July 6, 2023 • 16 mins
In this episode, Dr Peter Blundell interviews William Pullen about his life and work.
William is a qualified psychotherapist registered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). He offers short and long-term psychotherapy to adults and young people on an individual basis in West London. He works with people who experience depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, negative childhood experiences, relationship and work-related issues, substance abuse, as well as other issues. William has a book and an app that explores the relationship between running and therapy.
William's Details
Website: https://williampullenpsychotherapist.com/bio/
Twitter: @pullentherapy
Peter's Details
Website: www.peterblundell.com
Twitter: @drpeterblundell
#TherapistsConnect is a platform for connecting therapists.
Website: www.Therapists-Connect.com
Twitter: @Therapists_C
Instagram: @TherapistsConnect
Facebook: @TherConnect
Origins of #TherapistsConnect
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Peter Blundell (00:02):
Hello and welcome to another episode of
the therapist Connect Podcast.
Find name is Dr. Peter Blundell.
And today I'm delighted to beinterviewing William pullin.
William is a psychotherapistregistered with the BAC P,
offering short and long termpsychotherapy to adults and
young people in West London. Aswell as offering clients in
person therapy, William alsooffers dynamic running therapy
(00:25):
to his clients. He has an app.
And he's also author of runningwith mindfulness, both of which
he talks about in this episode.
William Pullen (00:34):
Peter
Peter Blundell (00:35):
Hi William, really nice to meet you.
William Pullen (00:37):
Thank you.
Peter Blundell (00:39):
So yes, my first question then is gonna be - cn
you tell us a little bit abouthow you became a therapist in
the first place? Like what is itthat drew you to the therapy
profession?
William Pullen (00:49):
I don't know how many of your fellow listeners
are fellow therapists, but I'massuming quite a few, or the
majority. And so I know I'll bein good company. When I say that
drama and becoming a going intotherapy myself, that common path
for us, or, specifically, I hada sort of romantic meltdown, I
(01:11):
suppose a woman I loved from adifferent nation, different age,
different, different everything,as many differences you can
imagine, and put myself out on alimb to try to make the
impossible work and of coursewhen it didn't. I was still out
on a limb at a time I couldn'tafford to be out on a limb.
That's the nature of limbs and,and had a bit of a meltdown. It
(01:33):
was much more complex. And nowof course, and went back to all
sorts of childhood abandonmentissues. But anyway, therapy took
me into becoming a therapist,just like most people, I think.
Peter Blundell (01:45):
So a real kind of sense of experiencing it
first before before kind ofwanting to train. And did that
happen quite quickly after goinginto therapy? Or was it quite a
while after you kind of had thatinitial?
William Pullen (01:56):
No, I think took took, I would say, a year and a
half or something of therapy.
And I never thought I wouldtrain. In order to become a
therapist. I didn't think I waswell suited for it. But I did
have ambitions to I'd alwaysbeen interested in the human
condition and self help booksI'd read a bunch of and I
thought, Well, who knows I findthe space interesting. Maybe
(02:16):
I'll write a book, maybe nothingwill come of it. I'll take it as
it comes.
Peter Blundell (02:23):
Brilliant. Where did you train them as a
therapist?
William Pullen (02:26):
Regents, London,
Peter Blundell (02:28):
and how did you find the training?
Unknown (02:31):
Well, you know, they're very, they're very old school at
Rengents, aren't they? It's,it's incredibly, I suppose it's
probably compared to most othertraining places in England,
extra white and extra middleclass. And so I fit it in there
quite nicely. It's a beautifulcampus. There was a lot of
(02:53):
emphasis on ethics, and it wasquite terrorizing at times. But
all in all, I was very gratefulto be there. You know, it was,
it's such a beautiful place ifnothing else.
Peter Blundell (03:06):
So you did qualify? Can you tell us a
little bit then about how yourcareer is developed from then, I
got essentially done quite a fewdifferent things, I think.
William Pullen (03:15):
Yeah, I don't have to remember now. So yeah,
well, as you know, as part ofyour qualification, qualifying,
you have to do your placements,etc. And, and so I did those,
and then discovered that being atherapist actually was rather
(03:36):
rewarding. And, and so I after Ifinished my, I think it was 400
hours have many was I set upprivate practice and did a bit
of advertising and, and got someclients, like, like, quite a few
other people do.
