Annelies Slijpen, Co-owner of Out of Office Team Trainings
Annelies Slijpen has been working outdoors for around twenty years. She started as a PE teacher, spending much of the school year teaching outside. Later, she worked in specialised trauma care within Dutch mental healthcare. Today, she is a team coach and outdoor trainer, co-owner of Out of Office Team Trainings, and a freelance trainer for organisations including Nature Quest and MDT Missie, alongside her own company, Kampeer & Reflecteer.
What has struck her most throughout all those years is how quickly people seem to relax when they are outside. ‘‘Nature seems to bring people into a different state,’” she says. “‘It’s almost as if you can hear people exhale.’” She describes it as a shift from the sympathetic nervous system, associated with action and alertness, towards the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for rest and recovery. And once people are more relaxed, she notices that there is more room to connect: with themselves, with their bodies and feelings, and with the people around them.
She experiences that shift herself, too. Whenever she runs a training outdoors rather than inside, she notices that she is more relaxed and present. “‘The colours, shapes, smells, light and sounds of nature bring me closer to myself,’” she says. “‘And as a result, I’m also more present and more connected to the groups I work with.”’
One of the experiences that shaped her most was the seven years she spent working in a trauma centre, where clients received EMDR and exposure therapy. Before or after their treatment, they joined Annelies for a movement programme that always took place outdoors in the forest. “‘People were going through an incredibly intensive therapeutic process,”’ she says. “‘Some were extremely anxious about the therapy, and every emotion came to the surface. Anger, rage, relief, joy, everything.”’
Each day started with a walk through the forest. “‘What struck me time and again was how people could relax a little during that walk,”’ Annelies says. They would leave the clinic behind and walk into the forest, often returning noticeably different: calmer, more connected to themselves and recharged. Despite the difficult themes they were dealing with, being outside created space to breathe. Sometimes Annelies deliberately slowed the pace. At other times, she gave them something to look for or make along the way. By the end of the walk, there was often laughter. More than once, she heard someone say, “‘Oh right, we have to get back to work. The therapy is still there too.”’
Nine times out of ten, people said afterwards that they wished they could start every day that way. Rain or shine, they went outside. Every season brought its own colours, smells and atmosphere. And the effect wasn’t limited to the people she was working with. Annelies noticed it in herself, too. She would drive from Amsterdam to the forest, spend the day moving and working outdoors, and return home feeling different from when she had left. Tired from the physical activity, but somehow recharged at the same time.
When she thinks about why this matters so much for young people today, her answer is straightforward: screens. During the “Master Your Mind” training from EnergyUp, which she regularly delivers to companies, she talks about how the brain works and how dramatically our environment has changed in recent decades. Our brains, she explains, have not evolved at anything close to the same pace. For young people in particular, whose brains are still developing, research suggests that high levels of screen time can affect sleep, the nervous system and our ability to properly relax.
“‘Being outdoors often automatically means less screen time, more movement, fresh air, space, creativity, spontaneity and relaxation,”’ Annelies says. “‘Think about the difference between sitting in an office with the windows closed and walking through the dunes, the forest or along the beach. Sunlight, fresh air, trees, water, birds and the sounds of nature all do something to us.’” Even talking about it, she notices herself relaxing. One phrase from the Out of Office Foundation sums up her philosophy perfectly: “Swap screentime for greentime.”
Her favourite format is simple, and that’s exactly what she likes about it: a connecting walk. People head outside in pairs with a few questions related to the theme of the day. One person shares while the other listens, not just with their ears but with all their senses. “‘How often do we really listen, without simultaneously thinking about our own thoughts, answers or ideas?”’ Annelies asks.
Sometimes she adds another element by asking participants to look for animals, plants or trees along the way and awarding points for what they find. She calls it “two investigations at once”: one into yourself and one into the world around you. “‘Whether you have the most points or not, the biggest win is that, for a moment, you were fully present. Not in your head, not in the past or the future, but here. In your body. In this moment.”’
Her conviction about the value of nature also has a very personal origin. When Annelies was eleven, her mother died after an eleven-year illness. Before she died, her mother had taught Annelies’ father what nature could offer in terms of adventure, beauty and support, something she had learned from her own mother. Rain or shine, Annelies and her brother were taken outside for walks by their parents.
‘‘Honestly, I used to find it terribly boring,”” she laughs. “‘The only reason I was happy to come along was because I knew there might be hot chocolate or ice cream afterwards.’’
Still, something was taking root. At sixteen, Annelies went on an exchange to a family in Ashland, Oregon. They took her to the Trinity Alps, a rugged area of wilderness in Northern California, where she discovered just how vulnerable humans can feel among mountains, bears, rattlesnakes and scorpions. At the same time, she experienced the freedom of needing very little and finding richness in experiences rather than possessions.
For four summers, she returned as a guide for young people, looking for the most beautiful sunrise, the clearest mountain lake and the perfect campsite. That’s when she realised that she wanted to spend much more of her life doing this.
Eventually, that ambition took her all the way from Mexico to Canada along the Pacific Crest Trail. In 2023, she completed the journey, walking more than 3,000 kilometres from border to border during the most extreme snow year ever recorded along the route. It was a journey filled with challenges, wonder and humility, and with a renewed appreciation for the beauty and balance of the natural world.
When she came home, one thing was clear to her: a day without being outdoors didn’t quite feel like a complete day. “‘Recently, I read an article saying that some people spend an average of only thirty minutes outdoors each day,”’ she says. “‘That really struck me.”’
Her solution doesn’t have to be complicated. Have a meeting outside. Take your laptop outdoors. Make a phone call while walking. Or simply spend some time together in nature. For Annelies, it can start with something very small: choosing to go outside a little more often.
Want to know more about Annelies? Connect with her on LinkedIn or check out her company Out of Office Teamtraining and Kampeer & Reflecteer.
This conversation is part of OUTnature, an Erasmus+ project by Out of Office Foundation and Kamaleonte (Italy) about the power of nature in youth work. We talk with outdoor professionals and youth workers in the Netherlands and Italy, and turn their stories into a (free!) book that helps you bring young people outside.
Read all stories here or sign-up to be the first to hear when the book is out.
