I've only seen my current therapist a few times, but she's already done a couple of good things that might fit your criteria:
1) Her office has a rainbow flag sticker and a few small posters with feminist sayings on them (which might be bad news for some clients, but I really appreciated not having to spend any time or energy sussing out her views on those things).
2) I'm not comfortable with a lot of effusive praise or sympathy, and I associate this discomfort with social class -- I grew up in a poor neighbourhood, with people who were struggling, and so strength was prized above all else. Where I grew up, you don't praise people you respect because to do so makes remarkable a thing which should be taken for granted. You also don't sympathize because it's rude to point out you noticed how someone else is vulnerable.
I think my current therapist is coming from a really different background and I'm fairly certain her personally preferred mode of communicating is not much like mine, but within the first few minutes of our initial visit, she'd picked up on what's comfortable for me and had adjusted herself accordingly. Most therapists I've had have probably come from similarly different class backgrounds, but none has managed that particular adjustment as gracefully -- and some have tried to force me to adopt their norms, thinking my discomfort was related to low self-esteem and refusing to believe me when I explained it is not. (I know I've handled all the shit in my life pretty awesomely, considering! I do not need to pay someone to tell me that.)
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Date: 2012-08-08 12:51 am (UTC)1) Her office has a rainbow flag sticker and a few small posters with feminist sayings on them (which might be bad news for some clients, but I really appreciated not having to spend any time or energy sussing out her views on those things).
2) I'm not comfortable with a lot of effusive praise or sympathy, and I associate this discomfort with social class -- I grew up in a poor neighbourhood, with people who were struggling, and so strength was prized above all else. Where I grew up, you don't praise people you respect because to do so makes remarkable a thing which should be taken for granted. You also don't sympathize because it's rude to point out you noticed how someone else is vulnerable.
I think my current therapist is coming from a really different background and I'm fairly certain her personally preferred mode of communicating is not much like mine, but within the first few minutes of our initial visit, she'd picked up on what's comfortable for me and had adjusted herself accordingly. Most therapists I've had have probably come from similarly different class backgrounds, but none has managed that particular adjustment as gracefully -- and some have tried to force me to adopt their norms, thinking my discomfort was related to low self-esteem and refusing to believe me when I explained it is not. (I know I've handled all the shit in my life pretty awesomely, considering! I do not need to pay someone to tell me that.)