Peter Blundell (03:56):
How did you find that setting up in private
practice and some people'sstruggles? Some people find it
quite easy. What was it like foryou?
William Pullen (04:03):
Do you know, I didn't have a burning need to do
a lot of hours and pay a lot ofbills. So I was probably like, I
was probably quite fortunate inthat sense. And so I, I got, I
managed to get enough hours tokeep myself busy and keep myself
happy. I didn't know how I thinkI was just on the BACP website.
(04:25):
Mostly I might have been otherplaces. I built a bit of a
social media profile for myself,maybe I got some business
through that and better word ofmouth maybe.
Peter Blundell (04:35):
And it's been no looking back since then. And
your still in private practicenow.
William Pullen (04:39):
Yeah. Yeah.
Peter Blundell (04:42):
How do you define your therapeutic
approach? And has that has thatchanged at all over the years or
is it consistent?
Unknown (04:50):
Well, I would say it has I mean, I met I'll give you
an example of this. I met a chaprecently who is involved in a
charity who reached out to meand asked me if I might become
involved in their charity. Theyhad a company that was providing
free counselling a certainnumber of hours to the clients
(05:12):
of this charity that thatcompany had dropped out. And he
wanted to ask me whether whathe'd imagined as some sort of
supervisory role whereby I wouldsupervise his his colleagues at
a charity not therapiststhemselves, but these his
(05:32):
frontline guys that were workingwith these clients, and they're
essentially already therapiststo them. Anyway, to answer your
question long, long way aroundis, is that back in the day, as
I mentioned, Regents very, veryethics, ethics, ethics, very
traditional, you know, don'tdon't, don't, don't break the
frame, don't don't do anything.
Since then I have more and moreand more and more relaxed. And
(05:55):
when, as I said to this guy, Isaid, "You're in danger of, if
any of your clients ever getinto trouble, and you're, and
the people that look after themare claiming to be therapist,
sort of therapist, even if nottotally therapists, it could all
go very wrong for you" I saidthat "I'm happy to stick my head
(06:15):
out in the neck, neck out on alimb or whatever the expression
is, if you are" I would could govery badly for both of us,
there's your answer. Yeah, muchmore relaxed now than I was.
And, you know, I do this runningtherapy that you know, about,
and of course, that that's avery much a moving frame. So
yeah I'm much more relaxed.
Peter Blundell (06:38):
I mean, I love that. And I think it's quite
common, I think, for therapistsmaybe to come out of training,
feeling almost like a little bitanxious, like about moving
outside of that kind oftherapeutic frame and doing
anything that was advisedagainst on their training, and
then over time, kind of relaxinto their own approach and
style of therapy. And how
William Pullen (06:56):
do you know, when you've relaxed too much?
Peter Blundell (06:59):
Well, that's a really good question
Unknown (07:04):
When your client is coming around for dinner and
holidays with you.
Peter Blundell (07:09):
Yeah, I think that might be too much depth.
But I think that is aninteresting question. And I I
personally think it's a reallyexciting time to be a therapist,
because I see lots oftraditional boundaries being
bent or broken or shifted, youknow, an interesting
conversations happening aboutthat, I think, a lot now. And I
think people are practicing inways that they, you know, many
(07:31):
years ago would definitelywouldn't have done.
Unknown (07:32):
Yeah, no, no, it is, it's really exciting. And I
don't know if it's right, orit's wrong, but it's, it's where
it's happening. And, and I'mhappy to flow with it until
proven wrong.
Peter Blundell (07:46):
We'll talk about kind of being outside the frame,
you mentioned it a little bitthere. And so you have developed
dynamic running therapy. And Ijust wonder if you could tell
our listeners a little bit aboutwhat that is, and how you ended
up kind of developing it.
