How ‘house therapy’ can make your space feel more homey

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Different forms of therapy abound: psychotherapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, therapy for our pets. Now add “house therapy,” a multidisciplinary approach to our living spaces that combines elements of interior design, professional organizing and household management.

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If you’ve ever walked into your house and thought, “Why doesn’t this feel right?” the answer might be to seek a house therapist. “Something isn’t working, but you don’t necessarily know what the solution is,” says Cara Woodhouse, an interior designer and co-author of “It’s a Mood: Your Home. Your Vibe.” Rooms that nobody uses, a chaotic entryway, closets that make getting dressed stressful, furniture that interrupts the natural flow of a room or poor lighting are problems a house therapist might help solve.

“House therapy identifies those friction points and then uses design, organization, editing, functionality and sometimes very small changes to make the home feel better,” Woodhouse says. It asks us to consider the relationship between ourselves and our homes, and to make changes accordingly. “Your house should support the way you actually live, not the way you think you’re supposed to live,” she adds. “That’s where house therapy can be incredibly valuable.”

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Traditional interior design is externally focused on what a room should look like, says Anita Yokota, a licensed therapist, an interior designer and the author of “Home Therapy” and “Grounded Living.” A house therapist dives deeper.

“I start internally,” Yokota says. “How do you want to feel here? How do you want your relationships to function here? What’s creating stress or friction? Then I use interior design, organization, psychology, neuroscience and biophilic design (an approach to interior design that uses natural elements) as tools to answer those questions.” The goal is to create a beautiful home, she adds, “but one that also reduces cognitive load, supports the nervous system, and makes everyday life and connection easier.”

House therapy goes well beyond decorating, says Olga Naiman, an interior designer and the author of “Spatial Alchemy: Design Your Home to Transform Your Life.” “A house therapist is someone who designs the home with a deep awareness of how it will shape your psyche,” she says.

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A house therapist combines elements of professional organizers, who bring order and systems to the things you already own; house managers, who manage and oversee daily operations and logistics; and interior designers, who focus on the aesthetics of a home.

“A house therapist connects the dots between the problem you’re having in your life and how your home is designed,” says Naiman, who offers online sessions that start at $400 for an evaluation to identify patterns and to give clients a strategy and framework. In-person consultations are also available. Her pricing is in line with that of traditional interior design services, which typically start at $300 for a consultation and $200 to $500 an hour for hands-on work.

“A house therapist starts with the person,” Woodhouse says, by asking about sources of frustration, what you love about your home, what you might be avoiding and, most crucially, how you want to feel when you come home.

House therapy begins with conversations while exploring the house. “We identify where their home is reinforcing unwanted patterns and outdated identities,” Naiman says.

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One of Naiman’s clients grew up in an unsafe, chaotic home because of substance abuse and “carried that pattern into her life,” she says. “I saw it everywhere in her house. Every table she owned had skinny, rickety legs. Her home felt airy-fairy. Nothing in that house was rooted.” They redesigned the space with stability in mind, “and the home became the expression of a new pattern instead of a reinforcement of the old one.”

Many of Naiman’s clients seek house therapy after being in traditional therapy. “[They] are ready to align their home with the insights they’ve had there. It’s one thing to say in a therapist’s office that you’ve never felt safe in your body. It’s another to design your home to give your inner child the safety and nourishing they always yearned for and didn’t receive,” she says. “Designing your home to re-parent your inner child, to give them what they longed for and never got, is a powerful approach.”

“Most of what people bring me falls into three areas – health, wealth and relationships,” Naiman says. “I believe the home holds the key to much of that. It can be beautiful and still be blocking you in the exact ways you feel stuck in your life.”

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When a client mentions problems in their romantic relationships, for example, Naiman draws a connection to a bedroom that isn’t designed with intimacy in mind. “What I see most often are all-white, minimalist bedrooms that lack both sensuality and pulse, unbalanced rooms where one side has weight and the other has nothing, or art that is chaotic, aggressive, pointy or melancholic,” she says. “Can you see the symbolism?”

After working to reimagine their bedrooms, some of Naiman’s single clients have reported meeting partners, and some married couples say their relationships deepened.

House therapy, Yokota says, “helps create environments where the nervous system can feel safer, calmer and more nurtured. I want people to understand that their environment is already affecting how they think, feel, connect and function and that you can feel transformed inside and out in your own home.”

Transitions, too, are a time to consider calling upon a house therapist. House therapy can be particularly helpful during major life changes, such as moving into a new home, combining households, having children, becoming empty nesters, working from home, going through a divorce or losing a partner. Naiman, who is not a licensed therapist, calls herself an alchemist. “Alchemy is the ancient art of transformation,” she says. “The clients who come to me are the ones ready for a big transformation in their lives, often right around a threshold moment.”

Woodhouse, too, feels strongly that our homes have an enormous effect on our energy, mindset, routines and relationships. “When your surroundings work for you, there is an ease to everyday life that you can actually feel,” she says. “That’s what house therapy is really about – creating a home that takes care of you as well as you take care of it.”

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