Type of Therapist and Office Decor

Kind of a spin off of the pillow and blanket thread...

What kind of therapy does your therapist do? What's your therapist's clientele? Do you think that affects their decor and things in their office?

Brought to you by the poster in the other thread who mentioned that they didn't think their T has pillows because it was too easy to hide.

My T is a sex therapist who sees a lot of assault victims. I think that very much impacts her having a ton of tissues, several soft blankets, lots of pillows, and a lot of seating options. She also has a lot of earthy colors in her office, versus bright and colorful decorations.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0607105208.htm
Although this hardly seems surprising.

THERAPISTS' DECOR - DO THE PATIENTS COUNT? - NYTimes.com

Saul Robbins: ?Initial Intake? examines the offices of psychologists in New York City (PHOTOS).

I looked at the Saul Robbins photos and found several things I didn't like.

I don't like having a coffee table between the client and the therapist. It seems like a barrier.

I don't like having their desk phone on the table right next to the chair. It seems like they'd be tempted to answer the phone in session if it rang.

I don't care for the ottoman theme either. I don't think I'd feel comfortable if my therapist was kicked back with their feet up on an ottoman. I would wonder if they were fully engaged in listening. I know they have to sit all day long and need to be comfortable, but that just seems too casual for me.

The woman had only a horrible couch for clients to use. I don't recall much about the decor. There was a table between her chair and the client couch - I remember because the clock sat on it. I found the table keeping her back as a good thing.
She claimed to do the psychodynamic sort. I doubt it had any real bearing on her decorating style. She had no books but I don't believe she reads much from what she said. She could have been lying.

Longtime T sees people with a variety of issues - depression, anxiety, relationship stuff, trauma. Her website says adults only, but I started seeing her when I was a teenager. I seem to recall her saying that she prefers to stick with adults so she doesn't have to deal with the parents.

Current T apparently sees teens and adults. She does individual, family, and couples. I think she has done groups in the past. I get the impression that she specializes in childhood trauma related issues, but she also sees people with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, etc.

Both offices are pretty similar. Current T's office is smaller and it seems like she has more books, but that might be because there's a bookshelf directly across from where I sit. I haven't really looked around too much, tbh. My eyes stay glued to the tissue box or the bookshelf.

My T's room is very small but very... zen. I feel like there's an aquatic quality to it somehow, like we're underwater. Not sure what that is. Alhough I am pretty sure it's a converted bathroom!

I think it reflects his way of working pretty well. He is 'integrative' but his diploma is in person-centred counselling. I imagine his range of clientele is fairly broad.

I know he uses different styles of therapy, I don't know anything about his clientele. He works with people with depression and anxiety, relationship issues and I believe he is trained in trauma and has worked with sexual abuse etc.
His previous office had a coffee table in the middle so when he moved to his current office, I didn't like that there was no table between us. Now I would not want that table there, I like it the way it is. I guess that says something.
Other that that, his office is nice , simple and comfortable. Desk, couple bookshelves, little side table, his chair and a couch with some pillows and a blanket. Not sure it was always there. I suppose it can help people to feel safer. I like when he lights a candle, smells nice.

My t is primarily Jungian but pulls stuff from all over - eclectic I guess. Her office feels warm and inviting to me, lots of natural light from the windows, and she usually has at least one candle lit. Sometimes she'll bring it over to the table in front of the couch. She has a lamp in the corner next to the couch but one of us always turns it off, I sit under florescent office lights all day long and the last thing I want when I'm there is more artificial light. The couch is comfy and has a couple pillows on it. There's the sand play shelves along the wall next to t's chair. She has a drum hanging on one wall, and a couple pictures (including the creepy masked lady one). The sand trays are over by the door and under a window. There's no desk in this office, I assume she has one in the house proper. Her old office where I went for the first year had a desk in it.

Nothing too exciting--bookshelves and diplomas/licenses covering the walls. Two identical chairs across from one another with two identical ottomans, and an analytic couch. I do appreciate that the chair is super comfortable! Which makes sense since given the layout of the room, the chair clients sit in for face to face therapy must be the chair my therapist sits in when someone is using the couch.

I have no idea what kind of therapy my standby therapist does. I just talk and she listens. When I feel defeated she reminds me that I can do it and I am almost at the finish line and not to listen to old voices, which doesn't happen very often and to not let corrupted systems get in my way — go around them or through them if I have to.

The office is small with a few nice paintings on the walls and muted lighting. It is not uncomfortable, nor is it anything special. She has a sofa with lots of pillows and two different individual rockers. She does not care where you sit. She will take whatever chair is available. When I have something to show her she comes and sits on the sofa with me.

This therapist room is less busy than my attachment therapist office was. For me though, it is not about the room, I just care about connecting with the person. The only requirement I have for any business I frequent is a clean bathroom. As I get older I cannot hold it for hours at a time.

My T does lots of different kinds of therapy, but I think he especially does a lot of couples therapy. An, also, attachment work. He doesn't see clients younger than 16.

He's currently changing his office, so it'll be interesting to see what he changes it into, but it's definitely adult-y lol. Office-y. A big sofa and a couple arm chairs. A big plant. Books. Nothing fancy.

My T reduced her working hours recently AND is now sharing her office with another t. I don't like the changes to her office. I've complained about the changes a few times, but, of course, so what, right? I just have to accept that the other therapist's style is not mine.

I'm seriously considering vetoing my new therapist because of her office. My long-term therapist made his office very nice with leather furniture and carpets and signed prints. When he retired my first try wasn't fancy but it was big with bookcases and soft couches and pillows and easy chairs. The second one I tried had a fairly crappy office, but it had a couch and an easy chair.

This new one I've tried once has a tiny office with a small desk a couple of regular chairs and one ragged fake leather (hard) for the client. No couch or rug or picture--there's really no room. I like her but, as I said, I'm seriously not sure I could be comfortable doing therapy in that room. I assume that's the best she can do--my new pdoc who recommended her is down the hall and he has the same size room but all he's doing is a check-up and drugs so it doesn't matter. Unless he would be insulted if I left...?

Rooms really do matter, don't they? Or not?

My T's office has very weird decor... two black leather chairs to sit in, two random posters of art (imagine you'd hang Mona Lisa printed out on paper on your wall...), a small palm tree, three of these long green bambooy things, a small desk behind his chair, filled with paperwork, a phone, and a fax machine, and a small black drawer where he probably keeps his files.

He shares his office with his wife, so I put all the blame on her... but really I think it's more his weird taste than hers. Good thing I usually don't open my eyes for 90% of the time and the other 10 I usually look at him, not the rest.

My T works in a university clinic, so her patients are all students (although faculty/staff is allowed too I think, so she may have a few of them). I know she can't control the furniture in the room -- I've seen two therapists in this clinic and they both have the same two chairs, cushy recliners (but I don't think they recline, they just rock) that sit across from each other, about five feet apart.
Some of my T's personal decorations -- a painting of where she went to college, a plant, a picture of her dogs, probably some other stuff (I'm not very observant). She has a desk with a computer, and a bookshelf. The office is pretty small. I think there's a box of tissues on the little end table next to her chair.

White walls. One wall all bookshelves. Wooden floor with rug. Photos of Henry Moore sculptures.
A couch that i sit on. And T's chair at an angle away from the couch.