Yeah, I started therapy back in the olden days before the internet and definitely before cell phones. So, I never had the expectation of emails or texts. Picking up the old landline phone and calling was the only option. It wasn't until I restarted therapy the last time that email and texting could have been an option, but honestly, fortunately, my therapist didn't offer either. It helped learn to sit with emotions a bit and give myself time to work through whatever was going on - kind of an important skill. IF I picked up that phone to make a phone call, my therapist knew I had tried to deal on my own and the call was emergent - so did I.

My pdoc once told me he always knew if I was calling, it was an emergency, that I had never called him for a reason that could have or should have waited, and he encouraged me to always always tell the answering service it was an emergency if I was needing to contact him. Yes, he had patients who abused contact, but I wasn't one of them. (That whole conversation came up because I called his answering service the gatekeepers - LOL - and he told me to just tell them it is an emergency and they'd contact him.)