Ever had a session be interrupted?

I had such an odd session this week and I'm not sure what to think about it. As soon as I sat down in my T's office a cell phone started ringing and she told me that she needed to take it. She asked me to step back out into the waiting room for a minute. I was upset at this point because I had already waited 15 minutes past my appt time and now this. After a few minutes she came out to the waiting room and sat down and explained that the cell phone is the emergency line for the agency and each therapist has to take turns each week to answer it. She said that the person was going to be calling back so she wanted to know if I wanted to come back later or start the session and see how far we could get. I live more than an hour away from my T's office so I didn't want to waste the trip so I agreed to start the session and went back to her office. I was feeling very anxious at this point and my hands were shaking. I finally admitted to her that I was anxious and triggered by what was happening because first she was late to begin with and then we were interrupted by the emergency call on the cell phone. After about 20 minutes the phone rang again so I went back out into the waiting room. After another 10 minutes or so she came out to get me and we continued the session for another 25 minutes or so.

I was just so frustrated because I don't think it's right for the agency to expect therapists to answer the emergency line while they are in session with a client. I find it very unprofessional because I am paying for that 50 minutes and I feel like during that time my T should be focused on me, not answering the emergency line. I feel bad for whoever it was because they apparently were upset and needed someone to talk to, but there should be a better way to handle the emergency line than this.

I'm wondering what others here think about this and would it have bothered you if your session was interrupted like this? Has anyone had a session interrupted before, and how did you handle it?

That would seriously piss me off so much. I would be so triggered that I would shut down. I think u were really brave to continue your session. that sounds so tough! My ts phone has gone off before, but she either ignores it or gets up to turn it off... And even that is so triggering. So I can't imagine having to go back out into the waiting area

When u went back in and told her how it triggered u, what did she say? Was she apologetic? Because its one thing to state the fact that she is on crisis duty and offer to help u work through whatever it caused. It's another to be on duty, not tell u, and then dismiss your worries.

That seems very odd.

Not the best arrangement to be sure. It sounds like she handled it in a competent way (but her initial lateness was unacceptable unless also related to this crisis call--someone on staff should have alerted you to the delay, if that were the case), but it is a poor policy on the agency's part. They should have someone available perhaps also serving in a walk-in basis covering emergency calls.

I'm sorry it upset you, and I think your reactions are totally understandable. You deserve--and your therapy deserves--a respected space.

The only times in 11 years that my hour was ever interrupted was once a phone call that T had to make before my session, he saw me and apologized for the delay before making the 10 minute call; and another time the bell on his outer office door rang during a session, and he excused himself to check it out because he wasn't expecting anyone. The first occasion was within an agency setting, the second in a private practice setting.

It's her (your T's) responsibility not the agency's and surely not yours.
It'd be a different case if her own client was in crisis trying to reach out but this, in my eyes, is unacceptable behaviour. As you say, you are paying her for this 50 mins so she shouldn't have another paying job arranged.

Oh, I'm confused--I though the OP was seeing her T within the agency? If the T is juggling 2 jobs this way, it's totally unacceptable!

Yes you are right to feel annoyed. Part of therapy is knowing the session is for you/about you and that you are held firmly. Even these 'emergencies' I hear some talk about, should not impinge on your time. Dropping someone to attend to another is bad practise.

Dani...you aren't being selfish or needy or anything like that. That was YOUR time, and you were entitled to it. It's very bad form for a t to answer their phone while in session with you. Disruptive, triggering, and a number of other things.

I hope that you discuss this in full. Perhaps request that your appointments NOT be scheduled on days that she has that duty. You deserve to be treated with respect.

I've never walked out on a session, but I probably would have just left the second time I'd been asked to go back to the waiting room. I have to drive a distance to see my therapist too.

I agree with the others. That was your time, YOUR sacred space as my t calls it, I am so sorry that this happened to you. I hope you're able to discuss it fully w/ your t. Wiki is right you deserve to be treated with respect.

