Creating your ideal therapeutic container
At Most Familiar, our specialty is designing sustainable, beautiful, and budget-conscious therapeutic spaces. Through uniquely curated design, we can transform your office into a healing space that fosters comfort, connection, and creativity, so you and your clients can do your best work together.
We know that our physical space influences the therapeutic process
Therapy is an embodied experience, and the space around us tells a story and sets the tone; when you enter a room you can feel it. We love creating spaces that reflect the unique presence that each healing practitioner brings to their work, and welcomes their clients into the relationship. We also love craigslist.
Maybe interior design isn’t your thing, or you hate furniture shopping. Maybe you’re so busy running your practice that you don’t have time to choose a couch, search Offer-Up, and set up your new, dreamy, office space. Maybe you’d like to bring more beauty on top of a grey carpet and blank walls. It can be done!
This is where we step in. Together, we work with the pieces you already have and find the pieces you don’t to create your ideal therapeutic container; an authentic expression of who you are as a therapist, creating a safe and beautiful space for your clients.
Well-designed, aesthetically appealing therapeutic spaces have a positive impact on client affect, therapeutic relationship, therapeutic outcomes and therapist job satisfaction.
Positive interactions occur more often and clients engage in more self-disclosure in warm, intimate spaces when compared to sparse and undecorated offices.
Chaikin et al., 1976, p. 479; Amato & McInnes, 1983; Russell & Mehrabain, 1978; Sommer, 1974.
Light and color have been found to influence job performance and satisfaction. With the emotional cost of holding space for clients, creating a container where therapists feel calm, integrated, and inspired is a simple way to offset the burden of our particular work.
Bitner, 1992; Pearson, M., & Wilson, H, 2012.
Soft and natural lighting in counseling offices can support self-disclosure, reduce the risk of depression, create a more favorable impression of the counselor, and are perceived by both clients and counselors as more desirable. Let’s ditch the fluorescents and get you some beautiful lamps.
Miwa & Hanyu, 2006; Pressley & Heesacker, 2001.
Clients may judge their the professional competence of their therapist based on how they decorate their office with furniture, lighting, color, and artwork. Investing in beautiful office communicates to your clients that you’re invested in the work you do together.
Devlin et al, 2009.
What makes our approach to design unique?
We value the therapeutic space. Therapy is one of the most meaningful ways two people can spend an hour, and your office should be a reflection of that co-creation; We don’t design boring cookie-cutter offices out of an IKEA box- not to imply we don’t love IKEA, because we do (especially secondhand)! We believe therapists deserve beautiful workspaces that honor the beauty of their calling.
We value eclecticism and authenticity. We’re going to walk you through the process of finding your professional and coherent style, as a reflection of who you are as person and therapist.
We value sustainability and enhancing what you already love. We’re going to use the pieces you have in new ways, and buy your new pieces majority secondhand, where we can. This not only saves you money, sustainably uses what already exists, creates less waste, but it also lends itself to beautiful design with one-of-a-kind pieces that come together to create a special space of your own.
We value a seamless design process. We do the busy work alongside the creative work- we project manage, take the measurements, find the pieces, haul them in, and set it all up.
the process
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the process 〰️
consultation
Let’s chat! We’ll get an idea of what you’re looking for and how we can support you in achieving it. We’ll assess for the scope of your project and we’ll begin to sketch a budget and timeline.
dream board
The fun starts! Show us your pinterest boards, favorite furniture pieces, examples of what you find beautiful, and we will send you off with some design inspiration of our own for your feedback.
design meeting
dream board in hand, we meet to see either your current space, or new space, and begin to plan. We finalize details like budget, timeline, and what pieces you’ll be reusing and what we’ll be purchasing.
reveal
Maybe it’s this dramatic (we’ve been known to completely overhaul an office on a single weekend day!), or maybe you’ve been using your office while we make adjustments on your days off. Either way, at some point your office will be all put together, and revealing it to you is our favorite part.
execution
now you can sit back (or send us links because you’re so excited), while we get to collecting all your favorite colors and cushions and find you the perfect couch.
live in it
spaces are not stagnant, and learning what you value in a space takes living in it, and letting it change as you do. We offer a touch-up call if you need it, for advice or help re-evaluating.