Unknown (07:59):
Yeah, so as I mentioned, you know, after this
meltdown, I became a, I startedtraining to become a therapist,
and well, after the meltdown andwent into therapy, and, and I
was very depressed, and I was athome, it was more than just
depression. And I was just, Ifelt very isolated. And I knew I
needed to get out I knew neededto move, and I knew I needed
(08:21):
help. So I got therapy, but Ialso took out running with a
friend very slowly. He hadproblems, I have problems, we
talked about them. What Inoticed is, it's a lot easier
talking about your problems whenyou're on the move, walking,
even in a car or running. And Ithought what a great idea for
therapy. This is working for meso well in tandem with my
therapist. What would it be liketo combine the two and so it was
(08:45):
always an idea that I had. Andas I went into private practice,
I sort of tested out withfriends and runners that my
regular runners who knew we werealways having deep conversations
on my regular run as they cameso easily. So I slapped a name
on it and gave it a little bitmore structure. But essentially,
(09:06):
it's just sort of, I supposeyou'd say mostly Person Centered
therapy on the move.
Peter Blundell (09:12):
I love that. I'm just wondering how your
understanding of that hasdeveloped over the years is it
has it stayed the same? Or is itchanged adapted like how you how
you do it?
Unknown (09:23):
No, I don't think it has. No I think all all the
things I wrote a book about itcalled 'Run for your life' in
this country. Having this inthere is the same as it was
originally all the same ideashave made it, when I tried to
work out why it workedeverything from the fresh air,
(09:44):
to the photoplasms or whateverthat comes off the plants that
you have forest bathing and allof that good stuff combined to
with all of the change inmechanics around power. Side by
side instead of facing off outthat favors people, camaraderie,
(10:04):
accelerated therapeuticalliance, I believe all of these
things are the same today asthey were, when I first when I
first started. It's very muchclient led, I think that's
really important. I move, I tellI tell the clients, this is
(10:25):
regular therapy, it's openended, every session is led by
you, if you want to say I am nomore directive here, then I will
be out there. But that includesmovement. So I'm following your
movement, you want to walk, wewalk, run, sit down, whatever it
is, I'm following you. Andthat's interesting, because it
just, it gives them I think, itforces them into quite a
(10:47):
proactive role, you know. And Ithink is better than just that
classic position that clientsoften find themselves in where
they're unsure what to say,which makes them anxious, which
can make them resentful,fearful, all sorts of things
that tend to lock people up.
With the addition of the bodyand the possibility of movement,
(11:12):
it allows them to distract orburn off, or sideline that
anxiety, and mop up that 10% ofself consciousness and just get
moving. And, and then the wordsflow when we're not watching
ourselves watching ourselves.
Everything else flows.
Peter Blundell (11:29):
I love that idea. And I like the idea of
person centered, like literallythe client's taking the lead to
like where you've where you'veworked, you'd go to during the
therapeutic hour. Do you do youstick to the therapeutic hour?
Or does it? Does it depend on?
William Pullen (11:41):
Yeah,
Peter Blundell (11:42):
Yeah, so you stick to that kind of
traditional time zone. So and,you know, with the clients, do
you and two people have to beinto running? Or can clients
kind of come along? And as yousay, like you're supposed to can
walk so rather than rather thanrun if they want to?
Unknown (11:59):
Yeah, I mean, even even the ones that are runners mostly
choose to walk during thesessions, it'll only be sort of
20 minutes out of 50, I wouldsay, running. I say to
everybody, look, you know, atthe very least we'd need to walk
at a good pace at times.
Ideally, you're a runner,because I just think that helps
(12:22):
a little bit. But but we canwork towards you're getting
around him. But I don't know,you know, I don't want anybody
to be struggling, that's forsure. They need to be reasonably
fit people because it's notabout getting fit. And if you're
not fit enough to do that, thenthat's a that's that becomes a
thing. And we don't we don'twant any more things in there
(12:42):
than we've got already.
Peter Blundell (12:45):
Yeah. Yeah.
Another question I suppose Ihave is do you do your
supervision whilst running? Oris it just the therapy that you
run?
William Pullen (12:56):
No, It's a good point, actually, I never thought
about that.
Peter Blundell (13:00):
Also, as well as the running therapy, you have
developed kind of an app, whichI assume kind of picks up on
some of those themes that youthat you were talking about
there. Can you tell us a littlebit about it's called the
dynamic running therapy app. Andtell us a little bit about that
and how it works.
