[incandescence]

my t told me yesterday that she is leaving and i am heartbroken. she is going to work in the student counseling department at a local university and will not be doing any private practice work, so i will not be able to continue working with her. we have 2 more sessions together over the next 3 weeks (unfortunately i am out of town a week or we could have squeezed in one more meeting). she is everything that i could have hoped for in a t - caring, firm when necessary, in touch with my needs, and most importantly authentic. she told me yesterday that because of where we are in my therapy (we've been working thru a lot of trauma issues), that this is a particularly bad time for this to be happening. i am completely devastated. i don't want to start over with someone else. i don't want to have to establish a trusting relationship with someone new. i just don't know what to do. sorry for rambling... i just didn't know where else to go.

[guilloche]

I'm so sorry Incandescance... that's really rotten, and it sounds like the timing is just miserable.

Is she going to be able to make any referrals? I wonder if she might have someone that she thinks you'd work well with? Sometimes, if you got along well with your T, having a "personal referral" like that can be helpful... though the parting is still painful.

And, you know, I sort of feel like when Ts up and leave in the middle of doing long-term, deep trauma work... they should have to pay a fine to the client! There's a lot of time and money invested in THIS relationship, a lot of time at the beginning where (to me) it feels like not a lot is happening because you're building the relationship as a container for what's to come, and all that has to repeated (as you noted) with someone new. It's like... like if you hired me to build you a website, and I charged you for 6 months while we discussed it and got the vision down, and then left, so that you had to repeat all that with someone new (and pay for it again).

Sorry, maybe that's not helpful... it just upsets me on your behalf, and on behalf of everyone that has gone through this

I hope that if you pursue a new T... you find someone equally wonderful and caring, and who is dedicated to sticking with you for the long haul!

My view is that if someone becomes a therapist they should commit to living a stable life in one place, and commit to their clients. I'm sorry this is happening. I hope you have a positive ending.

[ThisWayOut]

I'm sorry she is switching jobs. it can be really hard when that happens. I've gone through that twice in the past 6 months... it still sucks...
I hope you can at least get a referral from her. And maybe next T will be good also.

[unaluna]

What they said. Please dont let this person's actions dictate the course of the rest of your life. Dont give her that much power. Take back the power.

[RTerroni]

Sorry that is happening to you, it has happened to me way too many times over the last few years