Quote:
Originally Posted by awkwardlyyours
Una, I don't think that's fair.
Either the T knew beforehand that he'd take this day off or he didn't know until the last minute.
If the former, going by my experience, he would let clients know as soon as he knows and ask them if they want an alternate session or a check-in or at the very least, allow clients to express whatever they're feeling.
If the latter, same protocol, with an added apology for the last minute notice.
It's entirely the client's -- not at all the therapist's -- prerogative on whether or not they choose to focus on that for the remainder of the session.
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Personally, I'd want to know at the start of session if my T was planning to miss the next one. This happened a couple months in to seeing my current T, where he let me know right at the end of session. Luckily, that hadn't been a particularly intense session, so I was OK with it. But had it been a really intense session, it would have bothered me, because then I wouldn't have seen him for 2 weeks. If I knew at the beginning, it might keep me from delving into a particularly sensitive area, where I could end up feeling either insecure about T (like, is he judging me?) or just really raw emotionally, and then left to hang on my own for 2 weeks.
Actually, I think this may be something to mention to T at next session: "In the future, if you know you're going to be out the next week, could you let me know at the beginning of session?" It might even be good to see if he has any upcoming time in next month when he knows he'll be out, like a conference or planned vacation--not to pry into why he'll be away, just to know. Because then, too, if I know he'll be out one week, maybe I'd see if I could do 2 sessions the week before (he has a pretty flexible schedule), or else see him later rather than earlier in the week before he'd be away.
ETA: Obviously, if it's something he wouldn't know about in advance, like he or his kid is sick, he has to go to a funeral, etc., that's different.