I answered "other" because I'm not sure, mostly regarding my marriage counselor. The fact that he allows me to e-mail and text, and occasionally talk on the phone, with him individually could be considered unusual for a marriage counseling situation. It came up recently with my T, who's in the same practice, and she said she if she was counseling a couple, she probably wouldn't feel comfortable talking to one of them outside of joint sessions, though she said that's also just how she operates when she works with couples (I think she mostly sees individuals).

I know MC sees some other couples (along with individuals, particularly teens/young adults, which are his specialty). But I have no idea if he allows individual contact for any of those couples. It's a bit more complicated, because I have the transference thing with him, so he and I also had a couple individual, in-person sessions to deal with that early last year. Now he's said he wouldn't want to do that (because it could potentially interfere with the couples counseling and also my therapy with my T), but he's fine with e-mails/texts and occasional phone calls. I generally tell H about them either at the time or afterward, sometimes showing him the e-mails, and we'll often discuss stuff that came up there in session. So it's not like a big secret. And H says he's OK with it. But it may be a bit unorthodox in terms of couples counseling, so could potentially qualify as "special treatment."

I should add that we were seeing him off and on for a year or more before any of this came up (though I did e-mail him once or twice with a question on an upcoming session). And it's been less than a year that I've had his cell number. So I think at first, it was to address the transference, then there were still some lingering issues regarding that (still come up from time to time, which apparently is common with that sort of thing). Then there have been a few occasions where I've really needed support, like earlier this year, and have reached out to him in addition to my T (he's especially good at reassuring me.) T realizes that he helps me, and she's OK with my contacting him in addition to her in times of crisis (we've discussed it). So I think this is a case of tailoring boundaries to the needs of the specific client, as some others have mentioned.