In my relationship with my T, that worked for us. It didn't start out that way, but our relationship grew and deepened over time. I saw her for 5 1/2 years and she always remembered my birthday, gave me tight hugs, sat next to me when I was having a hard time, said "I love you" etc. She was my T but we also had a "real" human connection (platonic of course). That kind of relationship doesn't work for everyone, but it felt right for us. She stopped practicing back in November and we are now transitioning into something more akin to a friendship/acquaintanceship. It's going extremely well; our connection has managed to translate into the real world without any sense of disappointment, hurt feelings, unmet expectations, etc. We see each other every couple of weeks and we both look forward to it. This kind of post-therapy friendship isn't right for everyone, but I'm really glad that is going so well for us.