[MissUdy]

I guess most people will have a break from seeing their therapist over Christmas? Of course they should have time off but I know I still struggle with it. Particularly Christmas, because It’s not a happy time of year for me especially this year.

So when T asks me how I feel about Christmas I struggle to tell the truth of how awful it is for me. Because I know I won’t see him and I don’t want him to feel guilty for leaving me alone over a difficult period.... and I don’t want to make it in to a thing because I know I can’t contact him if I have a Christmas crisis. I know they probably don’t feel guilty because time off is self care etc.

[Miss Laura]

Mines usually takes a month off usually this week until mid Jan. But this year she is working until 23rd. So guess she might take a month off. Is there any other support you access other than your Therapist?

[Mountaindewed]

Mine saw me on the 23rd last year. It was very helpful. She asked me if I wanted to take a week off but I said no. Luckily Christmas is on a Friday this year so I won’t have to take the next couple days off from group like I usually take off from work when I’m working. I’m not sure there’s groups on Christmas Eve but I plan on going to them if there are.

[nottrustin]

The holidays are hard. My T always take the week between Christmas and New Years off. Depending on the dates the two fall on it can be a 2 weeks vacation. This year it will only be one.

I told her a couple of years ago after her vacation that I struggle with them. I told her I understand her taking a vacation is very important and encourage her to do that but that it is hard for me because the consistency is important for me. She was very understanding.

[ChickenNoodleSoup]

My T always takes two weeks off over Christmas, but I've never struggled with it more than when it's in the Summer of Spring.
I'd tell my T about struggling with it if I were you. Lots of people find Christmas a difficult time and if he already asked, I'm sure he's prepared to hear something about it not being a great time. If he knows that you're having difficulties with him taking time off, he might be able to brainstorm some things to help during that time. I doubt he'd feel guilty for taking care of himself afterwards.

[LonesomeTonight]

I would be honest about how you feel with your T. Mine was debating whether to take Christmas Eve through the Sunday after New Year's off, or to work a couple days in the week in between. I tearfully talked about how I worried about his time off, as I've been seeing him 3 times a week since not long after the pandemic started (twice a week before that), and I worried about going 11 days without a session (he often will have a T on backup, but I doubted any of them would be working then either). I apologized multiple times, saying I felt like I was being selfish in saying that, as he hasn't taken more than a day off since the pandemic started and he deserves time off and I know he needs self-care to be a good T. He said I wasn't being selfish, that he saw it as me speaking up for what I need and looking out for my mental health (or something like that), which is a good thing.


He also said that because he's not traveling anywhere, it would basically just be sitting at home with his wife and son for all that time. So he wasn't sure if he needed that much time off. His current plan is to work the Monday and Tuesday after Christmas, which made me feel a great sense of relief. He said there's a slight chance he'd change it, but plans to stay with that.

But I think it helped me to get out what I was feeling. And I imagine your T would be understanding as well. You should be able to talk about your feelings with him. He may not feel guilty, like you said (and I don't think mine does either), but he could still talk about your feelings. If he doesn't realize how worried you are about it, it will be more difficult to come up with a plan.

She always takes Christmas eve and Christmas day off, but she usually texts me to say Merry Christmas.

[Taylor27]

My T is going to be away from Dec 18th til Jan 4th. She know how hard Christmas is and has offered to see me next week and the week she comes back. I knew this back in October and it's nice of her to make sure I have sessions set. Also im happy she is taking a couple weeks off, she needs a break she works very hard and i know she deeply cares about all her clients.

[velcro003]

Ugh, not looking forward to it. My sessions are on Fridays, so that means I won't be able to talk to her for two weeks. And I don't do well at the holidays.

[Rive.]

These breaks suck.

[emmaleemochizuki]

Yeah I used to struggle with breaks, but in recent years it's been a bit better.

This year my T is taking about one and a half weeks off during Christmas so it's slightly less than previous years. But she's taking a much longer time off in March as she's having a baby, I don't know at this point how long that would be yet, maybe 3-4 months. And it is definitely scary. I haven't yet decided if I will see someone just temporarily for those few months, I guess I'll make this decision closer to the time.

As for Christmas this year I don't know. Similar to some of you guys Christmas is a triggering time. I still got 4 more sessions left until the break so I guess I will try to talk a bit more about it. Still it's very difficult, I'm not feeling very well physically and I have got the pressure of exams in January.

Anyway though, I wish everybody a good Christmas.

[*Beth*]

I feel very fortunate because my therapist is taking only Thursday, Friday, and the week-end off. I see her 2x per week, so I'll be missing only 1 session.

I would be straightforward with your T, though. Tell him you're worrying about the missed sessions. I'm sure it won't surprise him and maybe he has some ideas.

[Merope]

I find breaks hard too, especially around Christmas. I usually go abroad and always look forward to coming back because I know I have a safe space. I think this year will be particularly difficult because we’ve been doing video sessions since March and I feel like I no longer have that safe physical space to come back to. He usually takes two weeks off, but given how my sessions fall, I’ll probably not see him for close to three weeks. I wish I could just sleep through all of it.

[Gracey]

I see my therapist twice a week, and we've shimmied the schedule around next week and the following to accommodate for the holidays. I consider myself fortunate; even when he's traveling (or I am) we're able to use teletherapy to continue to work.

[littleblackdog]

I see my therapist on Mondays and so, even through she is working over Christmas, we are still going to miss two sessions in a row because of Bank Holidays.
Because I am really not doing very well at the moment she is putting some extra support in place with one of her colleagues who I can talk to mid-week