Why do so many therapists not work outside 9-5?

I still really disagree with those saying it's unethical and whatnot for Ts not to offer later hours. They have no obligation to do that! If they are in private practice, THEY decide their hours, their rates, and their clientele. If that doesn't work for you, you find another T. Inconvenient, sure. Unethical or breaking some kind of social responsibility code? Absolutely not.

The office I work in has more than 10 Ts, and when I schedule people I always let potential clients know what times they have available on a weekly basis. One of our most experienced Ts only works 8:30-4:30 Monday-Thurs and almost always has a full caseload (including a lot of child clients), because she is amazing at her job and people make it work to see her if it's that important to them. If her schedule doesn't work, there are other Ts we have who have after school, evening, or weekend appointments, and some of them are even less expensive due to their experience level. Sometimes there is a waiting list for those spots though, because everyone wants them.

Why should any T work hours they don't want to if they don't have to? Some prefer daytime hours and others don't want to get up before 11am. Not sure where y'all are, but here there are enough Ts in my city who work all different hours that you can certainly find something that should work for you. Plus, it keeps being mentioned as if 9-5 is everyone's work schedule, but it's not. We have quite a few clients who come to the office that have alternative work schedules- like nurses who maybe work 3 days, get 2 days off, or people who work 1pm-9pm, etc. Or sometimes, one person will bring a kid in and a different relative will pick them up. They make it work! The people who can't will make appointments somewhere else.

Personally, while I see my current T at 6pm on a weeknight, if I couldn't get on her schedule at that time I would either look elsewhere to find someone closer who I could see during my lunch break or take time off work but go less frequently. I've even had other jobs in the past and my bosses have always been understanding about me needing to leave early to make it to therapy appointments. The one job I had that would have been impossible to do that with had a different schedule of 3pm-11pm and usually two weekdays off, it wasn't an issue there either.

Also, personally, I don't want to be more important that my T's family and personal life, because that would be bizarre and unhealthy. They need to take care of themselves properly to be emotionally healthy and effective at their job. Private practice Ts provide a service and they determine the details of how, when, and where. Clients can choose to partake or not.

[edit] For the social responsibility piece, both the Ts I work with at my job and Ts I've seen before often offer a sliding scale to reduce the financial burden. I know some Ts who normally charge $125/session who lower the rate to $25/session for those going through some sort of major crisis and some places even offer free counseling. And, in my own experience, I had a T who normally didn't accept insurance start accepting mine again just so i could afford to see her- making her $125 rate go down to a $15 copay for me and extra paperwork and phone calls for her to get maybe half of her usual pay from them. There are other ways to help those in need besides having extended hours.

One reason why it might be obnoxious to some is that social responsibility and service to communities and putting clients first is in the various ethics codes of therapists (at least here in the US it is). I've seen 2 ethics codes that also expect those in the profession to do some work without compensation/volunteer. No, it's not mandated, and not everyone can; but it's strongly encouraged and expected (for those who can). This is what they commit to when they join the professional organizations.

Working one or two nights a week until 7 instead of 5 isn't revolving their life around their clients or putting the client above themselves and families or being a slave to clients. There are a good number of people who truly cannot get services due to their jobs. Some types of employers allow liberal use of leave, but others don't allow any. A construction worker can't just halt the job for 2 hours every week to go to your therapist. Most businesses in the US are small businesses and don't have extra employees to provide coverage for someone to see a therapist every week. People get fired. People just don't get services.

I don't know if some are too young to have experienced this, but in the US, people had less employment rights 20 years ago. I'ts changed a lot, but you can still get fired for taking off too much work for medical appointments. It takes 2-3 hours off work for middle of the day appointments, which is often all that is available. People just can't do this every week; many are self-employed themselves.

For me, i am one of the more fortunate ones who can work this out with my employer (make up the time). Many people don't have that luxury.

Sure, it's not as convenient. It's also not as convenient to recycle, but people have the responsibility to do it. I think I am more pro-social responsibility overall, but I think those in certain professions have more responsibilities than those in other professions. Those in the therapy professions do to, otherwise, they wouldn't put it in their ethics codes. Those in the profession have more responsibility than merely doing what they like to do. Ethics codes are not different for the self-employed than they are for those who are not.

Not only that, but those therapists who never offer any evening hours, rather than the clients, who are the ones putting more stress on others in the profession who do take responsibility.

I still really disagree with those saying it's unethical and whatnot for Ts not to offer later hours. They have no obligation to do that! If they are in private practice, THEY decide their hours, their rates, and their clientele. If that doesn't work for you, you find another T. Inconvenient, sure. Unethical or breaking some kind of social responsibility code? Absolutely not.

The office I work in has more than 10 Ts, and when I schedule people I always let potential clients know what times they have available on a weekly basis. One of our most experienced Ts only works 8:30-4:30 Monday-Thurs and almost always has a full caseload (including a lot of child clients), because she is amazing at her job and people make it work to see her if it's that important to them. If her schedule doesn't work, there are other Ts we have who have after school, evening, or weekend appointments, and some of them are even less expensive due to their experience level. Sometimes there is a waiting list for those spots though, because everyone wants them.

