Quote:
Originally Posted by cmac13
WOW! I can relate to your two posts. My therapist has been working with me for 19 years. She is now 66. She retired from her fulltime job as a therapist in a hospital last year but continues in her private practice 4 days a week. She is in private practice with 2 other therapists. She told me that they are moving their offices in about a month back to the original one we started out in 19 years ago. She told me she signed on with her colleagues for 2 years but was not sure after that. Why do I feel so anxious. 2 years is a long time but it really worries me because this is the closest I have ever come to having a caring compasionate mother like figure in my life and I cannot imagine not knowing her. I try to talk about it but I never can really get the words out.
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Hi Cmac13,
Yes, we do have some commonalities. My t is in her early 60's, and she had told me previously that when she retired, she would go back to having a private practice and continue seeing me as a patient. However, a few months later, when i mentioned something about termination, she said "If I were retiring now, I'd be helping you transition and look for another therapist." I immediately thought, "But what about the idea of continuing your practice when you retire?" But i didn't have the heart to bring it up.
Since then, I've assumed that she must have given up on the idea of continuing to be a t when she retires. I've wanted to ask her about it, but i feel wrong about it. I don't want to make her feel obligated somehow to keep seeing me as a patient if she wants to just retire and be done with it and enjoy her life.
I understand your worries, even though you don't know what's coming 2 years from now. I figure i may only have another 1 or 2 years with my t before she retires. I wonder if I'll be ready to terminate therapy when she retires, or if i'll need to start with someone new? After all this time with my t, i don't want to start all over. I think i'd rather be ready to end therapy myself at the same time, if it can work out that way.