Psychotherapy Space

A sense of Place can evoke a range of possible meanings, one of which is Home: Place is closely connected to a sense of belonging, or not. Often for reasons we cannot explain.

If our relationship to place is as poignant as our relationship to people, how is it that Place does not figure prominently in therapy – in the literature or in practice?

Towards a more even distribution of power in therapy

Since it is normally the client who goes to see the therapist in a space determined by the therapist, the client doesn’t usually get to have a say in where they meet. It is assumed that the therapist, with their years of training, expertise and experience, will intuitively know how to create a suitable space for whatever process is being supported in therapy.

We go along with this, for the most part. Perhaps we don’t even notice how a particular space affects us. After all, we are going to see the therapist – not the room or place in which they practice. This is true enough but it doesn’t tell the whole story.

Premised on the idea that we can always do better, this initiative asks the question:
What if we started talking about the therapy space and exploring how an approach more inclusive of Place might enrich our experience of therapy?

For example, how does a therapist go about choosing the chairs to furnish the room with? What if a person feels constrained when sitting on a chair and would rather locate themselves on the floor? Can this be accommodated? What if meeting in a room per se is a problem. Someone once told me they could never consider therapy because the thought of meeting with a stranger in a space as intimate as a room was intolerable.

The purpose of this initiative is to invite people to reflect on the significance of Place – the therapy space in particular – and how therapy can be more cognizant of and hence more inclusive of the space.

How might the therapy space look, feel and function if we articulated our thoughts and feelings on the subject?

Psychotherapyspace.org is a place where people can do just that: Get in touch with the spaces and places that are meaningful, become more aware of their environment, embody their experience, find their voice and tell their stories of Place in words, images, movement, and sound, in whatever combined forms of expression that are unique to them.

This community arts initiative invites us to step outside the familiar and ask the questions that are waiting to be asked.

Scheduled to commence in 2025.