When Therapists Make Mistakes
We don’t often talk about therapeutic blunders, although they happen all the time. There are so many ways for therapists to fail clients. There is probably the most common: a mismatch of styles, or a therapist who is not really helping her client. Then there are those moments when perhaps we fail our clients by not responding in the moment in the way the client might desire. Maybe we sometimes challenge when we should nurture. Or we nurture when we should challenge. Or we may do any number of subtle things, perhaps below the threshold of consciousness, not even fully acknowledged by our clients, but which create distance, disappointment, or detachment. Some examples of this are the stifling of yawns, spacing out for a moment, or failing to remember an important name or detail and the client feels we are not really fully present or engaged with them. This lack of connection may trigger feelings of disappointment, loss, or abandonment. For clients with relational traumas, events such as vacations, emergencies, or even adjustments in session times may also cause feelings of loss and abandonment.
Recently, I was having one of those weeks. The details aren’t important, but I’ll acknowledge that I had taken on a few too many things. Top it off with having a few people needing to meet at different times. Add to that one way I manage client confidentiality: putting client names into my hard calendar (which I do not carry about with me) and then transcribing the sessions later to my iPhone calender simply as “client,” to preserve confidentiality in the event that my phone is lost or stolen.
The result?
I mistakenly transposed a client session time from my hard calendar to an hour later in my phone. And, yes, I missed the client appointment. A client arrived at my office, waited in the waiting room, perhaps knocked on my door, wondering about my whereabouts, and I wasn’t there. The mistake was realized within the hour and I phoned her and we spoke.
But still. I was confused and felt bad that it had happened.
After eleven years of becoming accustomed to some clients not showing up, some clients canceling last minute…this was new. Never before had I been the one to miss the session.
Therapy is about being present. Being witness to your client’s emotional life, and literally, being awake and engaged for fifty minutes at a time, taking in all that your client shares and responding based upon your knowledge of the history of this person. What then, do you do when you fail to be present in the most obvious of ways? By actually not showing up?
This event brought me back to 1992:
A year into therapy with my therapist, I show up at her office, which also happens to be her home. As I pull my car into her long gravel driveway, deep into the woods of Pittsboro, NC, I notice that her car isn’t there. Hmm.
Maybe her car is being serviced?
The front door of her home is unlocked, as usual and I open the door and let myself into her office and sit down on her couch to wait. Her orange tabby cat pokes his nose into the office and then rubs his body against the doorframe as he sways back into the recesses of the house.
I wait for about ten minutes, but I think I knew she wasn’t there from the instant I’d arrived. Still, it slowly dawns on me that she’s not just running late…but she probably isn’t coming to our session at all. This is….different.
I stand and walk into the hallway and hover there, weighing the threshold between her therapy office and the rest of her home..the edge where her work life ends and her real life begins. I look for the first time into her living room…forbidden territory which I’ve never had a real glimpse of before. I scan the room, taking in all I can from my vantage point in the doorway, looking at signs of her lived life: a blanket on the sofa, books and magazines on the table, pictures on the walls, a coffee cup on a side table. I call out her name. Nothing. Nobody home. I note the desire to walk further into her home and poke around. This seems such a unique opportunity to learn more about her, but the thought of being discovered wandering around her home is a strong deterrent. I slowly leave her house, get back into my car, and drive home.
When I get home, I call and leave a message: “It’s Keely. I think you forgot our appointment today.” She calls back later that day to apologize and I joke on the phone,”Well, I was going to discuss my abandonment issues with you today, but you didn’t show up.” I appreciate how it feels completely okay for me to make this joke because she has been there for me, week after week, for over a year. It is clearly a joke, and her missed appointment this day is a clear aberration. I know she will laugh at my joke. And she does. And that feels good. I know she knows it’s not a big deal to me, and that she is forgiven.
I can’t even remember if we spent any more time of it other than a brief acknowledgment at the beginning of the next session.
Back to 2009:
But here I am, 17 years later, a therapist myself, who is earlier into treatment with some clients who do not yet know or trust that I will be there for them. When we make mistakes as therapists, how do we convey both our regret, and the reassurance that this is not typical. And, more importantly, despite the fact that (hopefully) mistakes of this nature are atypical how do we position ourselves to be fully available for the range of our client’s feelings, whether they be rage, despair, sadness, or blame over the fact that we have let them down? Some clients may shrug off a mistake as no big deal, but for others it can be a very big deal. We cannot let our own desires for forgiveness and understanding get in the way of our first job to our clients which is to be present for their feelings.
Many of our clients have long histories that involve being let down by others. When a therapist fails the client in any way, this often ripples on the theme of being let down by others. It can be important to show up and be present for the processing of how this affects our client. Patients can also use their own responses to therapist errors to explore past failures by others in their own lives. When a therapist hides or denies her mistake, she not only risks avoiding an opportunity to move the therapy forward, but also creates a second breach by showing she cannot be trusted to model appropriate responsibility or, even, the ability to enact human error.