William Pullen (13:17):
So there's a certain amount of free content
on there, which is some mindfulwalking, mindful running, and
meditation. And then if youchoose to pay for the content,
then you come across to twomodules, one on anxiety and one
(13:37):
on depression. And each one ofthose is 20 sessions long, each
one of those is 20 minutes long.
And you run or walk with me andI take you through a series of
questions about yourself. Andthen you can reward or reward
record the answers as as voicenotes on the phone itself in the
(13:59):
midst of the session, as I'masking the question, and then
you reflect on all of thoseanswers. And you write them in
your diary and and hopefully weexplore your depression
everything from childhood rootsto the choices you're making
today to the choices you mightmake to everything we can we go
(14:22):
so far around it so manydifferent ways that hopefully,
you know, you become a lot morefamiliarized with it and, and
either it gives you some relief.
And if it doesn't give yourelief, hopefully it gives you
some focus and enough focus topush you into full time therapy
(14:43):
where you can now address withwith greater understanding and
focus.
Peter Blundell (14:48):
That sounds really interesting and I suppose
as well with it with it being anapp you can obviously then do
that in whatever setting youwant. You know when you're
outdoors or in whatever spacethat you feel comfortable in.
William Pullen (14:59):
Yeah, absolutely. They, in time, it
would be nice if I mean, I'mgoing to add a relationships
piece, which I'm just writing atthe moment, that'll be another
module. But it would be nice ifin time I can, all of those
answers that people haverecorded, can be can be
submitted to a therapist oftheir choice from the app, and
(15:23):
then you know, they get a headstart that way and be able to do
still remote therapy withsomebody or tele therapy.
Peter Blundell (15:32):
So, I mean, I'm coming to the end of my
questions now, but I suppose myfinal question would just be to
ask you, have you got anythingcoming up soon? Or next? Are
your your future plans?
William Pullen (15:43):
Well, goodness, I'm actually working nonfiction
book now. Which I'm enjoyingwriting, but I think that'll
probably take three or five or10 years to finish.
Peter Blundell (15:59):
So can you can you can you hint about what
that's about? Or is it topsecret for now?
William Pullen (16:04):
is top secret, I'm afraid, I think that and as
I mentioned to you, a newbornson late in the day. And very
excited about that rejuvenatingand and yeah, just keeping
(16:26):
keeping my life nice and healthyand well balanced. And, and, and
lots to be grateful for.
Peter Blundell (16:33):
Fantastic. Well, thank you so much. It's been
really interesting chatting toyou. And good luck with the new
born baby boy as well. Cheers.
Hello and welcome to another episode of
the therapist Connect Podcast.
Find name is Dr. Peter Blundell.
And today I'm delighted to beinterviewing William pullin.
William is a psychotherapistregistered with the BAC P,
offering short and long termpsychotherapy to adults and
young people in West London. Aswell as offering clients in
person therapy, William alsooffers dynamic running therapy
(00:25):
to his clients. He has an app.
And he's also author of runningwith mindfulness, both of which
he talks about in this episode.
William Pullen (00:34):
Peter
Peter Blundell (00:35):
Hi William, really nice to meet you.
William Pullen (00:37):
Thank you.
Peter Blundell (00:39):
So yes, my first question then is gonna be - cn
you tell us a little bit abouthow you became a therapist in
the first place? Like what is itthat drew you to the therapy
profession?
William Pullen (00:49):
I don't know how many of your fellow listeners
are fellow therapists, but I'massuming quite a few, or the
majority. And so I know I'll bein good company. When I say that
drama and becoming a going intotherapy myself, that common path
for us, or, specifically, I hada sort of romantic meltdown, I
(01:11):
suppose a woman I loved from adifferent nation, different age,
different, different everything,as many differences you can
imagine, and put myself out on alimb to try to make the
impossible work and of coursewhen it didn't. I was still out
on a limb at a time I couldn'tafford to be out on a limb.
That's the nature of limbs and,and had a bit of a meltdown. It
(01:33):
was much more complex. And nowof course, and went back to all
sorts of childhood abandonmentissues. But anyway, therapy took
me into becoming a therapist,just like most people, I think.
