Quote:
Originally Posted by justafriend306
Geesh. Apparently I am backwards. I just find it incredibly hard to believe I am the only one around here who respects the right for their mental healthcare professional to have a private life. So much transference around here as an example. I would think if you truly cared about your psychiatrists and psychologists you would in earnest do so. To not seems so illogical.
Yes I had a hard time coming to terms with the fact my dad put first those he was counselling. He may have 'agreed' to this professionally - but I certainly didn't. So think about that family. Their parent may have made an unrealistic commitment - BUT THEY DIDN'T. How does it not make sense to respect this? If it can't wait until when the office reopens maybe it is bad enough to seek immediate attention: ER? Crisis Line?
Sorry folks but I stand firm on this.
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Hi just a friend,
I disagree with you, but I can empathise in a big way.
My husband works as a co-manager for a company that provides supported living accommodation for those with fairly severe mental health issues, and he's on call half the time. Staff and tenants would call all hours, and two thirds of the time if I'd overhear the phone conversations I'd think, "Could this REALLY not have waited till morning?" People would call at 1am to say the boiler's broken and what should they do. Or that someone was watching porn in the privacy of their own room, and what should they do?
I never minded my husband being called out for genuine emergencies, but more often than not it seemed our time was being intruded on for no good reason. So I get it. I get it.
But at the end of the day, how my husband deals with with work is on him. He'd set boundaries that it was OK to call him anytime, so people did. So if a therapist sets boundaries and tells the client it's OK to talk to them, it's not on the client to guess whether that's true or not.
My husband had to be the one to change the boundaries. When we got to the fourth month of not having had a weekend to ourselves I told my husband it was too much -- and he changed. He will cut conversations very short if there's no emergency and he will be very clear with his staff when they've called him unecessarily. If someone is calling past 10pm, it better damn well be a real life and death crisis.
My husband now has boundaries that work for his job and for his family. But that was never on his tenants and staff to figure out.
So if Scarlet has a standing agreement with her therapist to email Sundays, it's OK for her to email. It's not Scarlet's job to guess.
I'm sorry your dad didn't manage this in a way that was more balanced with your needs. I am often taken aback by the level of outside contact therapists allow on this forum -- there is no way I'd be OK with tenants calling my husband while we were on holiday, for example.