This brings me to my other point: the awareness that for some of my clients, a big piece of the work is about perfectionism and self-forgiveness. How do we allow ourselves, as therapists, to be both present for our clients, and, at the same time, models of real human beings who are imperfect? Is my self-flagellation a lesson I want to share with my client? Or would it better benefit her for me to be self-forgiving? Where does one find the balance, and how much of this can we convey to our client? How do we create appropriate space to talk about mistakes without spending too much time on them? Do we make it clear that the client can return to it, if we move on and she later finds it’s still nagging at her? Difficult questions and likely the right response depends upon each particular client.
Another factor for consideration: my office policy explains that I charge my full fee if a client does not adhere to my 24-hour cancellation policy. I do not feel it bodes well for the therapeutic relationships if we convey the belief that we value our own time more highly than those of our clients. This can be an interesting conversation to have with a client. What would she think is fair in the event of a therapist missing the session? A free session? A half-fee session? An extra fifteen minutes at the end of one session? A free pass for a same-day cancellation in the future without the penalty of full-fee? What is appropriate for a therapist to offer and what veers again into the zone of being too repentant? This exchange can be a rich opportunity for exploration with clients who wish to engage in it. Again, this can also bring up deeper issues related to fairness and resolution connected to other issues in our client’s lives.
In the end, an important lesson for me as a therapist was that sometimes unintended things happen. We may strive for consistency and perfection, but we are all imperfect. We hope that over time that our consistency and responsibility will become apparent to our clients. But one goal of therapy is to reach a safe attachment in which one can weather disappointments and unintentional blunders without either party (especially the client) having to experience the threat of losing the relationship. Mistakes do happen and sometimes it’s just as important for us as therapists to remember this as it is for our clients. And, as in all relationships ― not just the therapeutic ones ― it’s often not about whether mistakes occur, but how they are acknowledged and repaired that really counts.
May 5, 2012 @ 4:35 am
This is a good issue and well-presented. But rather than have a discussion about what is fair compensation for missing the appointment, I think you should flat out make the next session free. Anything less is just guilting the patient into accepting a less than fair deal. It’s manipulative. I would never expect to pay for the next session after a therapist has missed one.
December 10, 2021 @ 7:51 am
My therapist has cancelled on me at the last minutes through her office one at least four oaccasiobs in the last year with the most recent being Nov 8th, 2021 when I received a call at 7:45 am that she would not be in that day – our appt. was scheduled for 9 am.
I was advised that she would call me the next day to reschedule (the 9th of Nov.)
It is now Dec. 10th & she has still not contacted me.
This type of thing happened with my last therapist (same office) who experienced anxiety over the pandemic and took two 3-month leaves of absence during the first then second wave of the pandemic – without prior warning.
Needless to say this seeming disregard for how this affects me is wreaking havoc on my life and in my recovery of past trauma that extends from childhood into adulthood.
My parents were ‘never there for me’ & on her deathbed, my mother confessed what I had known all my life – that despite trying my best to be the perfect child – I was her least loved and least favourite.
Currently, unbeknownst to my absent therapist, I have reengaged in self-harm as the nightmares and flashbacks have increased in both frequency & severity.
It is difficult to cope on one’s own when one feels abandoned all over again and with it comes painful memories and deep feelings of abandonment yet again.
Aside: I have been diagnosed with PTSD, major depressive disorder, anxiety disorder and adjustment disorder a a result of ongoing child sexual abuse, violence, alcohic parents, bullying, and most recently working in a toxic workplace that was rife with senior management brandishing their own brand of workplace bullying.
May 7, 2012 @ 2:55 am
Sheila, while I tend to agree that what you think is fair is certainly one form of equity and just good customer service, there are some clients who might ― for a variety of reasons, including cultural or other embedded beliefs about money or healthcare ― feel you undervalue your own services if you apologize and automatically give away a free session.
I think the discussion (and it doesn’t have to be a very long one) can be worthwhile, regardless of what resolution you offer.
Thanks for your comment.
October 12, 2015 @ 2:21 am
that seems just wrong. If you miss a session and it is your error the next one should be free. It only makes sense. Someone took the time to see you. That time is valuable as well and should be compensated in some form..in this case a free session seems appropriate
January 10, 2018 @ 5:41 am
Very fascinating perspective and it is true that some cultures would think it’s wrong for the therapist to be so apologetic and be undervaluing themselves by offering a free session.
However, while it’s fair to eat the cost of one missed session that is also not made up, it’s entirely unfair and unreasonable for a therapist to cancel SEVEN sessions at the last minute and to get away with that without any accountability. Such conduct is disrespectful, inconsiderate and sends the message that the client’s time isn’t important or valuable.
Working professionals, even those paying sliding scale fees, should still be treated with courtesy and to not be compensated either with one free session or make up sessions shows that it’s not about caring for the client or patient but rather about getting the money from us.
This is why medical and mental health treatment is such a joke. It’s not about people’s health as much as it is about collecting fees from us.
What is an appropriate remedy when a therapist cancels 7 times in only a few months?
