Therapist moving to new office

My therapist is moving to a new office at the end of the month. I had a bad reaction to the news. I can still see her, but her current office has been my safe place for many years.

Has this ever happened to you and, if so, how did you handle it?

My T was thinking about moving to a different office in the same practice, she asked my opinion and how I would feel about it and I told her I wouldn't want to lose my safe place. She is still in her original office.

I imagine it'd be hard but think of your T being the safe place instead at least while getting used to the transfer?

my T has moved offices 3 times. i saw him for 4 years in the same office so it was weird at first. but if T is in there and his stuff is in there then i am ok.

New gets old. What may seem new and scary will eventually become safe and familiar. T will be there.

I've had to move. The anticipation was much worse than the actual room change.

My t recently moved offices and I went with her, of course lol. Wasn't scary once I got there except I hate the new waiting room. Way less comfortable than the old one. But her new office's atmosphere is much more relaxed and there are less clients & ts there, so I don't have to see too many people other than my t. I agree with the poster who said the anticipation was worse than the actual change.

My moved once, I was actually excited. Her old office was horrible! But I understand the feeling of safety. It's a hard adjustment, but just remember your t is the same.

The first one I tried therapy with changed offices. I don't recall the office change being that big of a deal for me. I don't usually notice much decor and didn't get attached to the therapist's space like I do my own office.

Oh my goodness, once my T changed offices after I hadn't seen her for a long time and I didn't find out until I showed up to the old office! So I was totally unprepared. Wasn't horrible, but I don't like the new one as much, too big in my opinion. I said something about how I will need to find something else to stare at because I had been staring at the same cabinet for so many years. I liked what the other poster said about your T being the safe space, not the room. Good suggestion on how to re focus.

My T has moved this year. Twice. When she told me, I got a scare. I thought that would mean I'd have to look for a new T. But she told me I caould move with me. First she would work at a place that was more than an hour away, she would cover for someone on maternityleave. And now she works at her perminant place. It's in another city, just as far away as her first place, but now I can't go by public transport.

I didn't really like it and I still don't really like it. I liked her office at the second place. But where she's now... I just don't like it. She now works at a practise with 8 other T's.
I miss seeing her at her original place.

My former therapist (former because I moved away after three years), moved after I was seeing her for about six months. She let me know and it didn't bother me the least, but I know that it does affect many individuals and she prepared people for the move. I liked her new space because it was bigger (she does group work), it had big windows and was very bright and cheerful, and it was more private. I say private because her former waiting room was shared with a chiropractic office--personally I didn't like that part of her old office.

Yes, my T changed offices. It really was no big deal. The new space is definitely nicer.

My T has never changed offices. I don't think it would really bother me as long as he took his current furniture with him.

I can definitely see where it would be hard to have a new space. My T did change offices after about 4 years of my seeing her. She moved and was able to have part of he office hours out of her home. I had been in her home previous to her having appointments there so I was actually more comfortable there. Since she is the only provider there it drastically cut down on the number of other people I could run into. She shares her other office with somebody else so it is very impersonal and cold. Her home office is "homey", warm and comfortable.
Not to long ago I was in pain while I was there she was able to offer me pain meds, pillow etc, that would not have been possible at the other place (I did not take her up on any of the things as I had my own meds and such).
She still sees clients at the other office as well but I prefer to meet at her home office. The idea of meeting at the old office is actually scary to me.

I've had 2 t move offices, each of them has moved twice now that I think about it. I didn't like the change, but its ok now

I survived a couple of redecorations, two small moves (from one room to another) and 1 big move (different builing). Did I like it? No. Was it hard? Well, no, not really the first few appts at the new place were weird, and we were talking mostly about the new place. T asked what I liked/disliked about it, she even changed the lamp after I said the first one reminded me of a horror movie it was business as usual after 2 or 3 weeks, and I am a bit sensitive about space around me.