Peter Blundell (01:45):
So a real kind of sense of experiencing it
first before before kind ofwanting to train. And did that
happen quite quickly after goinginto therapy? Or was it quite a
while after you kind of had thatinitial?
William Pullen (01:56):
No, I think took took, I would say, a year and a
half or something of therapy.
And I never thought I wouldtrain. In order to become a
therapist. I didn't think I waswell suited for it. But I did
have ambitions to I'd alwaysbeen interested in the human
condition and self help booksI'd read a bunch of and I
thought, Well, who knows I findthe space interesting. Maybe
(02:16):
I'll write a book, maybe nothingwill come of it. I'll take it as
it comes.
Peter Blundell (02:23):
Brilliant. Where did you train them as a
therapist?
William Pullen (02:26):
Regents, London,
Peter Blundell (02:28):
and how did you find the training?
Unknown (02:31):
Well, you know, they're very, they're very old school at
Rengents, aren't they? It's,it's incredibly, I suppose it's
probably compared to most othertraining places in England,
extra white and extra middleclass. And so I fit it in there
quite nicely. It's a beautifulcampus. There was a lot of
(02:53):
emphasis on ethics, and it wasquite terrorizing at times. But
all in all, I was very gratefulto be there. You know, it was,
it's such a beautiful place ifnothing else.
Peter Blundell (03:06):
So you did qualify? Can you tell us a
little bit then about how yourcareer is developed from then, I
got essentially done quite a fewdifferent things, I think.
William Pullen (03:15):
Yeah, I don't have to remember now. So yeah,
well, as you know, as part ofyour qualification, qualifying,
you have to do your placements,etc. And, and so I did those,
and then discovered that being atherapist actually was rather
(03:36):
rewarding. And, and so I after Ifinished my, I think it was 400
hours have many was I set upprivate practice and did a bit
of advertising and, and got someclients, like, like, quite a few
other people do.
Peter Blundell (03:56):
How did you find that setting up in private
practice and some people'sstruggles? Some people find it
quite easy. What was it like foryou?
William Pullen (04:03):
Do you know, I didn't have a burning need to do
a lot of hours and pay a lot ofbills. So I was probably like, I
was probably quite fortunate inthat sense. And so I, I got, I
managed to get enough hours tokeep myself busy and keep myself
happy. I didn't know how I thinkI was just on the BACP website.
(04:25):
Mostly I might have been otherplaces. I built a bit of a
social media profile for myself,maybe I got some business
through that and better word ofmouth maybe.
Peter Blundell (04:35):
And it's been no looking back since then. And
your still in private practicenow.
William Pullen (04:39):
Yeah. Yeah.
Peter Blundell (04:42):
How do you define your therapeutic
approach? And has that has thatchanged at all over the years or
is it consistent?
Unknown (04:50):
Well, I would say it has I mean, I met I'll give you
an example of this. I met a chaprecently who is involved in a
charity who reached out to meand asked me if I might become
involved in their charity. Theyhad a company that was providing
free counselling a certainnumber of hours to the clients
(05:12):
of this charity that thatcompany had dropped out. And he
wanted to ask me whether whathe'd imagined as some sort of
supervisory role whereby I wouldsupervise his his colleagues at
a charity not therapiststhemselves, but these his
(05:32):
frontline guys that were workingwith these clients, and they're
essentially already therapiststo them. Anyway, to answer your
question long, long way aroundis, is that back in the day, as
I mentioned, Regents very, veryethics, ethics, ethics, very
traditional, you know, don'tdon't, don't, don't break the
frame, don't don't do anything.
Since then I have more and moreand more and more relaxed. And
(05:55):
when, as I said to this guy, Isaid, "You're in danger of, if
any of your clients ever getinto trouble, and you're, and
the people that look after themare claiming to be therapist,
sort of therapist, even if nottotally therapists, it could all
go very wrong for you" I saidthat "I'm happy to stick my head
(06:15):
out in the neck, neck out on alimb or whatever the expression
is, if you are" I would could govery badly for both of us,
there's your answer. Yeah, muchmore relaxed now than I was.
And, you know, I do this runningtherapy that you know, about,
and of course, that that's avery much a moving frame. So
yeah I'm much more relaxed.