February 6, 2018 @ 7:00 am
It sounds like it may be to find a new therapist.
July 22, 2013 @ 2:38 pm
Hello! Thanks for the post. It’s been really helpful as I needed a therapist point of view on this matter. My therapist missed last sesion after his holiday and I felt really angry and sad. I find it difficult to accept that he has forgotten my appointment as I mostly talk about men who forget about me. 🙁 I know he’s human being but it hurts a lot. Still haven’t talked about it..
August 9, 2013 @ 2:38 pm
It can feel very hurtful when a therapist does something that ripples off of other hurts in your life. But it can often be very useful if you feel safe enough to bring it up, even if it is some time after the events. And having a place where it is safe to express anger, sadness, and disappointment can help you to learn how to express those feelings in other relationships. But I recognize how hard this can be. I wish you the best and hope you can heal it at some point.
August 8, 2013 @ 1:37 pm
My last therapist skipped a regularly scheduled and weekly re-confirmed session claiming she’d noted the wrong date in her book. I know it was her way of telling me she was done with me as a client and I quit the next session, after telling her I didn’t trust her.
February 23, 2017 @ 10:35 pm
We can never know the thoughts, motives, intentions, and desires of another person unless they tell us with words. To think we can is to believe in mind reading. This is what we call a cognitive thinking error. It is true, that sometimes we can correctly guess someone’s thoughts because of their body language, (or lack of). But for instance, to believe that someone is annoyed with you because they frown is irrational. There could be multiple other reasons for the frown, i.e. he experienced a sudden pain in his body, saw someone behind you misbehaving, or even was upset with himself when he recalled something he had forgotten about you. When someone isn’t even present, it is even more ridiculous to make assumptions. Then we believe we can teleport and mind-read. Maybe the therapist legitimately forgot what day of the week it was, and that, on top of it being on the wrong date in the calendar, messed up their internal rhythms. Maybe they thought it was Wednesday (when it was really Thursday), looked at your time on the calendar for Wednesday and thought “this is wrong, I only see this person on Thursday” and then didn’t show up. I recommend you find another counselor to help you with your issues. When we take someone else’s behavior personally it is a sign that we have boundary issues. Unhealthy boundaries are the death of most relationships. Let the death be caused by someone else’s bad boundaries, not your own.
April 25, 2019 @ 1:37 am
I’d be very surprised if this was the first instant this thought has troubled you. If it is, or if those doubts existed but were minor before this, it may be worth taking a moment to respect your earlier instinct that the therapist did care about you. I’d be curious in this case about your sudden difficulty trusting your own previous instinct and checking in about it, since therapists can be occasionally fallible with clients they care deeply about. If this thought is not new however, then whether the therapist actually cares about you or not, they haven’t figured out a way to convey enough genuine care for you that you feel safe enough to try on other possibilities. It may be a goodness of fit and not a skill issue, but regardless, it’s the their job not yours to be alert and attune to whether you feel deeply cared about, and address any trust issues ASAP early on so that moments like this don’t derail the work. So I hope you don’t give up on therapy altogether and are able to keep looking for a therapist whose genuine care for you is palpable and obvious to you early on. Respect your instincts until you feel cared about enough to feel open to questioning them – outcome research would say that if you are still feeling strong doubts about whether the therapist cares after even a couple sessions, it’s unlikely (although not impossible) that will change. You deserve a therapy space in which you don’t have to wonder or worry about this variable. Certainty that you are more than a check for your therapist isn’t enough, but it’s like a ‘ sine qua non’ – without it, the power of therapy to heal is greatly diminished. Although it can be very helpful for therapists to encourage clients to question pessimistic or suspicious instincts, my instinct, says there is something important to listen to about your instincts here (both before and about this incident). I do hope you find a therapist who generates your trust that they do care!
June 17, 2021 @ 6:56 pm
I can’t believe anyone is suggesting that you being offended by this behavior is unreasonable. It likely wasn’t about you. People that do that kind thing are self absorbed they really don’t care about anyone but themselves.
November 1, 2014 @ 12:42 pm
Hi
I’ve been in therapy on and off for over a decade. I feel that to maintain trust and honouring in this situation, the therapist should offer the following session without fee. As this is symbolically a movement of warmth and generosity towards the client.
November 1, 2014 @ 3:15 pm
Dear Jodie, I tend to agree. I also think that offering a free session doesn’t mean all clients would feel comfortable accepting the offer. Some may feel uncomfortable with a free session, but greatly appreciate the apology, so there needs to be room for talking about it.
It also doesn’t mean that the client doesn’t need or want to unpack some of what s/he experienced emotionally by the missed session. There is both “what shall we do?” regarding the fees involved if a therapist is late or misses a session, and also “how do you feel about what happened?”
