[musinglizzy]

I have to say how incredibly blessed I am for my T, who encourages Emails (and they are LONG) as often as I need. No payment. Is it common for Ts to charge for Emails in between sessions? My T knows I "speak" better with typed/written words than I do in person, and she encourages it. I try to keep it minimal (without much luck) because I feel guilty she's reading them on her own time.

[NowhereUSA]

mine doesn't charge. he often doesn't respond either. he will occasionally but i don't expect him to and we'll usually go over them in session.

[HealingTimes]

My T doesn't offer email, and I am more than happy with that.

My T doesn't offer email which is absolutely okay with me. I would much rather pick up the phone and speak to him personally.

[maykins]

Originally Posted by 1914sierra

My T doesn't offer email which is absolutely okay with me. I would much rather pick up the phone and speak to him personally.

Usually email is offered when phone calls aren't.

[Leah123]

Originally Posted by musinglizzy

I have to say how incredibly blessed I am for my T, who encourages Emails (and they are LONG) as often as I need. No payment. Is it common for Ts to charge for Emails in between sessions? My T knows I "speak" better with typed/written words than I do in person, and she encourages it. I try to keep it minimal (without much luck) because I feel guilty she's reading them on her own time.

Does your therapist reply in depth to the emails?

That's definitely part of what I pay for, not just to be read, but to do therapy in between live sessions. And as for long, I think I'm on the end of the curve: I typically write 1000+ words a day.

I've heard of a relatively large number of therapists that will accept email, but not very many who do lengthy replies and communicate back and forth extensively for free. I like paying for the emails because indeed, I do not want her working for free, that would damage the balance in my opinion, make it easier for the therapist to get burned out. I feel that paying for her time, in or out of live sessions is really a matter of respect, especially given the length and depth of our communication.

[CameraObscura]

My t offers me email, knowing that I will only call in an emergency.

He reads them, and will often respond with a brief but caring message that shows he did read it, and we'll talk more in depth the next session. He does not charge me, but has promised me he will tell me if the volume of emails ever gets close to his boundaries.

I am very thankful he extends me that avenue for communication. I try to be very clear whether I need to response, or if it is okay to wait until it is convenient. Sometimes in the title I'll say no rush to read, or read next session, etc.

[Mactastic]

My T also encourages emails. He responds every time but some responses are longer than others. He doesn't charge.

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[Lauliza]

My t doesn't encourage emails but it's possible. I've emailed my pdoc multiple times and he replies with a phone call within a day or two. But the email's are usually brief and asking something specific, not therapeutic.

[Leah123]

For example, our last $75 email session contained 6,621 words, spread over a few days, and including nine replies from her of varying length, from a sentence to multiple long paragraphs. I wouldn't want a therapist to do that much work for free. She doesn't charge for brief check-ins, a few sentences here or there, but that's not my style, typically.

[CameraObscura]

Originally Posted by Leah123

For example, our last $75 email session contained 6,621 words, spread over a few days, and including eight replies from her of varying length. I wouldn't want a therapist to do that much work for free.

Yes, I agree with you there. If I needed that level of email, I'd prefer to negotiate a fair fee for it, if he even had the time to handle that kind of extra-session load.

[rainbow8]

My T doesn't charge for emails. Early in therapy, she answered them completely, even typing in between my lines once. She started replying more briefly at some point, and I was upset by her ignoring important parts of my emails. So, we mutually decided I could still write but she wouldn't answer. Thinking back, before she started answering me, she told me I could email but she didn't want to be a T via email. I have to be fair to her. She told me that more than once, so that explains why her responses became briefer.

Now she wants me to try to stop emailing totally so I can hold onto her internally without needing any contact between sessions. I've been seeing her for 4 years and thought I'd have to quit in March, so this is all "overtime". Maybe she doesn't like the reduced rate and she's trying to get rid of me, though she's not like that. Sorry for going off topic.

[Leah123]

Originally Posted by CameraObscura

Yes, I agree with you there. If I needed that level of email, I'd prefer to negotiate a fair fee for it, if he even had the time to handle that kind of extra-session load.

Yes, I'm fortunate that she's at the stage in her career of being semi-retired and has time for this type of work, I don't imagine most therapists in full-time practice are typically able to accommodate it.

[musinglizzy]

As far as if she answers my Emails....it depends. She answers the ones I think she'll answer...and the ones where I'm just telling her something through Email because it's easier that way, she will wait till our next session to talk about it. Even through her Emails, she's been able to calm me down. But I, have NEVER, spoken to my T on the phone. Not even to set up my first appointment. It was all by Email. So,although we haven't discussed phone calls, Emails are fine, and I find it less intrusive, as she can Email and reply (if need be) when she's able. She was recently on vacation overseas, and encouraged me to Email while she was gone...which was nice.

[msxyz]

I can email my therapist as much as I want and he responds at least once in 24 hours, not individually to all emails. He doesn't offer texting or after hour phone calls.

[healed84]

I am allowed to email.. He responds sometimes, and generally we both only send a couple of lines to each other.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[stopdog]

Some of the language around therapists does distress me. I do not think of a therapist as allowing me or not allowing me to do anything.
I sometimes email the first therapist. Scheduling changes or to get stuff away from me. I don't usually want or need a response. I more usually will write and actual letter to get something away from me.
The second one I will call or she will call me.
Neither has charged, but I would have no problem if I was notified up front. I bill by the hour for my clients and that includes emails and phone calls etc.

