Most unconventional, out of the box thing in the t/patient relationship

I haven't done a ton: seen t twice in one day, seen t 3 days in a row, t came to my house, t went to my school, had t take me to swim practice, etc. T has brought me breakfast in her office, and walked the dog with me. She gives me treats when we do something hard. I wanted to know what kind of unconventional things you and your ts have done.

We unloaded a dishwasher together. It was great!

The most out of the box thing?

The time she gave me a ride home and sent me on an errand to the yogurt shop with her credit card was rather unusual. (I actually thought she was having a stroke, it was that weird.)

As was the time when we were doing poses in yoga class once, and I looked up to find her behind just a foot away from my face!

We actually do yoga a lot during session. Not in any therapeutic sense, but more like her giving me pointers. Once I walked her to her car and we ended up doing poses right there in the parking lot. I'm sure we looked kind of crazy to an outside observer.

one of my old T use to take me out to the spa to hang in the sauna and steam baths to relax and try to talk.
i lived with one councler who became my foster mother
had a lot of strange things with T because of my unwillingness and inability to talk to them or connect
funny thing is this T is just talk and stuff straight up and i am accually able to talk some with her .more then i ever did with any of the others exsept for my foster mother but even her i never talked about my history

um. she did this little piggy on my toes and she put my shoes on for me. thats about as out of the box as we get.

Old T gave me 1 ride to college because otherwise Id of had to take the bus. She also gave me some money when I was a broke student for my meds. I went an got them filled bedore session and they messed up my dosage - I was on 25mg Vistaril and they gave me 100mg - and wouldnt take them back and give me the correct dose instead. I had to pay again. So she gave me money to get them.

Current T has bought me lunch and we ate together in her office.

I love this question, interested to hear the responses...

Can't think of anything particularly unusual we've done... we took a walk one time.. and she kindly (and bravely!) offered to come with me for a drive so she can help me with confidence and getting used to motorways - but I haven't taken her up on that yet.

I think there's something in the wishing to share in everyday simple tasks and events - like CantExplain said, the unloading of the dishwasher. I told my T I'd thought how nice it would be to help her with the gardening or cooking dinner. I'm not green fingered at all, and don't cook, but I think it's the idea of her being a nurturing presence, showing me how to do these things, as a mother might. I guess also the idea of doing something casual and real, and seeing the therapist outside of the office, getting a glimpse into their world? I don't know.

Your post made me think of something else we used to do.

About a year and a half ago, I didn't have an appetite and I was having a hard time keeping a healthy weight. Every session, my therapist would ask how I was doing with eating, and she'd take me to the scale in the bathroom to confirm or reject my answer. Just the act of her taking me into the bathroom and closing the door behind us made me feel special because it reminded me just how one-on-one our relationship is. I don't have memories of having such intimate moments with my own mother, and we have a good relationshp.

Fortunately my appetite returned and we stopped with the weighing ritual. But I do miss it.

Hmm, I'd have to say probably not much - if anything - would be considered out of the box. She used to bring her dog sometimes to t, but hasn't for quite awhile. She did offer to go for a walk outside with me one time when I was having a really difficult session but I said no. Like an idiot. It would have been lovely. My t is a sweetheart but she's definitely an 'in the box' kinda t. At least with me.... I don't have a clue about how she is with anybody else.

With the current therapist - nothing. And I would not like anything unusual with her. Its only purpose with this one would be manipulation. And I doubt she is creative enough to think outside the box.

The first one I saw became friends with me after I quit being a client.

Our sessions have been pretty conventional.. Yesterday, he did offer to go with me to the site of my truama.. That would be uncoventional for me, but I know other people have done it.. and he has done it before with other clients.

Oh wait I just thought of something - every now & then I catch her off guard and get an unfiltered human reaction out of her. She is very quick to get her T mask back on but every now & then it slips a little and I love those moments. Seeing the human behind the T or whatever. Those moments have been a big part of my healing - knowing that she's let me see that she's not perfect that she's human just like me.

