I feel like this has been discussed before but didn't have success in my search for a thread. My T, who I currently see twice a week, is going out of town for a week in mid-February. He'd be able to look at/reply to email once a day but not be reachable by phone/text. He said he could offer me a colleague as a backup T who I could potentially see for a session or otherwise contact that week. I'm debating whether to do this. He said if I did, he'd want to give her a very brief background on me, like not giving her my file, just a quick sort of description.

Has anyone done this before? Has it been helpful? I'm contemplating scheduling a single session with her during that week, figuring I could have someone to talk to if I needed to. (I think I'd feel weird calling or emailing someone I'd never met.) But I'm also curious as to what he'd tell her about me. I assume I could ask him? Like would he just say "She has generalized anxiety and OCD plus some issues with depression and is trying to cut back on drinking" or would he give other sorts of details? Again, I guess I could just ask...but I imagine I could also say I'd rather just fill her in myself. But...it would save time if she knew some background stuff. Yet I think I worry he'd be like "She's prone to attachment and jumping to conclusions and projecting stuff on you." But maybe that's not the sort of stuff he'd share if I'd be seeing her a single time? I don't know...

In addition to just getting support that week, I'm curious as to what it would be like to talk to someone else for a session. Perhaps she could give me a new way of looking at something? And she could be someone potentially to go to if I needed a different perspective in the future? But any feedback on this would help!