[GenCat]

My T called someone during my session. I was puzzled because the phone didn't ring, it was T who made the call. She said it was for something for she needed to know. It was so random tho.

Well that seems rude. I thought it was supposed to be YOUR time with T, not Ts hang out time to do whatever they wanted. I understand if they got an emergency call, but to make a call? Rude.

Hope you're okay.

[CantExplain]

That's a bit rude, I think.
When all is said and done, you are paying for her undivided attention and that's what you should get.

[transientsoul]

I would have walked out of the session after telling her, "When you decide to devote your time to me like you're being paid to do, use that phone to call me."

[Wren_]

did you ask her about it beyond her comment about it being something she needed to do?
I would be puzzled as well ... and probably angry or upset unless I understood differently about the why then

[mixedup_emotions]

Ugh. I can imagine me being upset by that....but I can also see my T saying that it was something he needed to do in order to be able to give me his undivided attention. If he didn't take action and wasn't able to set it aside, I'd imagine that he would be less attentive to me for the duration of my session.

[content30]

That's terrible. I never understand these posts. My T never does anything like this, and I'll never do anything like this as a T. This is terribly rude for any professional, especially a T whose main commodity is listening.... My T's kids have severe food allergies. Other than something dealing with that/some kind of family or medical emergency, I would not tolerate that.

[ultramar]

Ugh... Did she say it was an emergency? Did you overhear the conversation or did she ask you to step out of the room? It sounds awful -though context is everything. I would think that this would only be appropriate under extreme circumstances --maybe another patient was in crisis and she had agreed to call at a certain time, the only time that would work under those circumstances.

Did you talk to her about it after the phone call? I think this is one of those things that you've got to address asap with her (how it made you feel, clarifying why she did it, etc.) otherwise it could really eat at you and seriously affect the relationship. Good luck.

[Victoria'smom]

My T has said hold on I have to take this without the phone ringing, it's a blinking light thing. The calls where "No, 911 then me." end of call, "I will call you back", and "our appointment is at ____ time". They were all quick one liners and did not give any personal information. I think she answered because she or I was detracted by the light. I'd rather take the two min for the distraction to be taken care of then wait. Now if it's often, I or T was in the middle of a thought, or it took longer then I could think of a new topic then yeah I'd be mad and should do a full session.

[Raging Quiet]

My T made a similar call once years ago. It was something to do with taking back a house offer and she didn't speak long (I heard her say she had a client and couldn't speak about it further) however, she returned back very frustrated and apologetic about the whole thing. She also gave me a brief outline of the situation and added time on to my session I think. I felt so uncomfortable in the session afterwards though!

[ThisWayOut]

I've had t take our make emergency calls before - she had a pager at one point, but sometimes it seemed out of the blue. One time she answered s calm thinking it was the emergency call she had expected, only to find out it was someone else. That time she apologized and explained that she was expecting a call that she needed to take.
I try not to freak out over little interruptions, though I have to admit if it takes longer than a few minutes or is not an emergency, I tend to get irritated (or if it happens all the time). I think I have had more t's be the ones who get irritated at themselves for their phone ringing into session than I do, but I'm also very laid back and don't expect much in general (self esteem thing and past history thing).
Well you get a chance to talk about it with your t? Do you even want to? (I know sometimes I get frustrated about things but don't want to talk to t about them for one reason or another)

[Perna]

I am sure life doesn't fit neatly into 50 minute sessions throughout the day for therapists with 10 minutes between (and never going over or starting early, etc. :-) I would rather a T took/made a call than had it on their mind distracting them? I hope the timing wasn't too bad for you, there was a period when you all weren't talking or had finished/not started a topic instead of being in the middle?

[worthit]

My old T was texting. I never went back. That hurt. Already insecure.

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[unaluna]

Originally Posted by GenCat

My T called someone during my session. I was puzzled because the phone didn't ring, it was T who made the call. She said it was for something for she needed to know. It was so random tho.

O.m.g! Unless you were filming an episode of Who wants to be a millionaire and she needed to phone a friend to answer a question?? Wtf??!! Or she could have been checking did her kid go to school or was he playing hooky or sick, something like that.

[tinyrabbit]

Weird. Did you hear what she said? I would want to know exactly what it was about and why it had to be then.

[feralkittymom]

I'm with Content here. I don't get these posts. It's such astoundingly unprofessional behavior it really makes me question what sort of training these Ts have received.

At the Univ center, the front desk would never put through a call during session. Period. There was an on-call T for emergencies. In his private practice, he had a pager and an answering service. Only if a call was an emergency, would they page with a code--and my T could hit one button on his pager which told the service to return the call with a message that he would call back on the hour. If that wasn't sufficient, then emergency services would be dispatched. It happened once during my time.

In 11 years my T apologized once that he had to take a quick call, and it was before my session. So we started 5 minutes late, and he added the time to the end. And apologized again for the intrusion.

[SkinnySoul]

I wouldn't have a big problem with my T making a *short* call at the beginning of our session.

But if he interrupted the session to MAKE a call(not to receive one), I'd be offended. His phone vibrates sometimes during my time and I always notice and ask "do you want to take it?". He declines and we continue the chit chat. I wouldn't mind him answering it, as long as he keeps it short.

I have answered my phone 2-3 times in the past 4 years though. Does this make me a horrible client?

[A Red Panda]

My very first time with my one T... I answered my phone. I was like "I'm so sorry but no one ever phones because I hate it, so it must be something important" (I was waiting for a call I think). It was actually a friend, who had misread a message I sent and thought I needed a phone call ASAP. So I was like "Umm nope things are good?" and clarified the message.

Felt super embarassed.

I've also had to take a call while teaching - I was expecting it and told my class (grade 6) that if my phone rang, I neede them to go silent and I needed to take the call. This happened a few days actually and they were great about it (I had bought a new laptop and it got "lost" in the mail... so I was really stressed out).

But to MAKE the phone call during a session??? I'd be upset. If someone said "I just remembered about this and if I don't call right now then X is going to happen!" then I'd be ok because things like that happen. But it would be very important to me to have it explained BEFORE the call was made - so that I guess in a way I would understand why, and be able to "give permission" in a way??

Making a call during the session is just bizarre, I think. My T has ONCE taken a call right when we were starting and he was really apologetic, and explained that it was about his children. If he stopped and made a call, unless it was a total emergency, I'd be angry.