I sincerely doubt that an agency expects a T to answer the emergency line when they are in session. The T's probably all schedule their sessions around their responsibilities, but sometimes there is probably an emergency with the T in the agency-- s/he is sick, or they have to leave to care for a sick kid in school, etc. Your T obviously got stuck with this responsibility when she didn't expect to, and decided it was probably better not to cancel your session and take the chance that no one would call during that hour. Obviously that didn't happen, but my guess is that she was between a rock and a hard place, and didn't intend for things to work out as they did.

However, I would have also felt unnerved by the lateness and the phone disruptions, so I get how you feel. At the same time, I'd encourage you to talk to your T about how you felt because it will help you understand that she mostly likely got stuck when she didn't expect to, and she had to make a decision that she thought would be best for you and her other responsibilities, and it turned out badly. Sometimes that happens, and learning to be okay regardless of things going wrong in session is an important skill to have.

And having this conversation will also help you understand your interpretations of what happened and how they might be skewed and distorted and unhealthy. Once one of my T's next client after me knocked on the door about halfway through the session, and T answered it and explained to him that he was early for his session (for some reason he thought he was late). It freaked the beejeezus out of me, because I happened to be talking about something related to my CSA perpetrator. When the knock on the door came, I was sure it was him-- which of course doesn't make sense because he is disabled and doesn't know I'm in therapy, much less where it is.

Since my goal is not to be triggered by innocuous occurrences, it did actually have a silver lining in that this experience (and there have been a few other disruptions during sessions for different reasons) has helped me be less reactive to nonthreatening events outside of therapy too.

It would have seriously bothered me. I don't think you were wrong to be upset. I'd have reacted with quite a bit of anxiety and frustration.

I've only had T tell me one time that our session might be interrupted, and that was because of stuff going on with her family. Even then, she told me that it would only be a possible text message that she would need to respond to. She did get the text message, glanced at it, replied quickly, and we went on with my session. I was fine with that. She made it as non-intrusive as possible, and she warned me ahead of time.

Ugh, this would have totally triggered me too. Once, years ago, a T I was seeing told me she was expecting a phone call because she had had to call the police to check on another client. I asked her if she wanted me to leave and I would reschedule. She said no, so I stayed for the session. Her phone rang once or twice, but it was someone else, so she just let the phone ring. Then she tried to muffle the sound by putting it behind her back! This was before cell phones were so prevalent.

Eventually the police called and she went into the waiting area to take the call. I wish she had just let me reschedule. Like you, I felt like the time I was paying for was totally wasted. She was distracted, which I don't blame her for, but I don't think it was a good judgment call to have me stay.

I'm sorry you had such an awful experience.

It sounds very strange to me. Can you ask to not be scheduled on days she has this additional responsibility? I would think the T could return the emergency calls between sessions, like maybe leave a couple of slots free on the days she must do this duty for just that purpose? I hope you can discuss a solution to the problem when you see her again.

I had this happen to me once with a therapist. He told me when I entered his office that he was "expecting a call that he'd have to take". I figured that it was a client or a service provider that need important information about the client. I nodded my understanding and we started our session. Of course, I didn't talk about that he and I were new to each other and I didn't really trust or like him very much yet!

Unfortunately, our session (only our third or fourth together) was filled with turmoil and upset. Halfway through the session, when I was in a very fragile state, his secrectary stuck her head in and stated, "They're on the phone." He excused himself, walked out and closed the office door, taking the call in another office. With my understanding of therapy now, I figure it was an "insurance call" or a "inpatient hospital call" No provider gets to dictate when "those" calls come!

I think that if I trusted and had a strong relationship with him, I would have been able to wait and be patient. Even in my darkest hour, I was able to recognize that others had much deeper and darker issues than mine. But reality? I felt abandoned and alone. I felt rejected and a non entity.

