when My therapist first started doing this to me, suggested / asked whether I wanted to space out my sessions it did make me a bit nervous .....until.... I asked him/her about it.

I found out it was a required thing with that mental health agency requires of their therapists. they had previously run into a problem with insurance plans.

you may remember back a few years when the USA enacted a federal law that all Americans must have basic health insurance, that includes mental health plans.

The health plans can come in the form of being enrolled through the state (welfare, SSI and so forth Medicaid, Medicare), the workplace (employee benefit packages) or private insurance plans (blue cross, blue shield and so forth). There was even a big website you rarely hear about today where Americans could sign up for various types of health insurance plans.

well long story short with all americans required to have health insurance, insurance companies had to do some changes.

some now go by a "point value system" or "so many appointments per year". Think of it like a bank. you have so much in your bank account and must space out your spending in a way that lasts you the whole year.

imagine having 25,000 and that has to last you 12 months. you get to month 6 and realize you dont have any money left to cover everything for the rest of the year, you end up having to go with out for 6 months,

finally one day someone explains to you that your insurance only pays for so many sessions and you get to decide how you spend those sessions and whether you do nothing or get things done.

do I use them all up by going to therapy ....more.... than once a week?

Do I want to use them by going once a week?

do I look at that number of sessions in my "account" and space it out in a way that gives me a chance to see my therapist all year.

Do I do a bit of extra spacing the appointments out so that it not only gives me enough appointments to see my therapist all year and have a few left over for those emergency appointments that sometimes come up.

Now that I know how it works when the question comes up about whether I want more time between appointments I choose the last option....

I add more space between appointments so that not only will my insurance cover all my appointments for the year, I will also have enough coverage left over for emergencies.

most if not all mental health agencies in the USA let the client decide how they want to schedule their appointments and how to spend their allotted time in therapy.

tips to manage this new point system -

I always enter therapy with a plan of what my problem is and at least 3 goals I want to accomplish by being in therapy.

I always enter therapy with an idea that because my insurance plan pays out for 52 sessions. that amounts to going weekly (4 therapy sessions a month) if I dont want any extra sessions.

I also know myself, my family issues, my life style and work issues. they all at times affect my life in one way or another, so do I think I may need an extra session placed somewhere to deal with those things yes.

so that narrows my regularly scheduled sessions down some more, to where I attend therapy every other week instead of weekly. that allows for me to see my therapist all year (26 sessions) and allows for the 4 psychiatry appointments for meds renewals per year for a total of 30 sessions.

this leaves 12 sessions through out the year to be put in for those times I may need an emergency appointment or an extra sesssion slipped in due to stress and hard times.

by setting up my schedule this way I can rest assured that Im not going to over draw or zero balance my "health care bank account"