ABSTRACT
Nearly 30 years ago, I was working 20 hours a week in a clinical position and the other 20 at a university job. One day, when I came to work, I discovered that the office where I saw clients had been changed. I had been moved to a room with a small screen dividing me from another employee, an accountant for the hospital I worked for. The “system,” in its infinite wisdom, wanted to maximize office space and make working more efficient. The powers above decided that because I was a half-time employee, I needed only half an office. The fact that I had no privacy to do therapy seemed irrelevant. Needless to say, I left within a very short time because this was clearly an environment where I could not do my job. If one of the requirements of psychotherapy is having a safe place where clients can express themselves, this was one where neither the therapist nor the client could talk-literally-for fear of being heard.
