I sit at a desk but turn to face clients who sit on their choice of a love seat or chair. Whether or not you utilize a desk depends a lot on how you work. Some counseling offices don’t use a desk at while others feature one prominently. You may not have many options here depending on where you work. Arranging an office can depend on a lot of factors such as placement of doors, windows, electrical, phone outlets and furniture. We also need ready access to an exit for both ourselves and our clients. How are you going to connect with a desk in between you? What message does this arrangement send? We need to be able to face our clients with a reasonable (and sometimes variable) distance between. I can’t begin to tell you how many counselors I’ve seen set up client seats on the opposite side of their desk. This is probably one of the hardest things to get right but also one of the most important. So whether you’re just starting out and assigned to the worst space in the building or you’ve been at this for a while and have the corner office, there are several factors to consider when setting up your office. The space you create is as much a part of your non-verbal communication as the way you sit or how you dress. I’ve also been in a few that look more like a probation office than a therapeutic environment. I’ve seen counseling offices that feel like stepping into a spa waiting room. You can have the nicest office around but if you can’t connect and relate with your clients, it’s likely all for naught. I mention all this to say that the office does not make the counselor.

I’d like to think I still did okay counseling in that office and really learned a lot there. There’s a good chance I had my diploma hanging on the wall but that was probably about it since I wasn’t fully licensed yet. I had a few personal items in the office and seem to remember bringing some of my counseling related textbooks to put on a shelf. There wasn’t much insulation and the furniture likely came from some abandoned building someplace.

It was once the utility room located just off the back porch of an old house that had been converted into an office. I was thinking about counseling office decor and was reminded of one of my first counseling offices.

Therapist office decor