frustrated with scheduling

I had a T appointment today. My last one was on March 17. Nearly 3 weeks ago. I'm supposed to be coming in every two weeks, but it seems as though every time we try to set the next appointment nothing is available. Today we were scheduling my next visit and she nearly made it three weeks from today (next available morning appointment) but I asked for a different time slot so I could come in sooner. So I see her again 2 weeks from Friday. Not much sooner, but better than a full 3 weeks I guess.

I would think that since T's see so many people every week or every other week that they would have a more 'set schedule' and be able to give a person a regular time - like every other Tuesday at 9 or something. I know that her afternoon appointments quickly fill up with kids/teens, so I'm happy to come in even first thing in the morning or around lunch time.. but for some reason she has a hard time squeezing me in every two weeks.

As a result, nearly all of our time is taken up talking about daily life stuff and what's gone on during the interim. We never really have any 'deep' discussions about anything because there isn't time. I don't mind talking about the daily life stuff, but I can just as easily call a friend about that or talk to my husband. Still, I've only been seeing her since October, so it's not like I want to just come in, sit down, and empty my head.. we're not *that* well established yet..

Anyway. Anyone else have issues with their T's schedule?

Ask you to to schedule you several sessions in advance. That might help the problem of their not being any availability.

Is there any way you could gradually stop the daily stuff talk? Or maybe tell your T that you are concerned because there are things you want to address and there's not much time to do so? Just a thought.

I wouldn't be able to handle such scheduling difficulties. It's hard enough now with weekly sessions and my T's open availability if I want to schedule an extra last minute session for the week. I'm already going crazy - that would send me over the edge.

As I understand it it could be a problem for T if you are doing twice a month thing. Mostly ppl go once/ twice a week.
So T would have to keep the hour for you even when you are not coming or find somebody who also comes once every 2 weeks to share the time slot with.
However if you wish to continue like this she should be able to offer you a regular hour. Otherwise I would try to look for another T. Cause I agree with you that this is harmful to you therapeutic relationship.

Thanks so much for all your replies.

Oddly enough, I had considered seeing if I could change to coming every week (that way we would more easily have more time to dig deeper and not fill all the time with daily life talk), thinking that if I asked to come weekly then maybe I might be able to at least get in every two weeks! Since, as it is, I average every 2.5 weeks. The thing is, we recently changed our insurance and are now paying out of pocket. And, while we can afford to pay for twice a month, I don't think we could do 4 times a month.

So, as beneficial as it would be, I don't think I can do every week. I don't think we can afford it.

Perhaps I will try seeing if I can schedule more appointments in advance.. It's not that the things we talk about are not important, they are. I just don't feel like there is really anything I can do to 'fix' them, so I don't see much point in spending so much time talking about them.

I've only seen her about a dozen times, too.. so maybe she is trying to make sure I am more stable with my daily life and stress before we really start working on hard stuff?

I asked my T for standing appointments every other week and he was able to accommodate that (I've moved up to weekly now though)

Children's talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.
~ Maya Angelou

I'm often frustrated with scheduling. My old T only let me schedule one-week-at-a-time and I've got the next three months planned out...drove me nuts.
Current T - last saw her on March 17, she took a week of vacation, then was sick on Friday and cancelled. She is still out sick. Next planned visit is this Friday. I managed to set up weekly appt in April (one gone) but could only schedule 2 sessions in May. She has no other appointments available.

I sense that she's got too many clients, and the HMO we are in also requires her to see new patients every week. And they are about to move her to a new location, starting in June she's working about 20 miles from my home (45 min - 1 hr drive each way). I'm not feeling good about therapy right now.

I would definitely ask if you can schedule several appts in advance. That's what I do and it seems to work out well.

invisgirl, I'm having a similar problem now. I have been seeing my T every 3-4 weeks but would like to see him every other week for at least a bit. We schedule one appointment at a time. Last time I wanted to schedule an appointment for 2 weeks, but the soonest he had was 4 weeks. It's frustrating. I asked him if I could schedule several in advance and he let me schedule 3. I think my upcoming intervals are 4 weeks, 2 weeks, 1 week.

When I went from seeing T every week to every 2 weeks, it was really hard for me as there was not enough time in session. I eventually told him this and he came up with the solution of seeing him for 90 minute sessions instead of 50 minutes. This has worked great! Maybe your T might go for that. As far as the small talk and events of the day go, one just has to skip those to get to deeper stuff, if that is what you want to focus on. Or limit discussion of the smaller stuff to only 5 minutes. Maybe you could ask for your T's help on this.