Update: yesterday was my last session at the old office. When I see T again in 2 weeks, it will be at the new office. She's told me that her new office is smaller. I wondered aloud what furniture she would and wouldn't be taking with her. I also wondered which art that I have grown so used to in the old place, will be up on the walls in the new place. When I got there yesterday, there were boxes all over (they are moving today), and everything was a mess. It was very anxiety-provoking for me; I was actually shaking. I talked about how her office had always been a place of stability for me, even though the sessions were not always pleasant. It was still something, sometimes the only thing, that I could count on, first weekly, then every two weeks. I've been seeing her in that office for many years. She suggested I try meditation for the anxiety, as it arises. And I said that, "next year" I would endeavor to concentrate more on things I can change, not things I cannot; this move harkened back to other times in my life when I was not in control of various situations. It made me feel excluded, and uncared for. I told her about some of the discussions here about gift-giving, and that I MIGHT give her a gift for her new place...or, I might not. In her office, I saw a big pile of papers that she was either throwing out or recycling. It made me think that maybe I should try cleaning my house as if I were moving, and couldn't take everything with me. Sorry, I think I'm rambling. HNY.

I just found out my therapist is moving and even though she says it will be in the same city, it's really throwing me for a loop. The last therapist and pdoc moved--both were terminations--and another provider died. Those all happened within a year. The therapist prior to them didn't move or die, but she did terminate without notice. It's just stirring up all sorts of things. Right now, I don't know the new location. It's all happened very quickly for my therapist and isn't something she wanted, either. But the uncertainty is horrible.

It's helpful to see that something as simple as a change of location is hard on others as well.

To the OP: how did it go in the new space?

My T left the setting where I used to see her, at a hospital and I then saw her privately in her home office. I liked it there, the office was big and homely. She then moved quite a distance away and I now see her in her new home. The office is so much smaller but I've got used to it and it's still homely. What really threw me was that 2 sessions ago T had hurt her back and half way through the session wasn't comfortable and asked if we could move into her living room. I said sure. But I didn't like it at all, it totally threw me and we weren't sitting opposite each other in that room and that felt really weird. Totally put me off for the rest of the session. I also really didn't like her living room and decor which I think was really bothering me

I'm sure you will get used to the new office, you may even prefer it and it will become normal very soon.

Yes, I've experienced this. The anticipation of the change was actually worse than the actual change. It took a bit to get used to, but it felt like "home" again before long. Good luck to you.

Mine is moving office, but cannot accept me as a patient at her new office. We had some instability in our schedule which I felt we had started to sort out, then two weeks later I get the letter that she's leaving. Not happy about it. However it may be for the best. She is a psychiatrist and I do not feel I've neccessarily needed a psychiatry level of care so to speak for about a year. I continued because she was a good therapist as well and it worked for us. But as she has been transitioning to this new office (part time at both places) I see a shift in her treatment paradigm. She is much more quick on the drugs than she used to be, less holistic in her approach. I feel it's because of her time crunch between the 2 offices, she is going for the ready answer. I may be wrong but that's how I'm seeing it with a little bit of emotional distance. I hope for her and her patient's sake that with being at one office again she settles back into her more holistic approach (of course continuing to prescribe when needed).

So yeah...she was becoming for me a psychiatrist with a splash of therapy where in the past she was my therapist who had the ability to manage my meds as well. I do not need a psychiatrist at this time. So I think it is time to draw our relationship to a close anyway. It still hurts and sucks though, not gonna lie. I don't know that I'm doing anything to deal with it (well I've noticed I've been drinking a bit more) but it's also not something that is a constant, so I guess I don't know how or what to do with it. It sucks, I'm going to miss her, and she'll likely forget me in a few months or years and life will move forward.

It's OK, I guess. Still not 100% comfortable there.

Yes, mine moved to a new office a few years ago and it was such an awkward transition. The whole place smelled like new paint (still kind of does), and his new office has a strange echo when you talk. Took me forever to get used to it, but eventually I warmed up-- didn't really have a choice, haha. I really loved the old location though.

when my T left the residential facility we met in he got this temporary office that he rented from another T. i hated it!!! it was small and dark and i felt scared in it. instead we would walk around a graveyard, or walk downtown, or talk in a coffee shop until he found a better office. i wasnt worried about anyone seeing me with him. my T is very flexible about these things. he knows how triggering therapy can be for me sometimes. especially being in a therapy office with the door shut. during the first few years of therapy he would leave the door cracked for me. also if the weather was nice we would walk down to some swings and do therapy while i was swinging

My t recently moved offices and got new all new furniture. The change was a bit of an adjustment, but he kept his the blanket from his old office just for me. He hides it in a drawer, so I can get it out when I arrive. It has made the transition feel more comfortable for me.