[emmaleemochizuki]

My T did say about a million times before she went on leave that I can email her, and she is reachable. But I still feel so bad for doing so.

Like it's her leave, and I shouldn't be disturbing into a private life outside her work.

Now I just feel like I'm too needy and don't deserve her attention at all. And I should probably just deal with this by myself...

[Lostislost]

If you need to contact her I think it's important that you do. Especially if she told you it was ok. I beat myself up about things like that too, but we should really go easy on ourselves when we are struggling.

[velcro003]

I understand the self-criticism, because I do it too, but if your T told you to e-mail, trust their words. The nice thing about e-mail is that it isn't intrusive. A person can check their e-mail whenever they feel like it, so if your T wants to check their email on their break, that is their business

[ElectricManatee]

She's on maternity leave, right? I have to say that maternity leave can be lovely and it can also be really boring and isolating, so it's possible that she truly enjoys taking a minute to put on her adult-with-outside-responsibilities hat and help you. If she said it's okay and you doubt it, part of your work might be learn how to trust her.

[SlumberKitty]

My former T would routinely take a couple of weeks off to go to Singapore. She was teaching a class in Singapore so even though she was "off" from her therapist duties, she was still working. She would allow me to email her when she was in Singapore because she was gone I think 3 weeks at a time. It was weird at first but then I really appreciated it. My advice for the 2 cents that it is worth is to let the T decide if they can handle out of session contact and you work on getting your needs met either through your T or through other avenues. Best, Kit

[nottrustin]

I have struggled with this in the past. With Long term T I even voiced thr concern of her being on vacation and. ot working. She told me it was her responsibility to set the. oubdaries and decide if she wanted to receive emails on not while on vacation. She couldn't guarantee when she would receive it or respond but she wanted me to email her if I needed to. She said often at night when she sat down and relaxed she would often check any emails . However if she were exhausted it would likely not happen.

A couple of times when current T has been on vacation she has told me to text if need be. Again she may not read her work texts until she gets back from her vacation but I was welcome to send them. She knows most of the time when I text her it is mostly to vent. So a reply isn't completely necessary (although if I am honest I would like on). Since COVID she has received he work texts a lot less frequently than before.

[coolibrarian]

I have never considered texting my T when she's been on vacation. I've been more likely to call her voicemail and listen to her voice. Sometimes I leave a message, but mostly, I just listen. When she was on extended sick leave, she initially allowed me to text her, but things got out of control and that ended abruptly.
When I was very ill a few years ago, and in the hospital and then a physical rehab facility, she allowed me to text her (and she texted back), because I had neurological problems and was unable to speak.