[emmaleemochizuki]

I have been with my current T for a little over 2 years. And there has been several times she emailed me literally hours before our appointment asking for a different time, or telling me she has to cancel for whatever reason.

I don't like this, as I have ASD, and I usually schedule my time weeks or even months ahead. I have work so it's not like I'm always readily available for any changes to happen.

[MissUdy]

No, he doesn’t ever do this. I wouldn’t see him if he did.

[susannahsays]

I think she has canceled twice the day of, and maybe twice the day before or earlier in 3 years. One of the times she canceled she actually forgot to notify me and I didn't know. That was upsetting, but otherwise I really have no complaints.

[*Beth*]

YES.

I've been in therapy with her for 2 years. Many times, a cancellation has happened the day of. The most recent one was this month - 65 minutes before my appointment. Since that day she's been out for 5 sessions (including today). I know that she is sick (she has asthma quite severely). I'm sorry she's sick, but her absences...I never know whether or not she'll be back until the day of the appointment, because she keeps changing the day. My anxiety gets really high, not knowing how to plan my day.

I don't doubt for a minute that she really is sick. What bothers me is that to me, a therapist who cannot be more consistent and respectful of her clients needs to seriously assess whether she's capable of doing her job.

[stopdog]

It has happened. It never really bothered me unless I was en route or if a therapist had done it to me but gotten pissy if I did the same thing to them.

[LonesomeTonight]

A few times, mine has asked if I can switch my time around. I work from home as a contractor, so he knows I generally have flexible hours. But usually it's a case where he might say, "Would it be possible for you to do 1:30 p.m.? If not, I could still do 12:30, but 1:30 would be easier." The times I switched, he thanked me multiple times. Only once was I unable to switch because of needing to pick my daughter up from school that day, and he was fine with that. Usually if he requests a switch, he'd ask a day or two in advance. It's a little annoying, but I know he's also moved another flexible client around a couple times to accommodate me. And he did have to cancel the morning of once because he hurt his back, but was able to reschedule me for later in the week.

Ex-marriage counselor had to cancel at the last minute fairly often, which I eventually learned was because his wife was terminally ill. It was still difficult him canceling a couple hours before the session. And then there was one time when we arrived for session, and he said something had come up, and he'd only be able to meet for 20 minutes--he didn't charge us for that though. It got to the point that I doubted we'd have a session until we were actually sitting in the room with him, and then I'd get nervous if he got a text or phone call, thinking he might have to leave. He never did, but it was still in the back of my mind (his looking at the numbers from texts and calls during session was extremely annoying, too. T has only done that once, when a plumber was due to arrive at the building any minute, and he had to send them away so they wouldn't disrupt my session.).

[Lonelyinmyheart]

Mine does. I don't like it but I understand why it happens. I've come to accept it because our relationship means so much.

[TeaVicar?]

No - same time and day each week. Only very occasionally has he asked me change the time/date but he's given me at least a week's notice. A couple of times he's cancelled with little notice but they were unavoidable emergencies .

Having a set time and day is part of the framework - therapy helps by being consistent .

[Omers]

Only once in 20 months has T changed/cancelled our appointment after it was scheduled. He warned me a month in advance that his grand child was due and if she were born he would cancel. Only time!

[Elio]

Mine has only done something like that a few times, in each event it was illness/injury. The first time was early on and I almost didn't go back. The second time was pretty devastating for me, I found out only an hour before my appointment and it was to be the first appointment after a 2 week vacation break.

The last time she cancelled on short notice, it wasn't too bad. She let me know it was an illness. I have lots of contact with her now so it's not as bad. I still get moments of panic where I'm afraid of a last minute cancellation.

Last week she brought up the possibility of needing to shuffle my appointments; that her schedule needed to flex by 15 mins. It was hard to deal with in the moment. It wasn't as intense as before but still hard. The ripples didn't last as long either - I was able to bounce back a bit faster. After I was calmer, I started wondering if the adjustment was so that her and the other T's in her building would have staggered start times to allow for in person sessions again. She didn't give any explanation and I think sometimes that makes it be harder.

[Gettingitsoon]

Yes.
Rarely cancels, unless shes ill.
But will ask to adjust times but only by 30 min or so.
Not a problem for me except if Im already in transit.

[Mountaindewed]

She used to cancel fairly frequently the day of my appointment when we were in the office. Now she doesn’t. I had to send an email the day of the session and reschedule last week because of my doctors appointment. Now she often sends me emails 15 minutes before my appointment saying we can start early but no pressure.

[nottrustin]

Current T has never canceled a scheduled appointment in the 3 years I have been working with her.. The only schedule changes have come when she has messages me that the person before me cancelled so if I want to start early she is available on not she is fine with it.

For about thr first 8 years she only cancelled a scheduled appointment if there was a huge snow storm. The last couple of years she did on multiple occasions have to cancel at the last minute. she developed Colitis and Chron's disease. She literally could be fine and then all of a sudden would have a flair up. there was no way she could sit through appointments when it happened. It was frustrating and eventually they were able to get better control. I understood.. Oh and once she cancelled because she had a much older patient who was terminally I'll and was only given a couple of days to live. She really wanted to see T as she was helping her navigate and cope with everything. The client lived quite a distance away so T contacted me to see about reacheduling for the next day so she would go be with the client.

[ArtieTheSequal]

My t is extremely consistent I'd have to say. Only very rarely has she canceled or changed our appt time and I don't think it's ever been same day. Once I remember was because she was sick and another time I recall was because she forgot about the time difference and had double-booked (this was while she lived in a different state for awhile during the time we did phone sessions). I'd have to think really hard to try to pinpoint any others, it's been that rare in over 8 years. She's pretty amazing in that regard.

[feileacan]

Never. He has never cancelled a session at all.

[Amyjay]

I currently have a therapist who doesn't change times, but in the past I have had a therapist who did, frequently. She was a forensic psychologist and she would sometimes get called up for emergency court cases. So for her it was unavoidable. But, knowing that didn't relieve the stress it caused me at all. My appointments were most often on different days at different times, and were subject to frequent changes.
My current therapist is exceptionally consistent with days and times, and has only once changed a scheduled appointment. The consistency makes an enormous difference. I think ultimately some therapists are committed to consistent scheduling and others are not.

[ArtleyWilkins]

Almost never. The couple of times he did happened kind of back to back. He ended up in the hospital having surgery to zap some awful kidney stones. I had no problem giving him a pass on that.

[Salmon77]

Almost never. It would bother me a lot if that happened often.

[MobiusPsyche]

This has only happened once in the six years I've been seeing my T and that was due to illness. I would not see her if it happened more than, say, once a year or so.

[velcro003]

My T has only cancelled day of if her kids got sick, and a few times bc her husband had been hospitalized.

[ChickenNoodleSoup]

He has only cancelled a session on the day of the session once, when his wife had to go to the hospital unexpectedly. I couldn't deal with a T cancelling on the day of sessions frequently, but I can understand a once in a while kind of thing. I might also be more tolerant if I already knew the T for quite a while before it starts to happen, say if my T suddenly got ill and had to cancel from time to time due to that, I think I could deal with it, but only because I already know him well.

[Merope]

Mine never cancelled on short notice which I am very thankful for. He was once apologetic for telling me he won't be there a week in advance (he usually gives me at least two weeks' notice).