Some people may say it’s no big deal. But for others, lateness or mixing up appointments may be enough to sever the relationship. I think it’s helpful if people get to process those feelings with the therapist instead of just leaving or instead of it being just a decision regarding the business transaction. Although I know we therapist sometimes annoy our clients with our pushing towards, “what was that like for you?” 🙂
November 17, 2014 @ 9:06 am
Thanks for a personal response. This has happened to me recently with a relatively new therapist. We discussed it and put it down to ‘life happens’. I wonder that if one is presenting with issues to do with abandonment, that such a situation could be triggering. And as such an opportunity to create a new, healed response to perceived abandonment, or be scared off and leave the therapist, which would reinforce the abandonment pattern. I think it takes a very skilled and aware therapist to acknowledge how sensitive clients can be. Finally the money issue – could be a symbolic gesture of repair, but what is important is acknowledging the feelings of hurt that are triggered and validating them, that would be the true need. To be reassured verbally by the therapist is one matter, but what matters is the consistent showing up of the therapist at the designated time. I hadnt really understood how fundamentally important that was until now, gratitude for this conversation.
November 18, 2014 @ 7:00 am
You are very welcome, Jodie. I do believe (as disappointing as it may feel in the moment) that for some clients, “firing” a therapist for such a transgression may also be part of the work they need to do, in order to stand their ground and lay down limits. Of course, this can feel rotten for both parties, but as you note, for someone with a history of abandonment or relationship disappointments…for some, this may be part of “the work.”
I’m glad you were able to discuss it with your therapist. I agree that consistency over time is very important. But sadly, some people may not get to observe that if such a breach happens early in treatment. Glad you visited and commented on this thread!
But therapists are only human | the harm of our mental health system
November 23, 2014 @ 2:17 am
[…] References and Further Reading: Therapists are human, too; Therapist Mistakes; When therapists make mistakes. […]
February 9, 2015 @ 8:37 pm
I charge $50 for missed sessions or sessions canceled within less than 48 hours, the exception of course being the weather (I’m based in the Northeast; ’nuff said). The workaround is that if the client reschedules the missed appointment within seven days and keeps their next scheduled appointment, then I waive that fee.
My reasons, I explain to clients, are that (a) I prefer to earn my money over taking it by default; and (2) My goal is to help them achieve the best outcome in the shortest amount of time, and for this to happen we must have continuity.
I also hold myself to the same standard.
I don’t (thank God) miss sessions often, but when it does happen and we can’t reschedule, then I owe my client 50 bucks. We can either apply this as a credit to their copays or I’ll cut them a check. This shows clients that I take our sessions as seriously as I expect them to.
So far, in nearly five years of private practice, I’ve cut two such checks. Both clients were surprised (if not dumbfounded) but also appreciative.
BTW, $50 is also a great incentive for me to not miss appointments!
January 10, 2018 @ 5:52 am
Wow that shows respect for your clients! Wish more therapists adopted this practice and mindset.
While I’m very grateful to be able to pay sliding scale fees at a university counseling center, I think a student therapist being permitted to cancel on a patient SEVEN times in a few months with no explanation for such short notice is unreasonable and a sign that the practice cares only about collecting fees.
June 9, 2015 @ 1:27 am
Hi there,
Thank you for writing such an insightful and informative post. It really gave me much needed perspective and answers to questions I had.
I came upon this post after my newish therapist cancelled an appointment. The arrangement is to meet once a week, but due to cancellations and her request to change appointment times, it will be a month (or potentially more) since I last saw her. This led me to a few different questions. As a grad student studying to be a therapist, I started to consider what I would do and how I would approach clients if I had to take an extended amount of time off. I have clients for the job I currently hold and I know how they react to cancellations or my lack of availability now, so it was interesting to consider how a client would react in a therapeutic setting.
As a client though, getting a call less than 8 hours before the scheduled appointment from a person I don’t know telling me that the therapist is off because she still isn’t feeling well, I find it frustrating. I could have worked additional hours (made additional money), made plans to do something, or just had a better idea of what my day looked like. When beginning therapy with this therapist I had to sign a contract agreeing to adhere to a strict attendance policy. I have been seeing this therapist since March and have missed only one appointment due to a vacation, and I told the therapist I would not be there weeks in advance. She has cancelled at least 4 times and I have yet to receive notice more than 12 hours in advance. I really like her, in fact I started out with a different therapist that was an ill fit and moved to the current one, but I am a bit unsure of how to keep going. If I did fine without going for a month, I question whether or not I need to go at all, probably not a good thought. Plus, it is extraordinarily selfish, but I wonder if it is me. If I am a difficult client, then I would really like her to just tell me. In your experience, is it ever the client? And also, how does a client work to trust a therapist after such a lack of consistency? I really do hope she is okay and do not mean to sound insensitive. I do believe that much of my frustration is more about the presentation (the lack of notice, lack of concern about the cancellations). Any input you are willing to give would be greatly appreciated. Though, you wrote this post years ago, so I also understand if you no longer comment.
Thank you.
