I've never had a therapist suggest that they thought I was ready to "graduate". While having some complicated problems, I'm a fairly low maintenance client, being an unvolatile person with good insurance, so I can never be too sure how these factors balance out where a therapist's inclination to view the relationship as being valuable is concerned.

However, I know that a relationship with a therapist has run its course when I'm no longer learning from the process, and there's always a point at which I've gleaned all I can from a collaboration. This is true whether I've found a therapist to generally be helpful or not. One really great one I was with for many years I got to know so well (he was not the type that was uncomfortable with disclosures) that I felt like I'd fully absorbed his material essence, was absolutely imbued with wisdom he'd had a better chance to come across in life and was able to impart to me, making his perspective a welcome component of my own. It wouldn't have been right for me to pester him with my problems after a certain point, because he had already so generously made his truth a part of my own, so that even though I get along with him great and could gab with him in perpetuity, it was the right thing to do to release my regular appointment so that he could help another person. I don't want to be greedy at the expense of another person's potentially more needed healing.

But the knowing when it's time is the same for me, whether I've found the therapy to be good or bad: when I know I've gotten all I can reasonably get out of the connection, it's time to move on. When I've trusted various providers advising me that they were sure I needed more time with them even when I've felt that not to be the case, the extra time was never worth it, for me... hence my never really being sure as to how the aforementioned factors affect their outlook.