Haven't heard from therapist/won't email me; should I still go to appointment?

Due to a long business trip, I haven’t been to therapy for three weeks (I normally go every week). My therapist knew about this and we had planned for it (i.e. pre-set up appointments in advance for after I return, etc). I went to a session the day before I left and he said closed the session by saying he would email me the following day with a worksheet that he had mentioned during our session as something that could be useful for me to use while I was away, and to email or set up a call with him if I had questions about it.

Long story short, I never heard anything from him, so I waited a week (I was super busy on my work trip) and then emailed him to ask if I could have a copy of the worksheet. He never replied. So, I emailed him AGAIN a week later as a follow up just quickly/politely asking for a copy of the worksheet and he still hasn’t replied AGAIN. It’s really strange to me. We haven’t emailed much in the past (only to occasionally re-verify appointment times and get copies of a lost billing statement,etc ) but whenever I have previously emailed he is VERY responsive. And he was the one who suggested sending the worksheet over email, not me, so it’s not like I’m asking him to do something he doesn’t want to do/isn’t comfortable doing.

I now just feel strange and awkward about the whole thing; we have an appointment scheduled for the day after tomorrow but I feel weird going after not seeing him for three weeks and him not responding to either or my emails/never sending the worksheet. Should I email to confirm the appointment? Should I just go? Should I not go? Is it possible that this is his way of terminating therapy without telling me? Feeling strange about the whole situation. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Idk why no one responded to this sooner but i think you should go! You have nothing to lose but the time you alotted for this appt.

Thanks Bipolarchic14! I'm inclined to go but just feel weird about the whole thing. Like, I don't want to go somewhere I'm not wanted and also don't want to go through the awkwardness of discussing his lack of response. But therapy has been great up until now so it would seem a shame to just end it, but I just feel so weird about the whole thing. Like, do I send him an email confirming our appointment since we haven't communicated in 3 weeks or just walk in? So confused. Probably wayyyy overanalyzing this but I hate the fact that the prospect of going to therapy/dealing with my therapist is now making me more anxious than the things I originally sought therapy for...

I would call rather than email.

Id still go and ask him about it in person there might be a reasonable explanation.

I would go to the appointment to discuss it. Maybe his spam filter caught your messages, maybe he had a family emergency...it's worth going to express your dismay and hear what he has to say. If you're concerned that he might forget the appointment, I would call to confirm it.

Did you check your email's spam and junk filters too, just in case?

I'd give up on the emailing and either call to confirm or just go to the appointment. Good luck!

Go and find out what's going on. Good luck

How did you go? did you go?

maybe it went to his junk or he changed emails? Thats pretty weird to not reply to 3 emails, even if something happened you would think he would put an auto reply out of office type thing.

Hope you got some clarity and a decent answer!

Hi all,

Thanks so much for all your advice, I really appreciate it. Still feeling strange about the whole thing and wondering what is best to do, but leaning towards just going. We've never spoken on the phone so feel like it would be weird to call (I honestly don't even know if I have/could locate his number). The appointment is late this afternoon (its early morning here) and definitely feeling weird about just showing up but not really sure what else to do. I could call the intake person and try to confirm our appointment via her but she often doesn't answer her phone (she usually calls back/replies to voicemails) and feel like it might overcomplicate the issue (plus I normally schedule appointments directly through my therapist).

I think it's a good idea to go. I know it may be uncomfortable, but I would definitely talk about his lack of response to your emails. Good luck!

I agree with others that if it were me, I would just go. Obviously emailing isn't working. It would be very hard for me to talk about it, but I would try to do so.

Emails get misdirected and lost. I would make a phone call. If that is not answered I would go to see what happened.

I would definitely go. The server that my T's office used to use often ate e-mails. Like I would ask my T (or marriage counselor) if they'd read my e-mail, and they'd check the account and said it wasn't there. And that sometimes e-mails they sent never got to clients. (My T confirmed this--it wasn't just me!) Thankfully, about 6 months ago, they upgraded to have a server through gmail, and that problem seems to have gone away. So it could be a problem with his e-mail. Or maybe he has tried sending the worksheet, and it didn't go through but he didn't realize it. Definitely talk about it at the appointment though!

Definitely go, otherwise you won't ever know for sure what is going on. Good luck. : )

How did it go?

Hi all,

Thank you so much for your advice and encouragement. I ended up just going. I didn't even have to mention it; he literally started apologizing without me saying anything the second I walked in the door so he must've felt weird about it. He basically just said he forgot and that it kept getting pushed off.

To me it's not a super big deal/if it were a friend or coworker I really wouldn't care (I'm pretty laid back in my personal life about things like this), but it does irk me a bit that I'm paying him as a professional and he literally straight up ignored my emails/didn't follow through with what he said he was going to do.

I don't really feel like it's worth bridging up unless this happens again because our sessions usually have so much jam-packed into them anyway that I don't want to waste time on this, but it does irritate me a tad.

Anyway, just wanted to update you all. Thanks for encouraging me to go!