I'm not sure what happened, but a short time later, I found myself home. I know now what my feelings were and how they impacted on my behavior. I wish I had been able to stick around to talk about how his desertion felt. But nothing we do initially is ever understanding. .. it all takes time.

This whole situation is strange. They should really have the emergency hotline scheduled around client sessions, or have the hotline run by masters/ PHD interns or volunteers with someone supervising, rather than stretching the therapists so thin.
I would be very upset too, and feel like the session was a waste. Once when I was a teenager my therapist kept having to take calls from her husband because their basement was flooded. It was such a distracted session. One of my more recent therapists had to take a call once because her daughter was sick at college, but that went smoother.
I would certainly talk about this at the next session. And yeah, I'm curious too how your t handled you saying you were anxious in the beginning.

I am sorry this happened to you. It does not sound like a good way for the organization to handle emergency calls. Interrupting client sessions seems inappropriate.

My t had her phone ring once and apologized she hadn't muted the ringer and a few times her cell phone has vibrarted, but she has never answered it.

Just to clarify, my T works in a community mental health agency that employs probably at least 8 or 9 therapists. According to my T, each therapist is required to have the cell phone for an entire week and they take turns. My T told me that they have to keep it on them at all times just in case someone calls, but she said it has only rang during a session a couple of times. The emergency line is for clients as well as anyone in the area that is in a desperate situation. I don't know for sure whether or not the person that called was a client of my T's, so she could have been dealing with her own client but I'm not sure.

I definitely think that the agency needs to address this issue and make changes because it felt really awkward and horrible to me when she had to take the call and made me leave the room. I felt bad for the person on the other end of the line who really needed someone to talk to, but I had an appt that I was paying for and felt like overall the "split session" was not worth my money because of the anxiety and frustration it caused me.

When I went back, at first she tried to act like all was fine but I couldn't. I was shaking and really anxious so I just told her how it affected me. She apologized and we talked about it for much of the session.

It was my T's responsibility to answer the emergency cell phone because they all take turns keeping it for a week. She told me that this was her week. She also said that it usually doesn't ring during sessions, but it has happened a few times.

This is why I think what the agency is doing is wrong because when Ts have a session with a client, they shouldn't be expected to have the cell phone in the room where it could ring. They need to develop a better system.

Actually I think I will make sure that the times I schedule an appt with her don't coincide with her having the emergency cell phone that week.

I've been on the board of my community mental health agency and there are larger concerns here that are about more than just the phone ringing during your or anybody else's session.

Some CMH agencies have as part of their mission to serve the community mental health needs through a 24 hour crisis line. Back when funds were plentiful, an agency could afford to staff the line with paid staff, although the costs can be extremely high-- you can add up that you would need at least 3 full time workers and 1 part time worker, salary + benefits. As funds become tight or specific funding for crisis line work is not available, some agencies choose to keep the program (as it saves lives) and spread the duties around appropriate paid staff. So I guess now that you have told a bit more of the story, I understand the context more.

A community mental health center is different than a private therapy office. The CMH center has a broader mission, and they may have to compromise some client services (e.g. outpatient therapy) in service of other needs in the community (crisis services). So I don't think they are wrong from the larger perspective-- yes, I can understand the disruption of your T session as not ideal. But neither is the crisis of another person who likely has no other alternative in your community, and your T's CMH agency has to balance everyone's needs.

It is a fine alternative to ask to be scheduled on a day when she doesn't have the crisis line responsibilities. I suppose that might mean that you would miss a session a week every so often, since she has to have it for a week. You could also choose to go to private therapy establishment that does not have this requirement for their T's. But I just don't agree that the agency is wrong per se, because it's not just about what's best for the center's therapy clients. It's about what's best for the needs of the community, which I think includes the crisis line. Unfortunately social services are not funded at the level they should be, so ultimately I'm sure that the agency would prefer to be able to staff the line with non-therapists, but in this economy and political times I don't see that happening any time soon.