do you email yr T?

My T has a private voicemailbox where I can leave messages. then she will call me back (and since my cell is always off, lol, she leaves me one in return). I have been wanting to ask for an email address, but never can seem to get up the nerve to do it.
I was wondering, do many of you have an email address for yr T? If so did you ask for it or was it volunteered? thanks

Hi,

I've had therapists who did not email and were not interested in communicating that way (I think because they didn't want the potential for abuse of their time.) and my current therapist who PREFERS to communicate by email.. she told me this at our first appointment. (I feel very lucky to have found her!) I would say that it wouldn't hurt to ask for an email and if you get one you may want to clarify the boundaries. Can you email about appointments, what if you have an issue you are dealing with and want her feedback, etc. You may try explaining to your T that the best form of communication for you is by email since your calls go to voicemail and you don't want to have your T playing telephone tag.

No, my T doesn't do email. I can call anytime and leave a message and she'll call back and she gives her cell number for anything 'urgent' (which, grrr, she won't define).

I wish she did email and I did ask. She just matter of factly said she doesn't offer that and we talked about why writing was appealing to me.

Good luck. I hope your T offers email

I have my T's e-mail address because it is on his business card but we don't e-mail. Frankly, it never even came up. I'm not sure I would want it. I call if I need him and leave messages on his machine and if I need, I ask him to call me back. It seems to work.

I think you should ask for whatever it is that you need.

Good luck.

My T's email is on her card, too. I asked her once if I could email her and she said she preferred I didn't because of where she works. She can't be 100% certain that others won't have access to the emails. She said she didn't 'think' that anyone else could see them, but didn't want to chance it.

I would just ask your T, there may be a rejection of 'no', but there may be a resounding 'yes'!

Good luck!

I e-mail with T - he has since told me I'm the first client he has done this with. Whenever there is any sort of issue around the e-mails, he says "well, you and I are the pioneers". I think I asked before I e-mailed him the first time. We don't e-mail a LOT - maybe once between appointments -and he will only reply if I specifically ask him to. I have an easier time getting my thoughts down in writing, so I just use it for that sometimes. And sometimes just to connect. I have his address because we had communicated by e-mail when I found him on the Psychology Today website.

My other T, Teacher T, offered e-mail as a way of communicating at the end of our first meeting, and wrote her e-mail address down for me. She writes these long, helpful, fabulous e-mails. T tends to write as little as possible.

I would ask.

My T doesn't do email. He has VM where I can call and leave a message any time. He is very good at returning calls. I'm just not good at calling asking for help!

I email my T, I asked for the email address and T gave it to me with rules, like don't use email as a form of communication when I have an emergency, for that I must call. On average I email T once or twice a week and most weeks she replies once, for me it is a helpful way to communicate between sessions. So I think that it is worth asking about.

I found my T's email addy by searching google. I did a bit of digging and found a web page from her old high school where she signed up to be contacted by her old school mates. By the surprise on her face when I told her I had her email addy, I don't think she would like it if I contacted her that way. Then agan, I didn't ask so I don't know for sure.... But I love me some google lol

Mine does. It was on her business card when she gave it to me at the first appointment. I think she told me to e-mail her once when I wasn't sure about making an appointment. I e-mailed that address, and she e-mailed me back with a different one, so that is the one I have. I only used it a few times for appointment related stuff, but I had a hard time over thanksgiving, and also a question for appt stuff, so I just rambled on in that e-mail. She probably got more out of those 4 sentences than in 11 months of therapy. haha. She wrote back, while OUT OF TOWN, to tell me that holidays can be tough and don't hesitate to write or call. I responded with "Thank you, I appreciate you writing back"....to which she wrote back again! ha. But she didn't say anything about what I wrote specifically. A nice way of avoiding doing 'therapy' over e-mail, but also providing support, which I needed. I was surprised at her quick responses though.

Yes. We use email constantly. There's 14 of us sharing one body and having a lot of internal struggles. Email helps us make it through the week and let them know what's going on.

