I'm sorry this happened. It's not a good situation and both therapists should have taken better care. If the 2nd. therapist recognized your name, he should have NEVER booked the appointment in the first place. He didn't have to give a reason, he should have just stated he didn't have any available appointments. And if he was working with your therapist as a "supervisor/consultant", he shouldn't know your name in the first place. It is possible that he only "recognized" you after meeting with you because of the issues your discussed, but even then, he should have thanked you for meeting with him and gently told you that he didn't think he was the right therapist for you. Letting you know that he KNEW about your issues with your current therapist is wrong and broke confidentiality for both you and YOUR current therapist.

I'd check your State regulations for his licensing group. If you choose to report this, you might very well have a case. The other thing to talk about your therapist is why he was discussing your case in supervision or therapy and breaking confidentiality. He can't casually discuss cases with other therapist friends, that is a no no in ALL States. In supervision, he is suppose to disguise his cases and not mention names. Unfortunately, in small towns, even disguising information isn't enough, but the supervisor should be skilled enough to handle the situation in a more professional manner. Where I lived and worked, it was a rule that therapist had to notify their clients if they had a supervisor and all efforts were made to disguise and keep the identity of their clients private and confidential.

A way to avoid this ever happening again is never, ever go to your therapist's therapist. Reality is that they do talk openly and intimately about their clients with their own therapists. We would all hope that they would take good care to disguise our identities, but since I'm a little paranoid, I'd advise never banking on that. Better to be safe than sorry. Yalom talks about these kinds of situations as "incestuous"--therapist 1 is seeing therapist 2, therapist 3 is dating therapist 1 and works in the same clinic as therapist 2. It makes for an uncomfortable triangle. Or Client 1 is seeing therapist A who is married to Client 1's primary physician. The relationships each person has muddies the therapy and can lead to difficulties just as you have mentioned. I hope you're able to find a way through this.