Just an abstract question I was wondering about. How are therapists supposed to keep boundaries regarding crises that happen outside of sessions? People often post on here about boundaries regarding email, texts and calls outside of sessions. But what about real crises, such as clients feeling suicidal or calling with other major, genuine emergencies? I suppose full time therapists might have 20-40 clients at a time, some steady, some rotating in and out (I don't know, just a guess). With that many clients, it doesn't seem too unlikely that several clients would be having crises during the same week, and that the therapist could be dealing with one or more crises most every week (again, just guessing). Does anyone know if this seems accurate?

And crises could be happening at any time of the day or night. I guess I'm wondering to what extent are a therapist's responses to a crisis likely to be based on their own needs to keep their boundaries? I know in real life it varies a lot and sometimes they are really generous and spend quite a while helping people during a crisis. How can they do that and not have their personal or family life interrupted frequently? I guess I'm also wondering what is the minimum amount of help that might be reasonable to expect in a crisis. Some people post about therapists doing lousy things like dumping them immediately after a crisis. Is that common? How are therapists taught to decide about how much time to give a client in a crisis?