Private Practice at home

Just out of curiosity, what's it like seeing a therapist in their own home? Is there a separate door that clients use? Is the therapy room secluded from the rest of the house? Can you use their toilet? Did you ever run into their partners/kids/pets? Does the "office" feel a little more personal? Does the T wear shoes or slippers?

Any little details you can think of are very welcome.

I’ve seen two Counsellors in their own home.

Both only had one entrance door to the house which I came in and left from.

The therapy room is usually it’s own room from the rest of the home.

I used first T’s bathroom a lot. I haven’t checked with second T yet.

My first T DID wear her slippers and did dress down sometimes.

I never ran into other family members, but I did meet T2’s cat last time.

Both T’s rooms felt more personal than an office.

It’s interesting walking through T’s house, you notice the home scents, the decor and I loved looking at T1s bookcase which was by her bathroom.

L has a home office. It's attached to the house, but has a separate entrance and a parking area that's separate from her actual driveway. There's a door that goes to a hallway to the rest of the house, where there's a bathroom for clients to use that I have used a couple times. There's a door in that hallway that is closed that leads to the rest of the house, so I haven't seen anything of it other than the bathroom & that little hallway. The hallway is really too small to decorate there's not like any pictures or anything on the walls (at least not that I've noticed) so no real sense of what her house proper might look like. Her office is very home-y feeling, I like it a lot. One time as we were walking out of her office (sometimes she comes outside with me briefly as I walk to my car) and her SO pulled into the driveway. She was all "he wasn't supposed to come back yet!! So much for your privacy!" I said I don't care who knows I'm here. It really was no big deal.

eta: i've never had to ask for water because she keeps a pitcher of water with glasses on the table between us. it was a LONG time before I ever drank any, so long that the first time I actually did, she remarked on it "You've never said yes to water before." Back then it was still on a different table and she'd offer it to me, and I'd say no. The one time I said yes she poured it for me and brought it to me which was nice. After that she started keeping it on the table between us now.

She always has shoes/sandals on when I get there, but sometimes takes them off like when I do a sand tray or when she drums for me.

R works from home, but it's not separate.

I like the smell of his house, it feels calm and more personal. But I have looked through his front living room window to see what it was like whilst I was waiting on his doorstep. I wanted to see the rest of his house, but am limited to just one separate area. I've seen pictures of his house from when it was on sale before he bought so I could see what the rest of his house looks like.

I saw his wife and daughter leave once when I arrived early and waited on the corner at a bus stop. Yeah that did get to me as did when he was moving stuff around there was a bookshelf in the hallway and I felt a pang of jealousy when I saw a valentines day card on it.

I've never used his bathroom or asked for water.

He sometimes wears shoes, but tends to like his holey socks.

EDIT:I did once hear his wife in the house after the door was shut on the stairs, but I didn't comment on it.It was a heavy crying session though. I flipped out more when we had skype sessions and he had builders in the house who I could hear. That made me paranoid that someone could overhear that I was just crying over stupid stuff.

My T has a kind of barn conversion thing that is attached to the cottage he lives in. It has a separate door and its own toilet/shower room. It even has an upstairs office for him. I imagine he uses it for guests too.
I saw his wife on the driveway once and she pretended to drop something and hid behind the car. It amused me.

It's weird sometimes. Makes me very curious about what the rest of his house looks like. There isn't a separate entrance but the room is just straight down the corridor and you can't see anything else except a closed door (to the front room and kitchen, I think?) and some stairs.

I've never been brave enough to ask to use his toilet, even though I always leave really needing a wee. I think he probably would be fine with it, but I'm still scared to have my request rejected, and anyway unless he deliberately keeps it really plain I think it would be too much disclosure for me to handle. I already know so much about him just from seeing the outside of his house (overgrown but rather lovely front garden, big plants in all the front windows... plants in the front porch too.)

He lives alone, but once his brother was staying and stomping about the house coughing loudly and turning the TV up and stuff... it was very annoying! And sometimes we can hear the children next door playing out in the garden, when we've had earlier sessions. That can be strange.

Our session was interrupted by a mouse once, and occasionally I hear his phone ringing.

He wears shoes - usually normal shoes but once trainers and once sandals which I found a bit distracting.

The room itself doesn't feel any more personal than my previous T's (which wasn't in his home) did. He designed it solely for therapy so although it has a flavour of his personality (plants and pictures) it's not especially personal.

I'm so jealous

I’m allergic to cats so I must have looked so rude just smiling at this cute cat and unable to stroke or go near it. I forgot to tell T2 the reason why I didn’t.

Come to think of it, T1 also had a visitor cat but it didn’t come inside the house.

My therapist has a private practice in his home.

There's no private entrance, and when you enter his home it's the first door off the hallway. There are some stairs and then another door at the end of the hallway that's always shut, so I have no idea what the rest of his house is like. He let me know when I started that there was no bathroom for clients.

He told me when I first started that I might occasionally hear people on the stairs, but I've never heard anyone in his home. I suspect he's divorced and doesn't live with a partner. I know he does have a very young son, so I expect he doesn't stay with him the nights I have therapy.

My therapist dresses down in the summer, but the rest of the year he's in suits and business shoes. He doesn't dress down because it's his home.

The room feels very much like 'our' space. There are no pictures of family, there's a bookcase with lots of books on therapy, diplomas, and a filling cabinet. The couch is really comfy.

I like it. I think my therapist thought carefully about how and where to set up his practice - - there's even a busstop right outside his house.