June 9, 2015 @ 7:25 am
Dear Elizabeth, you are asking great questions. A few comments and responses:
1. Yes, I can imagine it must be frustrating to you (or my clients) when they are called sometimes just hours before a session and told that we are sick. What I can tell you from this side of the couch is that as a private practice clinician, I will do almost anything to avoid canceling. Not meeting with people means no income. Sometimes this means that I have waited too long to realize I should have gone home two hours ago. In a handful of occasions, I have even had to stop sessions mid-stream and apologize to someone and say, “I’m so sorry. I’ve been feeling ill today and I thought I could make it, but I’m feeling much worse and can no longer give you the attention you deserve.”
Talk about a last minute cancelation!
But I’d rather be aware (when I’m aware) that I’ve crossed the threshold and should have canceled rather than continue to sit with someone when I’m more focused on feeling horrid. Fortunately, this has only happened with a couple of people who are established and have seen me for years, so I have a good track record with them.
2. One time I had the misfortune of being late to two out of the first three meetings with a new client. I felt awful. This person decided not to return because she assumed this was a regular thing for me. All I could say was that I understood her decision and that I trusted her to make the right choice for herself. (This will bring me to #5.)
Ironically, the following week, I was two minutes late for someone who had been coming for about six years. When I apologized, this person rolled her eyes and said, “Please, you are two minutes late for the first time in six years? I think I’ll live.” So two people had very different impressions of me and, I suppose, both were accurate.
3. Probably due to item #1, if my own therapist called me even 1 hour before the session, I’d just make other plans. I assume she wants to work and wants to earn money, so she must be pretty sick. If my therapist showed up incredibly sick and worked through it, I’d worry about her self-care and whether she was a good judge of when to call it quits. If she called in sick for a majority of the sessions, I’d be more worried about her and probably inquire about her health and note that it’s affecting our work but I’m also concerned about her.
4. If your therapist is canceling this often, it’s very possible she is having a more serious health issue (or life stress issue) and she hasn’t yet figured out what to do about it. As you will learn as you become a therapist yourself, we are all human. Of course, we do have to think about making arrangements for interim care if and when we become too unwell to come in. Some therapists provide teletherapy in these cases. Some are trying to figure out if, when, or whether to share a major health issue with clients. Some will tell clients they are dealing with a setback and others will not want to be that transparent and may just say they need to take a temporary leave of absence. But it is possible this is what is happening with your therapist and if you are truly concerned about her and your therapy, you should ask when you next meet. And yes, if she is a conscientious clinician, one would hope it is also on her agenda to discuss when you next meet too.
5. You ask: “I wonder if it is me,” and wonder if you are a difficult client. I truly doubt your therapist would go to such trouble to miss your sessions when she could easily say it isn’t the right fit or she isn’t sure she can be helpful to you. But in the “is it is ever the client?” question, I’d note that oftentimes what happens in the relationship can mirror and bring up issues we all have in the world. So if there was someone else who wasn’t there for you or who was consistently unreliable, it may be more agonizing to deal with a therapist who fails to show up, although what you describe does seem like a lot of cancellations. I think with the example I gave, in which I was late for two out of three sessions, it was probably especially important for that particular client of mine to have someone she felt she could count on. Sadly, my track record with her undeniably gave the impression I was not that person. But, as noted, someone who worked with me for years would have been surprised to hear I’d ever been late.
And from the other side, I had a wonderful therapist whom I had to speak with at one point because it bothered me that he didn’t call to tell me he’d be late. What was true for me was that I didn’t mind the lateness as much as the lack of courtesy to call and let me know he was running late. I was just left to stand in the hall until he showed up, sometimes 15 minutes later. It was very helpful to talk about this with him and I was touched that the next time he was very late, he did call. Sometimes these small things can be very healing moments. I hope you can have such a positive exchange with your therapist about how the cancelations make you feel.
(And I hope you can remember it when you are in the position of having a client talk to you about how something you did affected him or her. It can be easy to become defensive but it’s so very important to be attentive to the client’s experience.)
February 3, 2016 @ 6:36 pm
I know this post is old but I appreciate your comments. My therapist just cancelled on me for the 2nd time in two months and inbetween these times her secretary called to ask if I was on the way and when I said I was she said “o.k. then nevermind” like she was trying to cancel or reschedule again. (I live 40 minutes away and my apt. was an hour away) So like you mentioned I feel like she doesn’t like me or that I’m pathetic which is one my issues anyway. So anyway I’m glad I’m not the only one who has had this happen and felt this way. Thanks again just for posting!
January 10, 2018 @ 5:54 am
I have the same issue and feelings as you.
April 26, 2021 @ 9:56 am
Thank you Elizabeth and drkkolmes,
Reading Elizabeth’s post made me feel heard and not alone. It is almost completely what I have been experiencing.
Drkkolmes post made me think about how to communicate this with my therapist and if how things have been going are reason enough to stop seeing my therapist.
Thanks!
November 9, 2015 @ 7:35 pm
I would say free session. There’s no negotiating on your end when someone cancels the day of the session – so why wouldn’t it work both ways. From a clients perspective – sometimes we prepare for the session (mentally) and to be let down like this is HUGE, or can be. I know it would be for me. And to think the client may have to wait another full week to see you again. TOTALLY NOT FAIR. Give a free session, at the very least.
