Maybe this therapist is just more honest than most. What are therapists doing in many cases if not having a strange sort of paid friendship with their clients, or maybe paid mentorship? Many of them talk about the therapeutic alliance as the main thing. To me that is code for paid friendship. When a therapist says "we are friends" I can see how that adds to the already confusing and ambiguous nature of therapy. But in my experience, not saying this does not make things any clearer. In fact when therapists insist on framing things in clinical terms, then proceed to cultivate the sort of familiarity and intimate disclosure normally associated with friend and partner relationships, seems just as confusing to me.