Shared therapy room: start a practice without your own space

Who this article is for: therapists who are setting up their own practice or weighing up where and how to meet clients in person.

You’ve finished your training, you have your first clients, and you’re wondering where to see them. A room of your own sounds appealing, but rent, furnishing and utilities add up fast.

The short answer: you don’t always need your own therapy room to start working with clients. You can begin online, in a shared therapy room rented by the hour, or with a mix of both.

Do you need your own therapy room at the start?

Picturing a room you’ve furnished your way is perfectly natural. But in the first months of practice you’re often seeing only a handful of clients a week.

Paying for a full month of space you’ll use for a few hours a week can be an unnecessary financial strain early on. You also may not yet know where your clients will be based, which times suit them, or how many sessions a week you’ll have.

Fortunately, there are other routes. You can start online, in a shared therapy room, or with a combination of the two. You can sort out a space of your own once your practice is steadier and you know more precisely what you need.

Online or in person: which is better for you?

You can offer therapy entirely online. For many therapists it’s a natural first step: no cost for a space, no commute, and you’re not tied to one city. But online isn’t right for every client or every topic. Some parts of the therapeutic relationship are harder to build through a screen.

Here are the main differences worth weighing up:

In practice, a combination of both often works well. The first meeting, which matters for building trust, can take place in person. Later sessions then continue online or in person, depending on what the client needs and can manage.

How does a shared therapy room work by the hour?

If you want to see clients in person too, you don’t have to sign a long-term lease straight away. You can use spaces that someone has already furnished and rents out for shorter periods, often by the hour. Every therapy room sets its own terms, but most offers fall into one of the following models.

Hourly rental is the most flexible option. You pay only for the time you spend with a client. Slots are usually booked through an online calendar, and sometimes you prepay for a bundle of hours as credits. This model suits you best when you still have only a few clients a week.

A regular day or half-day means the room is yours, say, every Tuesday. You pay a fixed monthly sum and don’t need to worry about whether your favourite slot is free. It works well once your client base is steadier.

Sharing with a colleague means splitting the days of the week with someone who already rents the space. Costs are shared, and you often gain a professional colleague to consult, so the work can feel less lonely.

A community therapy centre offers more than a room: peer supervision, client referrals and help getting your practice off the ground. For new therapists, that support can be just as valuable as the space itself.

What to check before you agree

Before signing a contract or making your first booking, it’s worth checking a few practical things:

• cancellation terms
• whether you can put the address on your website
• how clients get into the building
• whether there’s a waiting room
• soundproofing

Where to find a therapy room in Czechia and Slovakia

Below is a list of therapy rooms we know about. Prices and availability change, so always confirm the terms directly with the operator (as of October 2026). Many therapy rooms don’t advertise anywhere and work only through a small community, so ask colleagues too, or see the Facebook groups below.

Slovakia

In Slovakia we don’t yet know of a therapy room with online hourly booking like those in Prague. Most of what’s on offer is shared spaces and listings from colleagues.

Know of another therapy room in Slovakia, especially outside Bratislava? Write to us and we’ll gladly add it.

Czechia

Where else to look for free therapy rooms

Facebook groups

Free therapy rooms often show up in community groups first, before they’re advertised on the web:

• Prague: https://www.facebook.com/groups/856501034406460/
• Moravia: https://www.facebook.com/groups/426857847681669/
• All of Czechia: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1749103506044242/

Terapie.cz

Terapie.cz runs therapy rooms in Prague, Brno and Olomouc. Therapists there pay only for the hours they use the room. Besides the space, it offers a community, peer supervision and help finding clients. You’ll find more information here: https://www.terapie.cz/pro-terapeuty

How Lumi helps you work both online and in a therapy room

Combining online sessions with a therapy room by the hour is a sensible start for many therapists. It does bring one challenge: keeping track of when, where and in what form you’re working.

That’s exactly where Lumi helps. Its booking system keeps you in control:

• you choose which times you offer online and which in the therapy room,
• you decide which services you offer online and which only in person,
• clients can book only what you actually offer them.

You have your calendar, clients, bookings and payments in one place, which leaves more time for therapy itself. You can try Lumi for free, no credit card needed.

Summary

Your own therapy room isn’t a precondition for starting a practice. At the beginning you can work online, rent a room by the hour or for a regular day, or combine both. When choosing a space, check the cancellation terms, how clients get in, and whether you can put the address on your website. Look for offers from therapy room operators, on professional portals and in Facebook groups.

Know of other therapy rooms?

Write to us at [email protected] and we’ll add it to the list.