December 19, 2015 @ 9:11 am
My therapist has cancelled twice on me and I didn’t take it well either time. It is a trigger for my feelings of abandonment. The first time, I felt angry and let down, particularly since she took a long time to call for reschedule. The second time was just yesterday, and I only had a couple hours’ notice. I thought I was okay with it at first, but later I felt sad and angry, and wondered if the reason her office gave was the truth. I accepted the alternate appointment, but am now wondering if I feel like talking to her anymore. The cancellations are difficult for me and seem to be affecting how much I trust her. I feel like shutting down and putting my wall back up for self-preservation.
January 15, 2016 @ 12:23 pm
My therapist took two weeks off around the holidays. Then he sent me an email the night before the next scheduled appointment saying he was sick and would see me next week. I have a standing appointment. Ok, no problem. I don’t want him to work or to be in contact with him when he’s sick. It turned out to be very inconvenient for me. He is almost an hour away and I had arranged to go pick up some medicine for my dog at a location another 15 minutes from his office. I could have had it mailed if I had known sooner but I was going to run out if I didn’t go that day so I had to make the trip anyway. Both the dog and I have cancer. So I had to get the medicine and the trip was not easy for me to make right now as I am recovering from treatment.
The following week I showed up for my appointment at my regular time and he had double booked. He put someone else in my in my slot, actually changed it in his calendar, and moved me to another slot the following day. Then he forgot to call me to ask me if it was ok.
I’m having a very hard time with this. I was standing there in his office with this other guy there while my therapist was looking through his calendar and I knew I was going to lose it, so I left. Essentially I was getting triggered and even though it was my appointment, I didn’t want to stand there talking about it with this other guy present. Fight or flight kicked in and I flew.
My therapist called right away to tell me be had me scheduled for the next day if that worked for me. It didn’t. On that day I have another commitment in the evening and to do both things in one day I have to drive into town and back twice which is too much driving for me in one day. Something we’ve talked about, actually.
My therapist has been very good to me. He lets me cancel with less than 24 hours notice when I’m not feeling well – which is something I don’t abuse. I’ve never missed or been late for an appointment. The one problem with my therapist is that he won’t take personal responsibility when he makes a mistake. He makes non apologies e.g. “I’m sorry you feel that way.” It’s like he gets a free pass for his behavior and I get to look at how it affected me. If I try to talk about what he did he gets angry or defensive.
I need a real apology. “I’m sorry I did something that hurt you and I won’t do it again.”
I think that changing the appointment without asking me first was out of line. It doesn’t matter if he was intending to call me to find out it if was ok after the fact. I would have said no to the appointment the following day because of the driving issue.
I know that the fact that I was triggered by it is my issue, as was my inability to deal with it in the moment. But, that doesn’t change the fact that the situation would have been easily preventable by his checking with me first. I feel that it was a situation that I shouldn’t have been put in.
February 9, 2016 @ 12:29 am
I had this happen to me today. I was given an appointment two weeks after my first appointment. I got there and my therapist called another patient into the room at the time I was scheduled. I was unsure whether I should wait or say something, instead I went to the bathroom. When I came back they told me they had me down in March, even though my appointment card had the day I came in written on it by the therapist. They also have a 24 hr cancellation policy. At first I was a little taken aback by it, but I rescheduled. I understand that therapists are people too and people make mistakes. It did come at a very difficult time for me in my life (when I was on the verge of opening up about things I’ve never been able to talk about), not to mention that I have to drive an hour two ways to come see her. Thank you for this article, it calms my concerns a bit and hopefully I don’t clam up and am able to bring it up.
May 27, 2016 @ 6:38 am
A week and a half ago, my therapist kept me waiting ten minutes after our scheduled appointment time, and ended our session 5 minutes early. I was extremely angry. I usually have two sessions a week, but I had to miss my next appointment because I got sick, then I realized I had only scheduled one for this week–today. I arrived at the clinic (not private practice) several minutes late, which is actually common for me, only to be told by the receptionist that my therapist couldn’t see me because she had decided to take a new-intake when I hadn’t shown up (I was seven minutes late–I’m normally only five minutes late). But that was MY appointment time! I didn’t get an apology for being kept waiting, and I didn’t get an apology for her taking a new client instead of seeing me. (I do try to be on time, I normally call when I’m running behind–but today I was in traffic, and I always apologize when I’m late. It’s my therapy time it’s eating into, anyway.) This, on top of kicking me out early last week, and feeling lately like she’s (literally and metaphorically) distancing herself in our sessions (she used to sit out in a chair, the past month or so she’s been behind her desk) has gotten me into quite a state. Anyway, today I asked the receptionist how I would go about switching therapists, so mine called me later (she left a voicemail, I was busy), saying that she was calling to give me the information on switching. No apology, no explanation, no concern that I was upset. I don’t have any appointments next week, because she was already booked up when I was scheduling, so it will end up being three weeks that I won’t have any therapy sessions, when I really “need” two a week! I feel disrespected, and like I can’t trust her. (I have a long history of abandonment, betrayal, and emotional neglect, causing my C-PTSD, plus I have two anxiety disorders and Bipolar 1.) I want to just shut down and stop seeing her, but I feel like that will only hurt me in the end. I can’t have issues with my therapist! She’s the only person I can talk to about my issues with other people! She was the “safe” one! And now I have to wait almost two more weeks to talk to her. I’m kind of freaking out. I need someone I can trust, and I need to talk to someone about all this.
