What is your therapist's COVID-19 policy for sessions?

Asking out of curiosity as many seem to be returning to in-person.

Background: my last scheduled session was the same week my large lecture course had a mini-outbreak of COVID. I'd tested negative but I asked Info if she'd prefer the next session be virtual instead of in-person because I had been exposted. She said yes (she was about to travel and wanted nothing to derail that), so when we met I asked what to do for future outbreaks if any. We agreed that if either of us had symptoms (plural symptoms, not just a sore throat) when a session was scheduled we'd go virtual.

Our default is to meet virtually without video (this is my preference) unless I want to meet in person outside (which I rarely want). Her preference would be to meet in person (with a covid procedure in place such as clients being fully vaccinated etc), but she accepts my preference.

Did you ever go swimming with her for session, by the way?

We meet in person, no masks. If one of us tested positive then I would be given the choice of whether I wanted to cancel or do virtual. I would choose to cancel as I find virtual way too triggering. Consideration for cancelling face to face sessions on a longer term basis would only be discussed if the whole country went back in to a full lockdown again. And even then it would be a conversation to have and work out between us rather than an outright decision made solely by the therapist.

Not yet, but we have spoken about what needs to be in place, what I want etc. I am still not sure about it. If it doesn't happen over the next few weeks, I suspect it won't happen as the autumn cold becomes a limiting factor, although we do both swim throughout the winter. Given that we are currently in the midst of discussions about the level of intimacy in our relationship, I don't feel inclined to swim with her.

Mine was recently sick after a trip. He got a rapid covid test and it was negative, but he was still feeling poorly so we missed our session. The next day he was feeling better and offered a session and gave me the option of in-person or virtual. We met in person and he wore a mask the whole time. So, kind of option 3, except I was given a choice instead of automatically switching to virtual. I still voted for option 3.

Mine is not vaccinated and doesn’t believe in masks or any of that stuff. So I’m still doing in person sessions but we both wear masks now. The one I’m being switched to only does telehealth and I couldn’t get a clear answer if she was permanently doing telehealth. Which could be an issue for me.

I came home from my last session feeling slightly sick. I told her through email and she didn’t seem concerned. But if I were to actually get sick like with the flu or Covid I’d tell her and let her decide what to do since talking with her about this stuff gets her going.

We're doing in person with masks, both vaxxed, six feet of distance (for whatever that's worth), and a portable air purifier. We typically email ahead if there's some sort of question about exposure or symptoms. I'm trying to be particularly careful right now for various reasons, and my T seemed to be slightly more worried/cautious last week and said she was going to start spacing out in person appointments again (rather than seeing people back to back). Plan B is always telehealth, although I'm sure I could cancel without incurring a fee. My T generally prefers video chat, but sometimes I prefer phone.

We meet face to face outside right now. We don't wear masks and she is not vaccinated, I am. My therapist is going to let me know next week if we are meeting at a room that is empty where I go cooking or back in her office now that it's getting colder outside.

I should have said: both vaccinated, no masks, no distancing. Info is not crazy about getting a booster shot, even though she’s eligible. (I’m not concerned about this.)

She will resume in person sessins only after her 6 year old son can be fully vaccinated. Until then she will only dovirtual sessions.

We're still virtual. We are both vaccinated. And I am still working most days and doing school from home myself, so it works pretty well.

Met for a few weeks in person, both fully vaccinated (he required any in-person clients to be), signed a waiver form. Then delta showed up, and he switched to virtual. But during the brief in-person time, the signed agreement stated that clients were supposed to check their temps before session (I mostly forgot to do this), would wear a mask until seated in his office, and use hand sanitizer or wash hands (not sure how that would happen!) once arriving in his office (I generally sanitized in the waiting room, and he trusted me when I said that). There was also a clause saying that if a client appeared sick, he could require them to leave immediately and either switch to virtual or cancel/reschedule the session.

He ended up switching back to virtual before this. But I was going to the beach for a week in late August and said I'd be willing to do virtual for 10-14 days after I returned to be safe (rates were much higher at the beach than in the county where I live and Dr. T lives/practices). He said he appreciated that. I also had intended that if my D was potentially exposed at school, I'd have done virtual until it was confirmed she hadn't caught it.

I didn't say this at the time, but Dr. T also traveled in late August/early September. If we'd still been meeting in person at the time, I might have opted to do virtual for, say, the 10-day period after, just in case he caught something. Much like NP's T, he had some symptoms upon his return and got tested, but was negative.

ETA from reading another post: He was originally considering resuming in-person sooner than he did, but his wife wanted to be fully vaccinated first (he was able to get vaccinated much earlier as a healthcare provider). Then, he was waiting for guidance from the APA or our state's psychological association to say it was OK to meet in person without masks (which was frustrating), then his family was taking a vacation with another family, and they'd agreed to be really careful, so he didn't want to meet with clients in person the 2 weeks before that. Also in there, his middle-school-aged son was able to get fully vaccinated.

We're in person with masks on, both of us fully vaccinated. I haven't discussed with my T yet but I know the clinic offers the option of telehealth.

I ought to ask my T, have a discussion.

initially just virtual, but since I won't do virtual at all I didin't have it for ages

now things are opening up she can do in person sometimes

Thanks, @@. I thought I was in a minority with my counsellor still doing virtual sessions. It helps to realise I'm not, although I remain intensely frustrated by it.

Haven't discussed it. We have been doing in-person all the time, without any special distancing and without masks. Not shaking hands though, although I stopped shaking hands with T already a while before the start of covid.

I suppose that if I would test positive for covid or have any other serious symptoms of infection then we would simply hold our sessions over the phone for a while. My T has never been sick during the time I have seen him (8 years), so it seems almost impossible to imagine that he might get sick but of course in reality this could happen as well. It remains to be seen what would happen then.

We've stayed with phone calls--not telehealth--throughout. I know she was meeting with just one client in person spring/summer as he was fragile, because her husband was immuno-compromised (he died last week, not from COVID). She had offered in person to me just because she knows I'm extremely careful, but I'm fine with phone calls. Now our area is surging cases badly, so I expect to stay on the phone until next summer.

In person right now if you were not exposed. He said he doesn't expect our country to ever shut down doctor's offices again in the near future, I agree with him on that. He'd go back to "virtual" (phone sessions) with all clients only if it was mandated, else policy for over a year now has been masks and bit more distance, we're both vaccinated, but of course he'd probably also see me if I wasn't.
If one of his clients was "at risk", i.e. had exposure to somebody else with Covid, an outbreak at the workplace or something like that, you're legally obligated to quarantine anyways, so I think if that situation were to arise, he'd do phone sessions with that client instead. If you had any symptoms, it's the same policy as with any other illnesses, he doesn't want to see you and will do phone session instead. That has been the case before covid already though.

He doesn't want to go back to phone sessions, since he's not tech savy enough to set up something with a webcam and only phone is a bit too limited. But since he used to be a surgeon, masks aren't a problem for him either, and his office and case load allows for enough distance, time between clients to air the room, all that. And there haven't been any cases in his office, even when our ERs were almost full.

We're still doing telehealth, thankfully. I hate driving all the way down there just to sit in this sad little box with nothing but a trippy yin and yang flag on the wall. And having to take that sketchy as hell elevator because my therapist doesn't want to take the stairs. And my computer chair swivels whereas the chair in the box doesn't know how freeing movement is.