My therapists kid interuppted our session

I was doing telehealth this morning when all of a sudden her little kid comes up behind her and we make eye contact for a few seconds and my therapist didn't notice him and then she finally did and said "oh its-kids name- go upstairs I'm working." Then she apologized for the "suprise guest."

I was kinda caught off guard for a couple minutes and lost my focus. I couldn't tell if my therapist was super chilled about the situation or extremely angry and just handling it well.

Would this bother anyone? My cat crashed a session once.

I don’t think anyone would be extremely angry over their little kid showing up, unless they are completely insane, in which case they shouldn’t be therapists and also shouldn’t have kids

It would bother me if it was daily occurrence with family members interrupting. If it’s occasional, I’d say it’s no big deal. Life happens

I'm not sure I'd be *bothered," but I'd definitely be affected in some way and want to talk about it/process it with my T. I mean, I was affected during the pandemic when his dog made a cameo appearance--less so by his cat because he was petting the dog in his lap for much of the time, whereas the cat just strolled by, and it was weeks after the dog. In this case, it was more about seeing him acting tender to another being.

So, in this scenario, I'd be much more affected if, say, she'd given her kid a hug first. Or, in a different way, if she'd screamed at him. But this just sounds like she was telling him to go back upstairs. Still, for me, I could see how that might bring up some paternal transference, maybe a bit o jealousy of the child. If nothing else, anyone (or any animal) coming into the room during a session would throw me of my focus for a bit, so I think that's completely natural.

How are you feeling about it now? Also, I assume you knew already that she had a kid (or kids), right? I'd think it would be more potentially jarring if you didn't. I'd definitely talk about it with her if it's on your mind.

No, a workman busted in the room once, it's was Ts reaction to him that threw me more... I kinda smiled

Yeah, kids can do unexpected things despite our best efforts to prevent such things.

Unexpected interruptions happen. My Ts were never happy about those rare moments but they do happen without warning now and then. I tended to just roll with it and move on.

I just found it weird that her kid put her hand on my T's shoulder and my T didn't react for several seconds.

One time when I was seeing another therapist a therapist walked in and asked my T if she wanted any Chinese food. After she left we were both like "wtf why did that happen."

lol Chinese food

we have somebody at work who shows up during coworkers google meets (usually confidential) and asks random stuff. She has a reputation of a weirdo so no one is surprised.

It wouldn’t bother me exactly but I’d probably have a reaction alright and feel weird for a while

I'm surprised about how permissive these responses are. It's a breach of your confidentiality, no matter the age of the child. It shouldn't happen. In an age of telehealth, therapists still have a responsibility to ensure appropriate childcare while they are working. I'm sorry that happened to you. I'd be furious.

i feel like id be "ok" if it happned but it goes against HIPAA and telehealth regualtions.

the interrupted part in and of itself would not bother me - like if the kid hit the door and the therapist said she needed to go check, turned off video, and then came back. But the kid coming in and looking at the computer screen would bother me a lot and the therapist failed to put proper safeguards in place in my opinion.

I think it depends on the age? I’d have hard time stating that a therapist violated HIPPA if a 2 year old walked in. Technically sure it’s a violation. Realistically it’s funny. My grandson is 2. I think he’s a genius of course and is smart enough to make whatever he saw on the screen public (jk) but the whole thing is funny. 🤣🤣🤣

I would not have found anything funny in it if it had happened to me. But I think people should control their kids better in general and certainly at work during time a client is paying for. It would not matter to me the age of the child. I purposely did not even interview any of those people who might have had children at home. I asked those who should have been too old to make sure they had none around.