July 7, 2016 @ 4:45 pm
So I have a couple of experiences of my therapist either seriously letting me down around an appointment or last minute cancellation.
The first one was a therapist I’d been working with for 8 months. We were in a tough place and I was extremely distressed and coming off a work trip that she knew would be incredibly hard and I was seeing her at my regularly scheduled session time … Except when I got there … Someone else was there waiting too… She came out and I was really hurt that she hadn’t kept my time sacred with her! She said something about not knowing I was coming (although I hadn’t cancelled this regularly scheduled session). In actuality I had scheduled my business trip around my sessions because of how hard this trip would be. In the interim I also had an ethical concern to address with her. She took the other client and told me to come back in a couple hours. At such time she was angry with me for showing up!!! The session went terribly and at the last 15 minutes she told me that I was to never come back again! No closure sessions … Nothing! I was being punished for her mistake! And she charged me for that session which I felt unfair because it was all spent in this appointment issue and ethical concerns.
Second one – therapist I dearly love and work with currently…she and I had this thing since I had a really early appt time at 8 am that I might get hung up in commuter traffic and she might get caught up in carpool. So as it goes one of us was usually 3-5 minutes late. We both tried to text if either was going to be late. I got almost to her office and was going to be 5 minutes late so I text her to tell her this … She responded that she had totally forgotten our regularly scheduled session … Be right there in 20 minutes! I felt hurt and it was a while working through this… How could she forget me? I needed her! After all this is a regularly scheduled session! She made the reparative action and came even though it was a bit later … She disclosed that she had been to the ER the night before and got some migraine Meds and she purely just lost track of which day of the week it was… Human error but This brought up trauma I needed to work through …
Third therapist – currently work with – on my first meeting with her I showed up to her office and she never came out to get me … After 15 minutes I text asking if I had missed something because I thought we had an appointment … She apologized and asked if I could go grab some lunch and meet her back in 1 hour … She responded … “I’m not usually this flakey … And yes we were suppose to meet but she missed it in her calendar” … We met I decided to continue to work with her … I didn’t expect any adjustments to fees or anything this time.
About 2 years into Our work my therapist got sick … Terrible case of the flu. She texted to cancel the first days appointment … I got upset at her and texted that I needed her and this was so terrible abd I couldn’t believe she was doing this to me. After all it had been a holiday weekend and I was already suffering and white knuckling through to next session… I was scheduled for the next day too… She didn’t cancel the next day … I took one look at her realizing she needed to be in bed taking care of herself and she had no resources to take care of me and I felt bad and guilty for making her come in to see me when clearly she needed to be in bed. I promised next time if do better…
Now fast forward with this therapist to 2 1/2 years later … I was emotionally flooding and I felt it was all I could do to get to session that morning .. I was looking forward to working through this and hoping for relief. I had seen my art therapist right before and was carrying this emotion into the next session 45 minutes later with my main therapist … Today was a day I needed to work and I was feeling so grateful that I was on my way to my therapist office… I looked down and realized I needed gas … I turned around and was pumping gas when I grabbed my phone to check the time. While doing so I saw a text from my main therapist saying she needed to cancel as she had last minute moving stuff to do and she was sorry. Let her know I got the text… I was crushed and it took quite a while to get over … I needed her… She had no idea what I was bringing in and I felt I couldn’t tell her… I was all alone in it…
So in all these examples here was my take away – if I end up spending the next session talking about the missed session then it’s probably a good gesture to not charge me for it. But I would say it depends on why… Like the first example – yes I expected a no charged session… But then the second one – I didn’t expect s free session from that exchange … Plus she came to repair it … Yes it stirred up my trauma and we dealt with it for weeks but isn’t that also too part of therapy. The third example – I almost felt like I should pay her for the missed session or double for coming in when she was sick … This is where we accept human nature and I hope she would give me the same slack if I were sick.
On the 4th session- it did give me heartburn that I’m required to tell her 48 hours in advance to cancel and here I was less than an hour out and on my way when she cancels on me …. We spent weeks of sessions over this … I needed her and she wasn’t sick like the last time… Was this just poor time management on her part?! She knew she was moving so why a sudden cancellation! On this I also didn’t expect a free session but I do expect a likewise accommodation without charge … If she can do it then so can I without penalty. Now if I do this consistently or cancel to avoid working on my stuff then I do expect her to charge me!
