A Discussion With Cara Byrne

When did you realise you had a talent to help people with psychology?

I have always been fascinated by people, from a very young age I found that I could read people well, I could tell if there was a sadness lurking behind the ‘fine’ façade. I was attuned to the emotional outputs of others. My dad used to call me the little Agony Aunt because kids from all over my estate would call to me when they were upset and needed a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on. While I always found it easy to empathise, and took great joy in being able to help others, I also sometimes took on too much of the pain of other people, I was a sensitive kid who managed to come across as rambunctious and carefree. This was something I would have to work hard on later in my life when I was training to do what had come naturally, professionally.

I originally did not train as a psychotherapist, I did a degree in Marketing, back when social media didn’t exist and phones didn’t do much else but make and receive calls! Following that I worked in sales and marketing until I decided to invest my life savings into a clothing boutique. This was shortly before the start of the global recession. When the down turn came I lost everything. I suddenly found myself out of work, in debt and unsure of where I wanted to go. It was during this time that I decided to retrain as a psychotherapist. It just felt right, it felt like a calling of sorts. So, after finding a job making coffee to help pay off my debts from the business and with the help of my family I started a 2 year Higher Diploma at night and then a Masters Degree, I handed in my Thesis 3 days before the birth of my first child, it was a chaotic time to say the least.
After taking a long break to have another baby and focus on my new little family I returned to the work I loved as a therapist. I was working in a clinical setting and continued that way until the pandemic in 2020 forced all therapists online.

How did you start incorporating hiking into your sessions?

Prior to that though I had started a love affair with hiking. In 2017, my classmate from my Marketing degree and dearest friend Mags, invited me on a girl’s weekend to Scotland. I jumped at the chance for a little getaway and booked my flights to Glasgow that evening. Four weeks ahead of the trip I inquired what the plan was for the weekend, it was then that Mags informed me that the purpose of the trip was not to wander around Glasgow sightseeing but to go to Fort William and hike Ben Nevis, the highest peak in the British Isles. Up to this point I had essentially never hiked before, except a hungover jaunt in the Adirondacks after myself and my friends got stranded in New York following 9-11. So I bought a pair of boots and signed up for a 2 hikes in the weeks before we left.

It didn’t take long for me to realise that I love hiking! When I returned from Scotland I was hooked, I started hiking as often as my work and family commitments would allow. I started a free weekly women’s hiking group, I wanted to create a support network for mothers within my community. I ran this group for three years and we not only met weekly but also incorporated trips and hiking weekends away. It was witnessing the benefits of walking and talking that the seed for Hike Psych was planted. I noticed how easily people open-up and allow themselves to be vulnerable when out in nature. I saw strangers sharing and supporting each other, it all seemed so effortless out on the hills and whoever had come with a stressful situation could leave it there in the mountain when they left, leave it to seep into the soil or simply blow away. All of this made me more certain that Hiking Psychotherapy would work.

So, when the pandemic struck in 2020, all my clients moved from the clinic to attending their therapy sessions online. Many of them asked if there was any way I could see them in person, as a Type 1 Diabetic I wasn’t able to facilitate that as it was at that stage a significant risk factor. However, I knew that it was much safer outdoors and always allowed under even the strictest of covid precautions so I jumped in and set up Hike Psych, a beautiful means of combining my love of hiking and helping and since then I’ve never looked back.

It has been an absolute joy to see first hand the positive effects of nature on people’s mental health, combining it with evidence-based psychotherapeutic strategies has boosted the efficacy of both elements. It’s just a win-win for the clients and me. I love working outside, it is the best office in the world, even in poor weather, which in Ireland is almost a guarantee. As walker and writer Alfred Wainwright said, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing.”

What your plans are for the rest of the year?

Halfway through last year I decided I was going to start saying yes to as many things as I could. I was going to stop getting in my own way and try to embrace whatever possibilities came along, to stop letting imposter syndrome get the better of me. I am planning on continuing to live this way, it has opened up so many fun opportunities and allowed me run events with other people and businesses I’m inspired by. I’ve done Intuitive Eating Hikes with @intuitive.eating.ireland, Galantine’s Day ones with @siul_linn as well as Mother’s Day ones with @pullupyourslieve, all female lead accounts that are putting goodness into the world of social media. I’m also getting to use the business to raise money for charities thorough hiking events, which is brilliant. Doing things for others is incredibly beneficial for our mental health. All of this has added a lighter more fun element to balance the serious and often challenging nature of therapy.

I am hoping to expand the business and allow more people to access therapy in this new setting. At the start of 2023 I added a fabulous psychotherapist called Deirdre to the Hike Psych team and she is now seeing clients in Co. Meath.

My dream is that Hiking Psychotherapy will be available to people in every county in Ireland. That clients won’t have to drive for hours to find a way of working that suits them.

When people think of attending therapy, I’d love it to be as simple as deciding if they prefer doing it, online, in person or on the hills. Fingers crossed I can help make that happen!