I had a t decide to retire who gave me about a year's notice. I found it devastating. I had been seeing him twice a week for 4 years and we were a long way from finished, which he admitted (like yours). I spent the next 6 months or so hating that he was retiring, going in each session and crying and feeling awful, was pretty consumed by the whole thing. Eventually he agreed with me that each session was just re-traumatizing me and that it made sense to just quit. I was seeing two other ts at the time and they were both also supportive of me quitting with the retiring t. I put my defiant teenage part in charge and quit.

It took me a while to recover. I think it was at least 6 months before I felt anything other than evil thoughts about him. I finally reached a place where I felt bad for him because the person he was grooming to take over the practice bailed on him.

I don't know if it would have been better to stay on with him or not. I replaced him with t3, who has been immensely helpful. She practices in an entirely different way and I am making more progress with her than I did with him. So from that point of view it was better to stop with the retiring t.

I wish I had something to offer to help you through this. But all I can say is that I understand how devastating it is.

I do agree that starting with a new t before you end with the retiring one is a good idea.