There is also the change frequency option - spreading out appointments from, for example, weekly to every two weeks to monthly etc unless that is what you mean by taper off. It seems different to me than the pick a date and stick with it option. There are probably other options too.

I don't think their is, amongst their ilk, a consensus about what is accepted as common or uncommon. There may be more agreement on healthier from their point of view of going and telling them rather than just stopping after a phone call or email - but I would not label it healthy or unhealthy because I think a lot of it is for the benefit of the therapist rather than the client - I suggest doing what one finds more or less useful for ones own self. I read a few books on termination and visited several therapists to get an understanding of it and rarely did the information match up, certainly not enough to say there is agreement on right or wrong ways. The ones I see regularly have said it is the client's choice and never talk about it unless I mention it, others start talking about it from the very start, some therapy types are intentionally short term and so forth. Good luck with it.