All the time. T offered email to me early on, along with calling the office and his cell for emergencies. I've never been able to call for help though; I am not good on the phone. I have a very difficult time talking during appointments too, but sometimes I can email how I feel - go figure. Maybe it's because I can do it immediately instead of having to wait for an appt. Anyway, my T actually encourages me to email as he knows I'm pretty disconnected. He only answers if I ask a question and then it's short, but it makes me feel better. I try to refrain from emailing on weekends, but if I do, I just realize he probably won't reply until Mon. Sometimes I get lucky and we email in real time.
I'm thankful for my T.

I used to pay my T $50 a month for emailing her. It was kind of a requirement to email everyday. I had a standard form that she and I (mostly she) made up. It was just stuff like, did I eat, take meds, have fun, how much sleep I got, my mood... I also could write stuff to her as well. She always responded, sometimes with short replies adn sometimes long.
I was very lonely and not really taking care of myself at the time, so I found it helpful. And I didn't feel like I was abusing it or taking up her time, because I paid the agreed amount for it. I'm sure $50 was nothing to her, but it's all I could afford.
However, one can get very dependent on a T that way--daily contact and sometimes I'd email her more than once a day. I didn't have any friends and I think it kept me from persuing some. I don't think that was helpful.
I stopped seeing her because I moved. But I don't and don't want to have that with my T, just for that reason--don't want to be that dependent.

I don't email my T. It has crossed my mind at times as to what an email relationship would look like with her. In all honesty though, I can barely get myself to call when I need to reschedule so email would really be a stretch anyway.

I've never asked my T for her email, and I don't think I ever will. I've never even talked to her on the phone.

i email ALL the time. T knows that I am an "observer" and that I have to have time to think about things, process them through, and write out what i learned. T is glad to have them. SHe does not often respond via email - but nearly always talks about what i wrote.

Lately I'm emailing my T just about daily and she responds to each email even if it's only a sentence. We agreed that I could email daily for now. I also have her office and cell #'s but I'm not very comfortable calling (not because of her but because I have a hard time reaching out IRL). I like being able to email her. I don't feel like I have so much to cover when I see her on Mondays then (she also checks in with me on Thursdays on the break from DBT group). I know I'm very blessed to have such an available T.

If you can email your T take the opportunity. I think it can be very helpful.

My new T that I saw today is allowing me to call and email between sessions. I don't think I will use the phone communication.
However, Email sounds good.

Hangingon

Well, once upon a time I emailed my T.

Unfortunately, I went through a time where negative transference was fierce. Unfortunately, that feeling got into the emails. My T was none too pleased. I felt like an idiot and couldn't believe I would do such a thing. Ugh. I can ruin the best of situations

I hope yours turns out differently.!

My T gave me his email after I had been seeing him for 8 months. He has told me if I need to reach him, email is better than phone, as he only checks his phone messages every few days, but email several times a day. I usually use email only for things like changing appointment times. Sometimes he doesn't return the emails for the appointment changes, and that can be hard. The last few days we have been emailing more than usual because there's been a lot going on for me and I needed more support. But in general, we don't do therapy type stuff by email. I am very close to him and can reveal and talk about what I need to work on face to face. Most times, at least. I would be somewhat worried that if I revealed all sorts of thing in long emails, that I would never be pushed to develop the level of comfort in therapy to do that face to face.

I e-mail my T occassionally, mainly just around scheduling appointments - it's easier than phoning. But my T has pretty strict boundaries about not discussing therapy between appointments, so e-mail is pretty restricted.

But she did carry on an e-mail exchange with me when she was on vacation and I was in the psych hospital, which helped me with being in the hospital.

--splitimage

I was in T for eight straight years (saw three different T during this time) and I never emailed any of them.... but they were always a phone call away.

My t has never offered her number (seeing her off and on, now more on) for about a year now. .... After reading this thread I want to email her and ask if I'm allowed to send her email...

(I snooped and found her addy through google)

Got a reply from my T, she says the e-address she has is "not secure", and that it's not impossible that others might read what I might send. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhkayyyyyyyyyyyyyy, that's that...........

emails can come back to bite you... hard =(