Hello Deer Heart: It sounds to me as though you have this whole situation very well sized up, as they say. I'd like to congratulate you on that! I don't have allot of experience with therapists. I've seen a few over the years. But I never found one I thought was worth the expense. From my perspective, I think the most important thing here is that you have been completely honest with your T. So I would say just keep being that open & honest & see where things lead. Then, if it turns out your T is going to refer you on, it seems to me there's no problem taking a break. I'm impressed your T would go to the lengths she wants to go to. Therapists I've seen just take your money for as long as you want to come in. And they never refer out. (That would be taking money out of their pockets.) Cat sounds like a great T! Good luck!