Peter Blundell (06:38):
I mean, I love that. And I think it's quite
common, I think, for therapistsmaybe to come out of training,
feeling almost like a little bitanxious, like about moving
outside of that kind oftherapeutic frame and doing
anything that was advisedagainst on their training, and
then over time, kind of relaxinto their own approach and
style of therapy. And how
William Pullen (06:56):
do you know, when you've relaxed too much?
Peter Blundell (06:59):
Well, that's a really good question
Unknown (07:04):
When your client is coming around for dinner and
holidays with you.
Peter Blundell (07:09):
Yeah, I think that might be too much depth.
But I think that is aninteresting question. And I I
personally think it's a reallyexciting time to be a therapist,
because I see lots oftraditional boundaries being
bent or broken or shifted, youknow, an interesting
conversations happening aboutthat, I think, a lot now. And I
think people are practicing inways that they, you know, many
(07:31):
years ago would definitelywouldn't have done.
Unknown (07:32):
Yeah, no, no, it is, it's really exciting. And I
don't know if it's right, orit's wrong, but it's, it's where
it's happening. And, and I'mhappy to flow with it until
proven wrong.
Peter Blundell (07:46):
We'll talk about kind of being outside the frame,
you mentioned it a little bitthere. And so you have developed
dynamic running therapy. And Ijust wonder if you could tell
our listeners a little bit aboutwhat that is, and how you ended
up kind of developing it.
Unknown (07:59):
Yeah, so as I mentioned, you know, after this
meltdown, I became a, I startedtraining to become a therapist,
and well, after the meltdown andwent into therapy, and, and I
was very depressed, and I was athome, it was more than just
depression. And I was just, Ifelt very isolated. And I knew I
needed to get out I knew neededto move, and I knew I needed
(08:21):
help. So I got therapy, but Ialso took out running with a
friend very slowly. He hadproblems, I have problems, we
talked about them. What Inoticed is, it's a lot easier
talking about your problems whenyou're on the move, walking,
even in a car or running. And Ithought what a great idea for
therapy. This is working for meso well in tandem with my
therapist. What would it be liketo combine the two and so it was
(08:45):
always an idea that I had. Andas I went into private practice,
I sort of tested out withfriends and runners that my
regular runners who knew we werealways having deep conversations
on my regular run as they cameso easily. So I slapped a name
on it and gave it a little bitmore structure. But essentially,
(09:06):
it's just sort of, I supposeyou'd say mostly Person Centered
therapy on the move.
Peter Blundell (09:12):
I love that. I'm just wondering how your
understanding of that hasdeveloped over the years is it
has it stayed the same? Or is itchanged adapted like how you how
you do it?
Unknown (09:23):
No, I don't think it has. No I think all all the
things I wrote a book about itcalled 'Run for your life' in
this country. Having this inthere is the same as it was
originally all the same ideashave made it, when I tried to
work out why it workedeverything from the fresh air,
(09:44):
to the photoplasms or whateverthat comes off the plants that
you have forest bathing and allof that good stuff combined to
with all of the change inmechanics around power. Side by
side instead of facing off outthat favors people, camaraderie,
(10:04):
accelerated therapeuticalliance, I believe all of these
things are the same today asthey were, when I first when I
first started. It's very muchclient led, I think that's
really important. I move, I tellI tell the clients, this is
(10:25):
regular therapy, it's openended, every session is led by
you, if you want to say I am nomore directive here, then I will
be out there. But that includesmovement. So I'm following your
movement, you want to walk, wewalk, run, sit down, whatever it
is, I'm following you. Andthat's interesting, because it
just, it gives them I think, itforces them into quite a
(10:47):
proactive role, you know. And Ithink is better than just that
classic position that clientsoften find themselves in where
they're unsure what to say,which makes them anxious, which
can make them resentful,fearful, all sorts of things
that tend to lock people up.
With the addition of the bodyand the possibility of movement,
(11:12):
it allows them to distract orburn off, or sideline that
anxiety, and mop up that 10% ofself consciousness and just get
moving. And, and then the wordsflow when we're not watching
ourselves watching ourselves.
Everything else flows.
Peter Blundell (11:29):
I love that idea. And I like the idea of
person centered, like literallythe client's taking the lead to
like where you've where you'veworked, you'd go to during the
therapeutic hour. Do you do youstick to the therapeutic hour?
