectations, start point, and end point will be agreed upon before the session.

If the session involves walking away from the starting point, the practitioner and client will plan a route that allows a reasonable return to the starting location.

If a client is late, lost, or unable to attend, normal cancellation and late policies apply unless otherwise determined by the practitioner.

10. Public Spaces and Privacy Limitations

Outdoor and walk-and-talk sessions cannot offer the same level of privacy as an office.

Possible privacy limitations include:

  • being seen by people the client or practitioner knows

  • being overheard by others

  • interruptions by members of the public

  • noise from traffic, people, animals, or weather

  • limited ability to control the environment

  • lack of privacy when entering or leaving a public location

The practitioner will make reasonable efforts to protect privacy by:

  • choosing quieter and less crowded locations when possible

  • discussing privacy risks before the session

  • lowering voice volume when needed

  • pausing a sensitive conversation if others come nearby

  • allowing the client to choose whether to continue, pause, or change topics

  • avoiding use of the client’s full name or identifying details in public when possible

  • relocating if privacy becomes compromised

Clients understand that complete confidentiality cannot be guaranteed in public or outdoor spaces.

11. If We See Someone We Know

Before the first outdoor session, the practitioner and client will discuss what to do if they encounter someone they know.

The default practice is:

  • the practitioner will not identify the client as a client

  • the practitioner will not explain the nature of the relationship

  • the practitioner will follow the client’s preference where possible

  • the client may choose whether to acknowledge the practitioner

  • the session may pause or change direction if needed

Suggested client preference:

“If we see someone I know, I prefer that you do not greet me first or identify how we know each other. I will decide whether to acknowledge you.”

This plan can be adjusted based on client preference and safety.

12. Boundaries During Outdoor Sessions

Outdoor sessions remain professional counselling sessions.

The following boundaries apply:

  • the session has a scheduled start and end time

  • outdoor sessions are not social walks

  • physical contact is not part of the service except in rare safety-related circumstances

  • the practitioner will maintain professional boundaries in language, behaviour, and location choice

  • clients may not bring additional people unless this is clinically planned and agreed upon

  • pets are not permitted unless agreed upon in advance for accessibility, service animal, or therapeutic reasons

  • substance use before or during sessions may result in cancellation or termination of the session

  • photography, recording, or social media posting during sessions is not permitted unless explicitly agreed upon for a therapeutic purpose

  • gifts, ceremonies, medicines, cultural items, or land-based practices will be handled with clear consent, cultural humility, and appropriate scope

13. Session Content and Clinical Limits

Some topics may not be appropriate for outdoor or public settings.

The practitioner may recommend moving to an indoor, phone, or virtual session when the work involves:

  • high emotional intensity

  • active trauma processing

  • suicidal ideation or safety planning

  • abuse disclosures

  • legal concerns

  • family violence

  • child protection concerns

  • detailed personal health information

  • dissociation or panic

  • highly sensitive cultural, family, or community matters

  • any topic where privacy or containment is clinically important

Outdoor sessions can be grounding and supportive, but they are not always the best setting for deep trauma processing or crisis work.

14. Documentation

Outdoor sessions will be documented in the clinical record.

Documentation may include:

  • location type

  • whether outdoor consent was completed

  • relevant risk considerations

  • weather or environmental concerns

  • privacy issues or interruptions

  • client’s presentation and participation

  • clinical themes

  • interventions used

  • any injury, incident, or emergency response

  • follow-up actions

  • reason for cancellation, relocation, or change in format

Client records will be protected in accordance with privacy, confidentiality, and professional requirements. Saskatchewan guidance recognizes obligations to protect personal health information and use safeguards appropriate to the nature of the information.

15. Cancellations or Format Changes

The practitioner may change the session format to indoor, virtual, phone, or rescheduled care when outdoor conditions are not appropriate.

Reasons may include:

  • weather

  • illness

  • injury

  • privacy concerns

  • emotional safety concerns

  • unsafe location

  • wildlife or environmental risk

  • practitioner assessment that outdoor work is not clinically appropriate that day

Clients may also request to move the session indoors, online, or by phone when available.

16. Client Responsibilities

Clients participating in outdoor sessions agree to:

  • review and sign the outdoor session consent

  • arrive prepared for outdoor conditions

  • communicate physical, emotional, privacy, or safety concerns

  • participate within their own limits

  • Take responsibility for transportation

  • respect boundaries of the session

  • Avoid recording or posting session content

  • Notify the practitioner if they feel unsafe, exposed, overwhelmed, or physically uncomfortable

  • understand that public spaces have privacy limitations

17. Practitioner Responsibilities

The practitioner agrees to:

  • obtain informed consent

  • Assess the appropriateness of outdoor sessions

  • discuss privacy limits

  • plan reasonable routes and locations

  • Monitor weather and safety concerns

  • maintain professional boundaries

  • protect confidentiality as much as reasonably possible

  • document outdoor sessions appropriately

  • seek supervision or consultation when needed

  • end or modify outdoor sessions when safety, ethics, privacy, or clinical needs require it