So i will probably get slammed yet again, but, i am going to another country to visit my t next week because she is still gone ( for the past year) and i miss her too much..were going to visit lots of places.
We also( when shes home) go on walks, paint each others nails, go out to lunch/ dinner/ etc (she usually buys, but shes got more money than i do), do each others hair, she came to my house, we have the same doctor, her dog lives with me, our sessions are 3-4 hours long, we say i love you all the time, have parties and presents for each other a lot because we need breaks from all this trauma work, geez i dont know what else but shes must an unconventional person.

I am notspecial though. She would do this with any of her clients-- she is just very loving and out of the box, so i am sure that most/ many of her clients get to have these things with her-- not just me

That sucks.

I have read that it's not the technique but the relationship that matters.

I'm friends with my ex-T on Facebook. Seeing her posts about going to the club is pretty awkward LOL.

This is a great post and very interesting to see what other T's do. My T is very "in the box" but i'm cool with that cos she's fabulous in so many other ways.

I had one just like that and we have been friends ever since!

Absolutely nothing. My T goes by the book - ethics, morals, you name it. I guess it just goes to show what a wide range of T's are out there, and how important it is to find that "good fit".

My T couldn't get his office door open the other night, and I was his last client, so we went to Dunkin Donuts for a while and just sat outside in my car in the parking lot.

We were there just chatting for around two hours (no charge). The windows were getting all fogged up, haha!

nothing at all... I think I have the most "inside the box" T of the world...

My T cut my hair.



Yep! It was about 8 moths after I first started seeing him (3 yrs now). I was very low and on short-term disability. We had just started the trauma work because it was all comming to the surface. I had very long hair (down to my rear) because I am Native American blood (Blackfoot) and try to follow the Good Red Road.

I have an older mentor who lives in another state who is a retired T. He is also a Native American Sundancer. He came to visit me for a few days and went with me to see my T for a five hour session. My mentor knows a ton about me and we were doing a lot of information sharing with my T. It was very amazing experience. And my mentor is someone who was well known in his time, so my T really was excited to meet him. He only charged me for the two hours we had planned in advance but he had marked off the whole morning because he felt it could go longer. And they did a whole lot of talking about T stuff too.

Anyway, at the end of the session, my T went outside with my mentor and me to do a Pipe Ceremony where we thanked the sacred directions. It was amazing. After that, we went back into T's office and I made the choice to cut my braid. It was a very sacred event for me and I can't explain it. It was a soul mourning for the innocent child in me who was injured so much by very evil people. I started the cut, my mentor then cut some, and then my T cut, and I finished it to complete the circle.

I really miss my braid and it makes me sad to see my short hair. Others love it and say how cute it is on me. I like that part. But my Native Heart knows why it is short and we understand the meaning behind it and will never forget how evil can cause damage to innocence.

And I will never forget that my mentor and my T both helped me to honor that innocent child.

Hey u guys! your therapists are amazing!! Mine bought my a cuppa tea, in town, when he met my to do some behaviour therapy. I felt special.

Same here thougt I'm happy about that. Reading all these responses seems quite bizarre. It's like many of you have T's who act more like friends. Not knocking it, it's not something I'd want.

yeah, I'm not sure either if I would want to do all these things with my T. Of course, if you ask me, I will say yes yes yes, without giving it a second thought. But since I've had a great deal of trouble understanding and accepting that it is a professional relationship, and since my tendency is to get over-dependent, I guess that I am glad that we don't share such a relationship (actually, I can't believe I would be ever saying this!) Still, half of me, secretly wishes I could do all these stuff with him... But, at the end of the day, I'm glad that he's super professional. I know that it's for my own good. Although, sometime I miss a little bit of emotional intimacy. Oh well, there is no point for me to continue this post! It's just a series of conflicting emotions!!