[junkDNA]

my T prints my emails out and we talk about them in session. we text a lot though and he offers support that way too. its free

[Perna]

Does your T respond all the time? A T responding to emails in detail and as part of therapy is extra time and should be paid for in my opinion. There are many therapist doing online, email therapy only and they are paid and you never "see" them.

I wrote my T such that it filled an entire drawer of her filing cabinet at home. But my T never responded and we only discussed whatever I wrote if I brought it up in session. I could not tell you how much she did/did not read of what I gave/sent her other than those portions of it we discussed during my sessions.

I think writing is great, T can hit the delete button, etc. but writing and expecting a detailed, thoughtful, therapeutic reply is therapy and requests to pay for such do not seem unreasonable to me.

[HazelGirl]

Mine doesn't charge for any out of session contact.

[JustShakey]

Well, there's emailing your T and then there's therapy by email... I'd be annoyed if I couldn't email or was charged for it, but I wouldn't expect therapy by email without paying for it.
It's amazing how comforting a short one or two sentence reply from your T can be...

[ScarletPimpernel]

My T doesn't charge for emails, calls, or texts. If she did, I simply wouldn't utilize it. I do know that on top of billing my insurance for sessions, she also bills my insurance for phone communication with my Pdoc (smart woman )

My T really doesn't reply to emails. I might get a few sentences if I'm lucky. But our deal is that if I need reassurance, I'm supposed to text. If it's an emergency, I'm supposed to call. And I'm not supposed to bring up issues via email anyways...I'm supposed to "talk" about them in session. And I need to use email, text, and calls when I really need them...basically, don't "cry wolf".

My T doesn't understand paying for emails and such. She thinks those things should either be offered for free or not at all. But then again, she doesn't believe in cancelation fees either.

I never had the option of email when my t was still in the same state, but since she moved and we've been doing phone sessions (for jeezo pete a year and 8 months now, longer than I saw her in person!!) I email her my dreams prior to a session since we do a lot of dream work, or sometimes I email something that comes up after a session. When I email something like that I usually get a short response. She's never charged me for emails, and has never complained about them. I feel so very lucky in that regard.

[nottrustin]

T encourages me to email and call he if I need to. She pretty much always responds to all of them. Usually they are short emails because I don't send long emails frequently. There was one weekend where I was a total wreck. My daughter was going away for the weekend and there were other stressers related to it. I sent T an email on Friday morning. She and I talked back and forth throughout the weekend especially that Friday. We were both at work but it was what got me through the day.

I have also had times where we have talked on the phone for quite long periods of time when it was a crisis type situation. I have asked her for if I could pay her for those times as I don't want to be too much or to take advantage of her or if she could at least bill my insurance. She completely refuses. She said she can't bill my insurance and knows that when we have long interactions outside of a session it is because I need it and not because I am taking advantage of her so she is happy to offer it.

On day hubby called her as I had crisis and took a little bit extra sleeping pills. She recommended I go to the ER just to be checked medically. She offered to speak to the ER doctor to make sure they knew it wasn't a suicide attempt but rather an attempt for sleep. She spoke to the dr pretty in depth over 2 phone calls (on at the beginning for collateral information and then at the end to discuss discharge planning. Part of the plan was that I would see her the next day (Sunday) after going home and sleeping. I was very blessed to have her and that she never billed me or my insurance for anything that weekend.

That being said with the OP it sounds like her T her business model is built on billing for emails and phone services.

[clairelisbeth]

My T doesn't charge for emails. I don't often email her (and when I do, it tends to be an accountability-related email, such as "I'm feeling triggered to restrict/purge and I'm holding myself accountable to you to not engage in self-destructive behaviors"-although I haven't had to email for accountability in a long time.) The times that I have sent her long or longer emails (maybe 5 or 6 in the nearly 4 years that we've been working together) that were related to therapy content, she always sent a brief but caring email that addressed what I said and talked about continuing the conversation in session.

I consider myself lucky in that she considers contact between session (if necessary) to be part of the "therapeutic package" and does allow emails/texts/phone calls. I've always asked her to let me know if I'm contacting her excessively (I prefer to text or call over email and thats how I reach out if I need extra support between session) and she has assured me that I'm not, and that if I was, she would discuss it with me. So, even though she doesn't charge, I trust that she knows what she is doing (in terms of balancing her work and personal life, and charging the appropriate amount for the work that she does) and I feel ok with it.

I had a former T who charged for any phone call going over 10 minutes. When we would get to say, 9 minutes she would warn me that we were getting close to ten and that she would have to charge me-and would I just like to turn this into a half session? That made me feel like she was watching the clock instead of listening to me. With my current T, I trust that she is able to set boundaries and care for herself-for example, if she doesn't have time to return a call, or isn't able to talk for more than a minute, she lets me know. Therefore, when she does return a call, or calls me to do a check in, I trust that she has the time and is emotionally available-and that she is really paying attention, not watching the clock to determine how much to charge me.

My pdoc also does not charge for emails, although she prefers text to email. There have been a few times (ok more than a few) when I have sent her email-length text messages. I'll usually tell her not to worry about getting back to me and that I just needed to get my thought out, and I mean it. She does always answer in some way or another-she'll either let me know that she got my message with a few words, but more often than not, she'll call me (she knows me well enough to know that if I send her a super-long text, something is up, because I have a pathological fear of bothering her). Even though she is busy, (pdoc at a hospital) her private practice is small on purpose, and so she is able to work closely with her patients.

My relationship with my T and pdoc work really well for me. I have made progress in leaps and bounds with them, and I don't know if I could have done so well if I had a team that was more restrictive about contact between session. I'm very grateful.