How Much Contact Does Your T Allow?

[Panda Bear]

Just curious. What is your Ts contact policy between sessions? Are you allowed to Email, text or phone?

I'm learning this varies greatly!

 

[MysticRose]

Hi,

I've had just a therapist, a whole team of crisis people, and now a whole team of therapists, and I can contact them whenever I need to. Outside the office times, I need to phone the crisisteam though.

I think that's quite common in my country, when you're in this situation and found help..

 

[Kintsugi]

I had to sign a doctor-patient agreement wherein this sort of policy was outlined before starting to see my T. Her private practice exists as an aside for her full time job at the VA, so she does not provide emergency/crisis contact but will accept emails and phone calls between sessions as long as such communication culminatively amounts to 15 minutes of her time or fewer.

 

[digger]

I only email or call my T between sessions if it's to change an appointment or for clarification of an appointment time.

I haven't actually had the conversation with her, but I wouldn't expect her to respond outside of office hours, and I wouldn't expect her to engage in any communication about anything other than admin stuff outside of our session.

I don't expect her to act as crisis support other than for me to request extra sessions maybe.

She has a private practice and I pay her per session. I would feel bad about making demands of her outside of the time I am paying her for.

 

[MysticRose]

I think there's a big difference between privately held practises and centers like the one I go to, yes. I can't imagine calling or emailing them, in that case.

 

[KwanYingirl]

My therapist wants me to email or call whenever I'm in crisis. He says the sooner I get help to process my distress, the sooner he can help me stabilize. While I was away to Jamaica for my sons wedding, he made a support video of himself encouraging me. I rarely seek help between sessions, but it helps to know I can reach out if needed.

 

[Crow]

Because of hippa laws, my T won't accept email that has anything to do w therapy or scheduling. I do send articles or memes every now and then. I can call between 9-8 weekdays. If it's an emergency I can call on the weekend but I usually won't get a response until Monday.

 

[Suzetig]

My therapist is in private practice, I generally only contact outside for scheduling or to ask for an additional session. I have on rare occasion sent her something "therapeutic" in email but been clear it's something I want to bring to session. She'll always give a short reply and is very available to me if I need an additional session but I don't use her for immediate crisis and therapy happens in session.

 

[strangelings]

actually i've seen a lot of therapists (ones i've seen and known) who do provide some crisis support, particularly the more you go into trauma work, complex ptsd and it's- actually basically normal for that and DID.

my current therapist i can email or call her- though she says if i call to leave a text so she'll know to check her voicemail. i also can text her but feel odd doing so and very rarely have.

i think it's been reallly important for me to have some access to my therapist like this. it has helped keep me safe and just- is really useful.

 

[Chincho]

I can text my T if I'm in crisis and she answers my text or calls me as soon as she is free. I haven't texted her for some time, but I did when I first started seeing her.

 

[Casper1018]

We don't phone each other at all. All communication is via text or e-mail, which is fairly frequent due to attachment issues and my significant trauma history. E-mails get a quick reply to be discussed in session and texts are the same. I find the frequent contact to help our therapeutic relationship. It works for us.

 

[Chava]

I can call or e-mail though she can't always respond right away (though responds pretty well if I'm having a big meltdown). I prefer sending an e-mail. I've only called when really losing my shit but then didn't know what to say or how to talk much, but it helped just to hear her make a couple suggestions. She's encouraging me to work on reaching out to others too, as a normal thing to do, but she also understands it's really hard...but I'm practicing and getting a little bit better. It's really hard to believe anyone would care or understand.