Why should any T work hours they don't want to if they don't have to? Some prefer daytime hours and others don't want to get up before 11am. Not sure where y'all are, but here there are enough Ts in my city who work all different hours that you can certainly find something that should work for you. Plus, it keeps being mentioned as if 9-5 is everyone's work schedule, but it's not. We have quite a few clients who come to the office that have alternative work schedules- like nurses who maybe work 3 days, get 2 days off, or people who work 1pm-9pm, etc. Or sometimes, one person will bring a kid in and a different relative will pick them up. They make it work! The people who can't will make appointments somewhere else.

Personally, while I see my current T at 6pm on a weeknight, if I couldn't get on her schedule at that time I would either look elsewhere to find someone closer who I could see during my lunch break or take time off work but go less frequently. I've even had other jobs in the past and my bosses have always been understanding about me needing to leave early to make it to therapy appointments. The one job I had that would have been impossible to do that with had a different schedule of 3pm-11pm and usually two weekdays off, it wasn't an issue there either.

Also, personally, I don't want to be more important that my T's family and personal life, because that would be bizarre and unhealthy. They need to take care of themselves properly to be emotionally healthy and effective at their job. Private practice Ts provide a service and they determine the details of how, when, and where. Clients can choose to partake or not.

[edit] For the social responsibility piece, both the Ts I work with at my job and Ts I've seen before often offer a sliding scale to reduce the financial burden. I know some Ts who normally charge $125/session who lower the rate to $25/session for those going through some sort of major crisis and some places even offer free counseling. And, in my own experience, I had a T who normally didn't accept insurance start accepting mine again just so i could afford to see her- making her $125 rate go down to a $15 copay for me and extra paperwork and phone calls for her to get maybe half of her usual pay from them. There are other ways to help those in need besides having extended hours.

They do indeed have a professional obligation-it's their ethics codes that talk about their responsibility to social causes and public health. It's not a mere inconvenience for some people or a matter of 'finding someone else'-it means they don't have access to services.

I'm not sure who said it was unethical not to offer access to all patients, I never said that it's unethical. But no, it's not like any business where you only do what's best for yourself. You have to take clients in consideration when making business decisions. That social responsibility does not delineate between those in private practice and those not self-employed.

And if you read the social worker ethics, they imply that if you don't live your life in a way that serves others, you have no business being in the profession. It seems like social workers make up the bulk of therapists now. Code of Ethics (English and Spanish) - National Association of Social Workers

My point is that as a profession, therapists themselves say they have social responsbility and should consider the welfare of clients unlike other businesses (not sure why people are saying that's not true when they themselves claim this) and as a profession, should contribute to addressing client access issues.

That means those who can should 'inconvenience' themselves just a little bit to try to offer access to services to clients of various backgrounds. There are some, like my therapist, who work more non-traditional hours than others to make up the slack for all of those therapists who are more self-centered.

It's a free country here; sure, no one HAS to help people. ER doctors and nurses don't get together with their professional organizations and unions and decide they are all going to work 9-5 and have ER techs only staff hospitals after hours. People don't get to work the hours they want when they choose certain professions where people's well-being rather than profit is the focus.

This issue actually degrades the credibility of the profession further. If they want to be like any other business, sure, just don't claim to support ethics codes and social responsiblity-don't join and get the benefits of professional organizations or health insurance. Maybe life coach jobs are more fitting for therapists who don't consider the welfare of the population they serve when they make their business decisions. I have no issue with them operating like a business owner and not a health care professional as long as they don't claim to be something they are not.

To me social responsibility is more about responsibility to society as a whole, not about extended office hours.

Indeed, if a therapist works very long hours, they can become too tired and do more harm than good. Then the more socially responsible thing to do is not to take those extra hours of work, even if it means extra income or more clients.

Human services professions do consider client access to services as a social responsibility of the profession. It has nothing to do with working long hours, forcing therapists to work when they can't, having to work weekends, accepting all clients for every situation, etc.

My post is more related to those who say they have no responsibility to populations they serve when making business decisions. That's a business, not a profession. Those affiliated with a profession have committed to a set of values, behaviors, and standards.

But a variety of hours does not necessarily mean more hours - just different hours. 9-5 on Monday Wed Fri and 12-8 on T/ Th for example.

Not seeing in the code of ethics that therapists who don't offer evening or weekend hours are unethical or obnoxious . . . See no requirement that they do so or implication that in not doing so they shouldn't be in the profession . . . See no evidence that a therapist who keeps regular work hours is less effective at their profession . . . See no definition that says that social responsibility is only defined by their work hours . . .

What is the population they serve, though? Existing clients? The wider community? Seems like a lot hinges on how one defines that.

What is the population they serve, though? Existing clients? The wider community? Seems like a lot hinges on how one defines that.

True. And if they are serving their population and community apparently effectively and it is working for them and their population, that should be all that really matters. They can't be all things to all people. They can be what is needed for their population and community, and if it is working, if they are booked and already working full time, as the old saying goes, "if it ain't broke . . ."

I was quoting your post. Were those your words or did you quote someone else?

Balance would be the key word. I much prefer a mental health professional who is able to keep a balance in their life that keeps them and their own life in a balanced, healthy place rather than always putting others first. Perhaps that is why so many mental health workers are underpaid, get burned out, perhaps have problems with boundaries . . . just a thought.

Compassion Fatigue: Being an Ethical Social Worker - SocialWorker.com