access to T

I am curious to know (if you are comfortable sharing) what kind of off-hours access you have to your T. I am uncomfortable with what's available to me with the one I have now.

I have been at this therapy gig for most of the last 10 years, and in all that time, I have had everything from various Ts' email addresses to home phone numbers. The current one I have no way to get hold of after hours. I had to cancel my last appointment, and I ended up just not showing up, which I felt terrible about, but what could I do? I found out Sunday night that I had to do something for work at 8:00 Monday morning, when my appt. was supposed to be. I hung up with my editor and called T's office. I got the "our office hours are 8 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday. Please call back during regular business hours. Goodbye," click, no way to leave a message. I called at 7:59 Monday morning and nobody picked up the phone. I then had to turn it off, because they make you turn it off in the courtroom. So what was I supposed to do?

I'm disturbed by this lack of access, but unfortunately, it seems to be indicative of the mental health care in this particular hospital system. I live in a rural area and there is not very much choice as far as Ts and pdocs, so I"m kind of stuck. It's totally not what I'm used to, and I don't much like it. But I don't really have a choice.

Anybody got any ideas, please pass them on.

ty

Candy

candy, my therapist has a phone number for messages. He never answers this phone "live", but I know I can always leave a message about canceling an appointment and he will get it, and will call me back if necessary. Why don't you tell your therapist what happened and ask if there is a way you can leave a message for him/her when the office is not open? I am sure your therapist wants you to have a way to cancel appointments as it would screw up his schedule if clients weren't able to do this. Just pose him the question and wait for him to give you the solution. This sort of logistical issue is something that is his responsibility to work out, not yours.

My T does not provide me with his home phone and never gave me his email address (and it is not on his business card). He has never encouraged me to call him for support. And his answering machine message tells a number of a crisis line you can call if having an emergency. I do have his email now since he is also working with me professionally in a non-therapist role, and I sometimes copy him on group emails to keep him informed. Since obtaining his email, I used it on one occasion for a therapy related issue, and he responded quickly with a brief message that was reassuring.

That's my story! Every therapist is different with how much access they provide. My T has firm boundaries regarding phone and email.

Wow, I think it stinks that you can't at least leave a message.

My own therapist's voicemail says to leave a message of any length and he'll get back to you soon. The times I've called he's always called back by the next day (except when he was out of town). At least once he encouraged me to call him (I was dealing with a particularly bad crisis), and he has never been anything other than very supportive by phone. He's called me back on a Saturday and on a Sunday before when he couldn't call during the week (I've left him a message late in the evening on Friday before).

He has called from his cellphone before and had me use that number; however, if I'm calling him I always call the office number so he can check his messages when it's convenient. He's never given me his email address and I've never asked for it.

I think at minimum everyone needs some way to leave a message even if their therapist's policy is not to return calls. How else would you let them know you needed to reschedule?!

Sidony

P.S. Apologies that this post doesn't offer any suggestions. I don't know what you can do other than talk to him about this issue and explain why you couldn't be at session.

This is an easy question for me to answer. I have no after hours access!

Now, there is an on call psychologist for emergencies but I've never chosen that option. I can leave a message and most likely, it won't get answered. I know how busy he is. I would have to be a crying mess I think and emotionally, I just can't do that on a voicemail.

My T does have his email address on his business card and actually I'm not sure why he does. Although, one time he told me to email him my family doctor's office address and I forgot and had to be reminded.

Other than that who knows why. I would be very upset if my T didn't at least have a voicemail to change/cancel appts and what about emergencies?

That isn't right in my opinion.

The clinic I am at right now has a 24 hour hotline. The good thing about it is its toll free. The clinic I am moving to has you call the local mental health hospital after hours. I did that once and had to talk to the nurse that I don't like but that was for an emergency with the doctor. I'm not sure what the policy will be with the therapist. I am hoping I'll be able to get a hold of her and not have to call Vista. After 7:00 the calls are routed the adult unit and Andrea answers the phone and I don't like her very much.

Jbug

My T pretty much has a no boundary phone call policy-- meaning he encourages me to call whenever I want and to say whatever I want. He even said if I get mad at him I can say on the voicemail, "Don't listen to this" and then go ahead and curse him out if I feel like it. He said that I could trust him not to listen to it. (And I do trust that he wouldn't.) Or I could curse him out and have him listen to it, haha. Or whatever I want. I have never cursed him out over voicemail. Yet. Anyway, his phone is set to go straight to voicemail so if I leave a message at a reasonable time he will always get back to me that day. However, generally when I do leave a message it tends to be late at night b/c that's usually when I'm going through a difficult time.... So he always calls me back the next day. I do struggle with how wide open he leaves it... It's still hard for me to call.

Candy, right now I have email access to my T, which I use quite extensively. There is some one on call after hours, which I have never used.

Now my other T that I saw for over 3 years, I had his email address plus his personal pager number. Then after my OD attempt, he dumped me as his patient.

I think it's terrible that they don't have at least a way you can leave a message. Were you billed for that appt. time anyway? Some places require a 24 hour advance notice if you can't make it or they charge you. I hope not.

Take care.

Mary Alice

I can phone my PhD and she will always return the call. Not guaranteed the same day but she always seems to get back to me the same day.

No E-mail allowed.

My previous therapist, a pdoc, who I still see for med. visits, allows e-mails from me and answers back, though they are short answers; I appreciate that she does this. I never abuse the privilege especially now that she is not my therapist.

My T gave me a print-out on all these things in my first session - it is really clear and there is no blurred lines.

You can call whenever and leave messages on her machine and she will return call if she can (no guarantees) but she starts to charge after 10min on the phone. But in a crisis she just tries to contact people / hospital etc to get you assessed and to try make sure you will be safe
I have her email and she asks me to use it. i've only used it when she has emailed me first asking for other drs details etc.
And she charges if you don't cancel appt at least 24hrs ahead of time.

I think it is best not to contact them in between appt except in emergencies (like you are about to top yourself) or for practical things like cancelling appts. They have lots of other patients and if everyone kept contacting them they would never have time for much else.

I haven't seen anything from the ins. co. yet, so I don't know if I got billed for the missed session or not.

I did mention this today and she said she would look into it and get back to me.

I generally try not to contact them in between sessions unless I am sending a homework assignment or need to cancel an appt or need an extra session. I have to admit to being baffled by the very strong attachments people in this forum seem to have for their Ts. I can't imagine ever getting that carried away with one -- that's just me, though, not saying it's bad for others.

Candy

I can email my T though she can only check emails during work hours. She emails me all throughout the day - I use it quite a lot actually and she worries if I *dont* email her. I am multiple, though, so my alters and I use it to keep her up to date on all of us and what's going on because we only have 2 hours a week face to face.
I can call her office and leave voicemails. A lot of my littles like to leave her messages if they miss her. She always gets back to us as soon as she can, unless it's after 530/6 and she's left.
I can call her at home - I almost did Saturday after being suicidal but I couldn't bring myself to do it! She encourages me to call her at home if I need her (whether it's due to fear of harming myself or if I just have fear of abandonment kicking my butt and need to hear it's ok)!