So for about 3 years T had a home office. She lived alone. Her office was actually what use to be a good sized inclosed porch. It had a 3/4 bath. She had a wall built splitting the porch in half. When you first walled in there was the waiting area and bathroom. You walked through that room to get to the office. That room had the door into the house. During therapy I never went into her house. Although once she went into the kitchen to get me an ice pack and left the door open.
Her dog and cat had roam of the house as she kept the door cracked when I was there. I knew her pets well. Her dog was my buddy.

Outside of therapy though I was in every room of her house. Only once during therapy was there anybody else at the house. I had an emergency appointment one weekend and her boyfriend was there. He stayed busy doing hard work in the back. Outside therapy I met him. ,couple of times.

I saw a T for my H in his home. We had to enter through the back. His house was a mess! And smelled like old people. If we could have entered through the front, we would have entered directly into his therapy room. He had a dog there, but it just barked at us for 10mins then stopped. I don't think I'd ever want to see a T in their house again.

I think i've seen three Ts in home offices, or four counting a group i was in. the one was just another room of the house but had its own outside door, and the others were either closed off with separate entrances, or one was a separately built outside room. i felt really uncomfortable using the toilet in the two places where i did, because it was in the other part of the house, and i just didn't like being in their personal space. none of them dressed "down" or wore more casual clothes. with two of them i met their pets. the only major difference for me between seeing a T at a home office or an outside office would be feeling awkward about entering into their semi-private space. just don't like that feeling.

My T works from home. When I take my shoes off it's right by her recycling box so I find it hard not to look at what's she's been eating/drinking and read things in to it! There are also hers/her partners shoes and coats hanging on hooks. The doors to the rest of the house are closed, we go upstairs to her little room at the front of the house. Sometimes there is clean washing folded over the bannister. Sometimes there are cooking smells from lunch. Once of twice I have heard someone else (I assume her partner) in the house, which I find unsettling. The curtains to her lounge are semi drawn so I can't see in when I'm waiting at the door, but I can see a big money tree in the window, some stained glass which I wonder if she/her partner made, and bookshelf which I would love to be able to look through. I don't know if I could use her bathroom, I've never asked and it's never come up. I assume she wouldn't say no though! She does wear slippers when it's cooler, which I like. It's homely and comfortable.

My brother had a T whose cat joins them sometimes for sessions and sits in his lap, which I am very jealous of!

Thank you all for your answers--I find the difference between private practice in an office vs at home very interesting.

I see my t at her home! Sometimes she wears slippers or no shoes, o guess it’s more informal!
I use her toilet, she doesn’t have a separate door for clients.
Often there are people in her house, her nieces nephews, children! Sometimes it’s distracting to hear them walking by talking and laughing! I have never bumped into them but once a guest who was staying at ts house came into our room instead and t jumped up and escorted him to the breakfast room!
Her therapy room has pictures of her family, sons and daughters graduations which linda sucks because she has the rest of the house to hang them.

This is quite a interesting thread for me. I do not see T at home. I personally don't think I would like to really, I seem to be rare in the sense the less I know about T the better, but it's interesting to read about those that do and their experience.

I also don't see T at home but I'm super curious about him. I think if I were to see him in a space that is his, I would probably be even more attached and curious about what he's like when he's not working.

Madame T worked from home and so does Mr T.

Madame T had an office and toilet off the laundry, and patients went into the laundry through the back door. There was also a door into the rest of the house but she made it quite clear on day one that it was forever closed to me.

Over nine or ten years I encountered (in her garden) her husband, her dog, one of her daughters and her cleaning woman. All were under strict orders to stay out of the therapy suite during business hours.

PS: On one solitary occasion the door into the house was open. But all I saw was passage.

My first T had a home office but it had a separate entrance, waiting room, the therapy room, and bathroom. I only knew he lived there and actually often used the office just for himself outside of client hours because he reveals that on his social media. His private patio can also be seen from the T room. I never cared about having this information and would have also been fine with meeting him at a separate room inside his apartment, if everything was clean and neatly organized, free of personal clutter etc. Other T rents two professional offices, which was also fine with me. I have no preference really. I see clients in my home myself (not for therapy) but it is important for me that the place still be professional-looking and well-maintained as much as possible. I would be more concerned about sufficiently separating clients from their families of whoever they share their personal life with though. I grew up with a father who had his business at home and his clients (sometimes large groups of them) constantly frequented our home, it was not necessary but he would often also let them inside the private part of the house, they used our toilet etc. I experienced it as intrusive, especially given that he often wanted me to meet his costumers. Some of the people were really great and I even made friends with some but having to do that for the rest of the family all the time is not fair, IMO. I ended up often hiding in my room because of it and don't think it makes for a comfortable home life.

While not a private family residence persay, my T does work out of a large renovated 19thC character home. She shares this property with several other clinicians. I suppose I get then the curiosity about what is outside of the walls of her office. I have seen not much more than the narrow creaky set of stairs beyond the small reception desk. Apparently there is a resident dog and cat - which I have yet to see but usually hear. Also, I gather there is a working kitchen or break room present as I can hear the sounds and make out the smells of food preparation going on. I would be really interested in seeing the rest of the house. Perhaps I should ask T for a tour sometime. Anyway, I think the fact this old house is 'living' (creaking, groaning, etc) is a reason I feel such comfort in it. Only once I have been asked to wait on my arrival and that was in a beautifully appointed living room complete with large fireplace.