Another Question

Does your T allow phone calls or emails besides cancellation calls between sessions?...The T's I am seeing now are very rigid in NO phone calls or emails...
So far up until this a.m. I have been fine with that, but for some reason now I feel like part of an assembly line...
Move em in...Move em out...JFB

I've never asked about emails, but my T does allow phone calls. She's never said how much would be too much, just that she'd let me know if it ever got to be a problem.

My therapy office allows phone calls and emergency appointments between sessions. No therapy agency I have been too in the past 23 years has ever allowed Email.

The reason is because Email is just like sending a post card through the mail. Nice pictures and concept but open to the public to read.

For example even if the therapist is the only one in the agency that is reading your email the email company - yahoo, hot mail and so on can see it at any point because you have to register with them and they keep your password on file (thats how they know when you have lost your password and so on) and have people monitoring the accounts and so on. Any number of people who we don't know can be reading the emails at any given time because we don't know how many monitors each email agency has - could be one or like yahoo has branches around the world.

So here in this state where I am it is against mental health laws and rules of ethics to send emails back and forth between client and therapist based on breach of confidenciality.

I tried out a T that had no contact between sessions. If I was in need of talking to him I was to write him a letter and bring it to my next session. The only time I could call him was if I was canceling an appointment. I decided that was to wacked out for me.

My current T allows phone calls between sessions and in fact encourages them. He said he won't always call me back but if I need to call him. He even gave me the after hours way to leave him a message. I don't always remember that phone number and so haven't used it often. He checks his messages once a night and if need be calls the client back. I haven't asked to email because for me it would be way to easy to email him and not try to work through it myself. Plus he's only in the office 2xs a week. He is in the field the rest of the week. So even if I did email him he wouldn't be reading it for a couple of days.

Jbug

Interesting question. My T allows phone calls and I guess emails too. The only time I have corresponed with her through email is when she needed info for my referral to my new shrink.

My T has her voice mail number on her business card/apointment card. They use the 24/7 assessment line for more emergency contact that doesn't require 911 of course. I have left only a two voice mails--one concerning my insurance's desire for the previous T to pre-certify. She failed to do so! GRR! The other time was a comment about something in session which we talked about in the next session. I had known the first T for 3 months and second T for almost six months.

My t encourages me to call any time I need to and I have all her numbers. My problem is actually calling and talking on the phone. I'm incapable of doing it for the most part and because of that, she has given me her email address. My T is about doing whatever the client needs to feel safe. If I need contact more often to feel safe, even if brief, then we do what we need to do. That includes stopping by her office, daily emails, etc. I have been known to do hang up calls sometimes and she knows at that time that I am needing a voice and will call and leave a phone message to let me know she is there. Because of her willingness to do this, we have made a lot of progress with knowing she is consistently safe, which has allowed for more learning and growing and healing for us.

I am fairly new to therapy. I saw my first therapist for 3 months and then switched to my new therapist. I have been with her for about 9 months. She has made her self available to me whenever I need her. I just assumed most did. I can leave a message on her home or cell number and know that she will call back. I also sometimes text her when I feel I can't talk. No email, but I've never asked. When I have been going through a particularly rough time she has also said she will keep her cellphone on at nbight in case I need her. I have not had to call in the middle of the night, but just knowing that she is willing to be there for me is enough. Sometimes I just lkeave a message and tell her she doesn't need to call me back. Just knowing that I can reach out helps too.

I'm sorry I haven't gotten back to this sooner but I haven't been doing well at all and there is no-one in my life to talk too...The dr's have warned me over and over if I'm not careful I will end up in a coma or dead...

But anyways thats off topic sorry...I am looking for a T that is willing to give me support, but so far haven't been able to find many that takes my insurance...Yet from previous history with my ex T, maybe I am better off with the military type attitude with my current T...JFB