Or does it? Does it depend on?
William Pullen (11:41):
Yeah,
Peter Blundell (11:42):
Yeah, so you stick to that kind of
traditional time zone. So and,you know, with the clients, do
you and two people have to beinto running? Or can clients
kind of come along? And as yousay, like you're supposed to can
walk so rather than rather thanrun if they want to?
Unknown (11:59):
Yeah, I mean, even even the ones that are runners mostly
choose to walk during thesessions, it'll only be sort of
20 minutes out of 50, I wouldsay, running. I say to
everybody, look, you know, atthe very least we'd need to walk
at a good pace at times.
Ideally, you're a runner,because I just think that helps
(12:22):
a little bit. But but we canwork towards you're getting
around him. But I don't know,you know, I don't want anybody
to be struggling, that's forsure. They need to be reasonably
fit people because it's notabout getting fit. And if you're
not fit enough to do that, thenthat's a that's that becomes a
thing. And we don't we don'twant any more things in there
(12:42):
than we've got already.
Peter Blundell (12:45):
Yeah. Yeah.
Another question I suppose Ihave is do you do your
supervision whilst running? Oris it just the therapy that you
run?
William Pullen (12:56):
No, It's a good point, actually, I never thought
about that.
Peter Blundell (13:00):
Also, as well as the running therapy, you have
developed kind of an app, whichI assume kind of picks up on
some of those themes that youthat you were talking about
there. Can you tell us a littlebit about it's called the
dynamic running therapy app. Andtell us a little bit about that
and how it works.
William Pullen (13:17):
So there's a certain amount of free content
on there, which is some mindfulwalking, mindful running, and
meditation. And then if youchoose to pay for the content,
then you come across to twomodules, one on anxiety and one
(13:37):
on depression. And each one ofthose is 20 sessions long, each
one of those is 20 minutes long.
And you run or walk with me andI take you through a series of
questions about yourself. Andthen you can reward or reward
record the answers as as voicenotes on the phone itself in the
(13:59):
midst of the session, as I'masking the question, and then
you reflect on all of thoseanswers. And you write them in
your diary and and hopefully weexplore your depression
everything from childhood rootsto the choices you're making
today to the choices you mightmake to everything we can we go
(14:22):
so far around it so manydifferent ways that hopefully,
you know, you become a lot morefamiliarized with it and, and
either it gives you some relief.
And if it doesn't give yourelief, hopefully it gives you
some focus and enough focus topush you into full time therapy
(14:43):
where you can now address withwith greater understanding and
focus.
Peter Blundell (14:48):
That sounds really interesting and I suppose
as well with it with it being anapp you can obviously then do
that in whatever setting youwant. You know when you're
outdoors or in whatever spacethat you feel comfortable in.
William Pullen (14:59):
Yeah, absolutely. They, in time, it
would be nice if I mean, I'mgoing to add a relationships
piece, which I'm just writing atthe moment, that'll be another
module. But it would be nice ifin time I can, all of those
answers that people haverecorded, can be can be
submitted to a therapist oftheir choice from the app, and
(15:23):
then you know, they get a headstart that way and be able to do
still remote therapy withsomebody or tele therapy.
Peter Blundell (15:32):
So, I mean, I'm coming to the end of my
questions now, but I suppose myfinal question would just be to
ask you, have you got anythingcoming up soon? Or next? Are
your your future plans?
William Pullen (15:43):
Well, goodness, I'm actually working nonfiction
book now. Which I'm enjoyingwriting, but I think that'll
probably take three or five or10 years to finish.
Peter Blundell (15:59):
So can you can you can you hint about what
that's about? Or is it topsecret for now?
William Pullen (16:04):
is top secret, I'm afraid, I think that and as
I mentioned to you, a newbornson late in the day. And very
excited about that rejuvenatingand and yeah, just keeping
(16:26):
keeping my life nice and healthyand well balanced. And, and, and
lots to be grateful for.
Peter Blundell (16:33):
Fantastic. Well, thank you so much. It's been
really interesting chatting toyou. And good luck with the new
born baby boy as well. Cheers.
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