How are your therapists handling COVID-19?

I'm considering asking my therapist if she's open to a Skype session this week in place of our in-person session. This isn't because I'm sick, just practicalities--we scheduled when we did this week because I was going to be giving a talk near her office. Now I'm giving the talk via Zoom, which means a lot more travel time because I'll likely stay home to give it.

So are your therapists open to or already offering remote sessions, or is it just business as usual?

I've asked my T about it and she said in the event of having to self isolate she will offer appointments by phone, skype or facetime, but currently we are meeting in person as usual. I'm just praying the situation doesn't worsen

I asked mine about it in session Thursday, and he said he currently plans to keep seeing clients in person for now. In an email reply to me Friday, he said he may have to switch to "remote sessions" (not specifying if by phone, Skype, Facetime, whatever) and that he'd try to give me as much advance notice as possible if that's the case. He said it may come down in part to what his clients prefer (like maybe they'd all want remote, for example), though also what's going on with the virus. He did stop handshakes for now though.

My t’s whole office will be offering sessions via Skype if the client is sick or if the client doesn’t/ can’t leave the house. T said as of now he plans on keeping the office open for those who want in person sessions.

I have not asked but I am sure if I was concerned he would do Face Time.

Business as usual for now, but said he has been thinking of contingency plans like telehealth. I'm already feeling the effects of social isolation so I hope we continue with our in-person sessions, unless of course one of us is sick.

Currently, he still sees people in person, but I think that will change next week since the whole country is slowly shutting down. The last time I was there, there was lots of disinfectant around for people to use and no handshakes.
Since I decided not to go see him in person as for now, we did a phone session. It might be that he'd switch to something like zoom when he has to close his office, but he seems to be more comfortable with phones.

T1 said he's already offering tele therapy to clients who have any concerns, but is still available to meet in person. That's what we did yesterday. He said he did get an email from the building he rents from, but didn't specifically say what it said just that he'll keep me updated.
T2 hasn't said anything either way, so I'm not sure what will happen with him.

I have to admit, I sort of want Dr. T to still be willing to go into the office, but for most of his clients to opt for phone sessions. So then I could still see him, but with less potential germ exposure. It does occur to me that I probably need to start doing something with my tissues (when I get really weepy) other from piling them up next to me on his couch (then putting in trash at end of session)...perhaps I'll just put each one right in my purse after I use it.

Well she coughed all over on Thursday. I don't think she has COVID-19, but she seemed pretty nonchalant. She also didn't seem to grasp that you're supposed to fully cover your mouth when you cough - not just turn away, and not sort of put your hand in a fist but not block the flow of potentially hazardous air being propelled out of your mouth. She did text beforehand to let me know she had stayed home the day before. Although I am kind of irritated at her for coughing everywhere, I don't think she was infected - not with the novel coronavirus, anyway. Her primary symptom was a runny nose and sneezing, which is very rare in COVID-19. We had just received a heavy dusting of pollen the previous couple of days and it was likely allergies. She had not experienced a fever, either.

I'm not so sure if I'll be continuing to go to that office, though. While I'm young, I do have asthma. Coughs can be dangerous for me. If the therapist won't even cover her mouth properly when she coughs, I don't know if I want to go around there. I'm also worried that if I get sick, I might pass it on to someone I dog walk for who is a nurse at a hospital. She's an OR nurse. Then maybe she would pass it on to people who are already sick or injured. Obviously, I'm going to do my best to take precautions against this, but the fact remains that it seems that people can transmit before they become symptomatic or have specific symptoms (for example, they might just be tired and not realize they're sick. I feel tired a lot of the time...), and some people are infected and asymptomatic.

Groups at the clinic where I go for therapy have been cancelled for at least 2 weeks. So far, my T is business as usual. So far.

I firmly believe that this whole mess is a media horror show.

I'm in Sweden and so far there are no restrictions when it comes to meeting with patients within mental health care facilities. There's though a huge risk my counsellor and/or my doctor getting sick and I try to prepare I won't be able to see them next week.

Thankful she is still doing face to face sessions.

Ugh, Susannah, ex-MC would do the coughing without covering his mouth, too, and it drove me nuts! He'd say on those days that he'd been coughing so wouldn't shake hands...but he'd been coughing into the air already! So hands likely wouldn't make a difference, because if he'd had any germs, he'd have already spread them...

Dr. T texted me tonight to confirm that he'd be in the office tomorrow--note that he usually works Sundays and offered me a slot tomorrow, which works better than my usual Monday slot with D being home and H working from home (per his boss's orders) with lots of conference calls. Though he said, "I'm confirming that I'll be in my office at 11:30 tomorrow." When I thought our session was at 10:30, so I was like, "Wait, 11:30? I thought it was 10:30?." I was correct, he apologized. I thanked him for letting me know he'd be in the office (vs. remote). I imagine it may be like that for each future session...

Both my therapists said they feel a duty to engage in social distancing, so they are exclusively doing remote sessions. Main T is using the video option through her practice's integrated software thingy. I did a phone session with EMDR/DBT T on Friday, but she said she might experiment with the same software video thingy starting next week.

L got back to me. She said she has no plans to do remote this week unless something changes, but we'll probably do remote the next week.

I would say therapists are handling the virus with professional courtesy. The virus and the therapist probably nod to each other as they pass in the halls.

It came up a bit last week when she asked if I wanted an appt next week. She seemed kind of whatever I wanted about it. So when I see her I think I'm going to say I'm taking a hiatus until things become more clear. She's a very spry 73, but her husband is 10 years older and has a serious chronic health issue; I think she should stay home. I've always thought she was a bit germaphobic because she's always offering Purel. There aren't any confirmed cases in my county yet, but without testing, estimates are that @ 60,000 are infected in the state. Over the next 4 weeks that number has a chance of exploding unless we're successful at flattening the curve. So I think the way forward will be more clear here in 4 weeks.


She doesn't do on-line or anything--very old school--and I wouldn't be interested anyway.

We’re using FaceTime; we had already done sessions that way before, for other reasons before Covid 19, so we’re both used to it.