How many weeks is your therapist out of the office each year?

I asked my therapist today if she had a pattern of six weeks on/three weeks off, as she has had since I started seeing her in January.

So that’s 17-18 weeks out of the office a year. That’s more than any other therapist I have seen. It seems high, so I was curious about the standard. What’s the average amount of time your therapist is out of the office each year? Could include both vacation and non-vacation (conferences, damily matters, etc.).

By the way, I’m not upset about this (mostly it’s annoying because after every gap I’ll need a session or two to readjust to her, but I probably don’t need therapy every week plus I have a second therapist I do see every other week who hardly ever goes out of town, so I’m covered), and I’m not criticizing her, so please don’t think I am and respond accordingly, or tell me therapists are human too and need breaks. That’s not the question I’m asking.

The pattern I have detected so far is a 2-week vacation around Christmas and a 2-week vacation in summer, plus a one-week in spring and a one-week in the fall. But I've only been seeing him for 1.5 years, so I can't really extrapolate.

I am not certain really-it depended on the year for the woman. She was gone for 6 weeks one time and I cancelled for another month and then she was out a couple of other times that same year. she broke her arm one year and was out awhile for that. She usually took off a week or two around new years and passover. And another time she took off a month to move into a condo from her house. I don't think she had a set number.
The second one was also gone from time to time for a week or two, but no real pattern. Plus they were both semi-retired the whole time I hired them for -so the woman was only in her office 2-3 days at the beginning of the week and the second one was at her office at the end of the week. Also I cancelled for work, school or just wanting a break.

I'd guess about 4-6 weeks. Some personal, some to present training seminars, and some professional development/conference stuff.

That's a pretty broad guess. I don't go weekly, so sometimes I just plain don't know unless she mentions that she was or is going to be gone on a particular week.

My ex T seemed to take about three weeks off per year, perhaps 4, but sometimes he made a point of saying he'd still be available by email or phone during his time off.

I'm glad your T's schedule doesn't bother you much. It does seem odd for a therapist, as breaks are often very difficult for clients, but I suppose it depends on the type of therapy & clients. I think that if a T is taking off more than -- I don't know, 5-6 weeks a year maybe? -- I would expect to be told that up front in the first meeting.

Usually 2 weeks at Christmas, one week at another time, and a fourth week some years but not others.

One week off around Christmas, several one week vacations during Spring and Summer. She's taking off this memorial day week. In the 3 years I've been with her, she's only taken one long vacation, 3 weeks.

I've been with him for 15 months now. He does:

2 weeks for Christmas
1 week at Easter
1 week in august.

He didn't leave at easter last year.

Mine almost never leaves. I dont know whats wrong with him. Otoh, he doesnt understand how i can be so lazy. He says im ALWAYS on vacation. We are Jack Spratt and his wife on this issue.

For former T, I'm not sure he ever took a vacation. Also, I only remember maybe twice in 10 years that he was gone for a full week. So let's say I saw him on Wednesdays: I may or may not miss a session because he might have left on a Friday and returned on a Tuesday. Also, when I was a student, the Center was on skeleton staff for @ 2 weeks at Christmas and 2 weeks for Spring break--but when I saw him in his private practice, he was available at those times, so he must have stayed in town.

Current T, in the last 1 1/2 years, she's been away maybe 3 times. She took last week off, and next week she'll be out of the office on my usual day, but we booked for later in that week. She and her husband used to live in a close by state, and they have family there, but also he seems to have Drs there that he sees regularly. I don't need to see her every week anyway, so it doesn't make any difference to me.

I haven't been seeing him long enough to ascertain a solid pattern on this, but I've been wondering about it recently. He seems to do long weekends away (or not "away" but out of the office) fairly frequently, but full weeks only rarely. Though he was out for about 2 months straight last year with a family emergency, so that may have skewed whatever his normal vacation schedule is.

Between 2 and 4. He always takes the week between Christmas and New year and one or two other single weeks. This year for the first time he's taking a 3 week break plus the Christmas week. I don't think he works full time though, and he is retiring from teaching and public speaking this year.

I started with my therapist last August. He took off two weeks at Christmas and another at Easter. I'd imagine he'll take off another couple in the summer. So four or five.

Your therapist takes a lot of time off, OP!

My t takes about one week off a month for holidays and training.
She usually tells me the week before, I have asked for more notice but she forgets.
I have to readjust when she comes back too and often there are reptiles the week when she comes back.

With my T it seems to be about 10 weeks every year:

1 week in fall, 1 in winter, 1 in spring, 3-4 in the summer. And another 2 weeks for Christmas. Additionally to that she's sometimes away for training.

Planned vacation is between 1 week and 10 days a year. There are ocassional sick days and national holidays. I can't complain.

Eight weeks last year, a little more this year, due to family stuff. Because of the way the universe works, my worst moments seem to coincide with the breaks. :/

No clue, don't pay any attention to doc's schedule except for the hour or so I am obliged to spend, as and when I bother to turn up.
Come to think of it....

He takes as many weeks of as he is legally allowed (and required) at his age in my country, which is 5. This does not count off days due to holidays. But for those he doesn't do things like "oh Thursday was a holiday so I'm not gonna work Friday as well", he just takes the legal holidays off, which would be weird if he didn't.

My previous T went away on vacation all the time, at least 16 weeks out of the year, which I think is totally excessive. I have been seeing current T for 8 months and in that time she has been away for 2 weeks. She is diligent about being predictable and giving plenty of advance warning so I don't expect her to be away within the next few months either (unless she is ill, of course).
I very much prefer the predictability of T2. Although T1 was a very committed T when she was present she was simply not-present too much for my liking.

Both T's only work 2 days s week. I have been seeing emdr T for 11 months. During that time she has taken 2 days odd. One for a vacation one because my appointment fell in a major holiday. I see here every other week so it effected my appointment once.

T1 only started taking any time off the last 4 or so years. Once a year for a trip and occasionally for illness (she developed a chronic but now controlled illness.

They schedule tting for the days they don't see clients.

he rarely takes entire weeks off.

I said 3-4 weeks, but that was only a guess. I've been seeing him since September, and he's only taken one full week off since then (was even around a bunch during Christmas, though I think he's Jewish), but I suspect he'll at least take a week or two in summer. And he's taken some 3-day weekends (I often see him Fridays, so saw him on Thursday instead those weeks, so it didn't affect my therapy much). Recently, I said, "You're not about to take a 3-week vacation, are you?" and he said, "Not unless I win the lottery." So I don't think he has any plans for a particularly long one. I'd be more bothered by a long (more than 2-week) vacation than somewhat more frequent shorter ones, I think. Like, I'd rather he take off a week each in June, July, and August than take 3 straight weeks in July off.

Not sure — in the first few months of seeing her, her schedule was such that she was off every other week on the day I was seeing her (Sunday). So, out of four months, that was about 2 months worth of sessions.

Apart from that, a week in November, a week around Xmas, the usual Thanksgiving break, a week in Spring, a week in summer and oh yeah, a week between Spring and Summer.

And, then some random days here and there which happen to fall on my session days.

So, in total maybe 8-10 weeks if I assume that first year was an anomaly?

She once mentioned the loss of income as something that bothers therapists and I assume her as well — she told me that apparently, some psychoanalysts she knows have their clients pay them even when the analyst is away on vacation coz.....income.

Seems to be 4 weeks per year. T takes a day or two off here and there as well.

2-4 weeks off has pretty much been the norm for all the t's I have seen over the years except the one who took 6 weeks off during the winter.