I do like the idea of a fee that’s applied to the next session if scheduled within 7 days…. That way if it’s a must and not an avoiding tactic … Then the money isn’t wasted and dies encourage continuity for both therapist and patient and shows commitment from both parties too.
August 14, 2016 @ 4:59 pm
I’ve been with my psychologist and psychiatrist a very, very long time. Before truly trusting, working therapeutic relationships were established I took any change as a sign that I was about to be told, yet again, that I was far too complicated and diffficult to work with, and end up terminating. I feared that they would become sick, hurt, or simply accept another position and need to move. I’ve had 16 therapists, so not only was my past traumatic, so was finding help for my severe Mental Illnesses. As you noted, a vacation, sick day, or even a flat tire that interferred with therapy, was cause for alarm. Once my psychologist wore a different shade of lipstick and I panicked, convinced that somehow that meant I wasn’t doing the appropriate work, that she no longer cared, and that I was about to be terminated. Both docs stuck with me, and I gained trust from their consistency. Unfortunately I recently started up WWIII between my psychologist and myself (basically I felt trapped, and extremely scared, and “attacked”). We’re trying to work through it. I have the ability to verbally tear down someone, striking at their so-called weaknessess. It’s not something I’m proud of. We’re still seeing each other in session, but she no longer encourages email updates, nor does she return my emails, simply to note that she got them. I guess onlly time will tell if we’ll get through this. A therapeutic relationship is both extremely strong, and unimaginably fragile.
October 15, 2016 @ 12:51 am
Need some help, two yrs w/ therapist. She tends to like to give her opinion about my life, etc. And she gossips about people I went to HS with, and tries to get me to tell her personal details if family and friends…like, oh what town do they live in? I try not to answer. But many times she simply starts telling me about Her life, Her problems, Her husband, etc. I have called her on the phone twice about it and both times she apologized. Recently, while knowing this is my hardest month, I was talking about the many people who took their lives, since my girlhood.
As I was leaving she said it was very unusual (I am a freak?) and then added she’d never had any in Her life cept her bro in law last year.
It completely freaked me out, cause lady year was my worst ever moments, ever, and Now I had to feel bad FOR HER! so I left her a message saying I don’t care about her family, I doubt want to hear about them, and that I can’t do my work and police her mouth. Also, I doubt trust that she will nit gossip about me. She called to terminate me. Next visit, she gave me a piece of paper, telling me some referrals. I said nithing, she said nothing but a very sarcastic good luck. I then called to ask if she could promise she would never talk about me outside the profession. She yelled at ne, said she was sick of my asking that. I said I didn’t care, and she responded very sarcastically, fine, i never talked about you and hung up. I’m in shock.
October 21, 2016 @ 9:58 pm
My therapist is always late (I’m her first appointment of the day) and she shows up without an apology 5-10 minutes late then makes her instant coffee and sets up in her office for a few minutes so we start fifteen minutes late. She has arrived with her shirt on inside out, with no texts saying she’s running late and I’m expected to wait fifteen minutes before leaving in case she’s with a clientemergency situation but it seems she uses that window of time as an excuse to just generally show up and make her coffee.why should I wait every week without so much as an apology when she is just showing up late not coming from another client. Additionally if I am late I’m charged almost double (full price compared to the price with insurance) and charged if I cancel less than 24 hrs notice. I am an Aba therapist and understand rushing to sessions but I am always on time to therapy. I don’t understand that fifteen minutes grace period she allows herself is this common practice? What should I do?
April 28, 2017 @ 7:06 am
My general response to such scenarios is a recommendation to bring up how it makes you feel. That is no guarantee that you therapist will be able to respond non-defensively and with curiosity and compassion, but I hope that she can. If she can’t, it is your time and money and if you think her policies and professionalism are not a good fit, you can find someone else. But hopefully she can hear how this is affecting you and adjust her habits (or perhaps you can find an appointment time when she’s already been at the office and she can be late for the person before you!).
November 26, 2016 @ 8:46 pm
I wonder if you will see this and reply or not!
This week I showed up to my appointment and waited quite a while before I realized that my therapist wasn’t showing. He has gone out of town for Thanksgiving and had not bothered to tell me. I had been having a very difficult time the week before and this week. He’d gone so far as to text me on Monday to check and see if I was feeling better (I replied that I was not) I was really trying to hold on till I could get to my appointment.
Honestly, I just don’t know that I can trust this person to help me. There have been other issues, like moving my appointment around so that he could accommodate a friend’s needs, etc which have happened lately.
I know I am a very difficult client. I’ve PTSD and I’m hyper-sensitive to sound which has made things hard.
Am I right to want to cut and run?
January 14, 2017 @ 9:56 pm
Thank you for this post. I was looking for some advice on presenting my disappointment and anger with my therapist this coming week because it scares me. I have been seeing her for 2 years and we have communicated via text between sessions many times, always with the understanding that is she’s busy or thinks it’s a matter best suited for session she won’t respond. Last week I got a message from her that all this time I’ve been using her private phone, not her patient phone, to text her and she doesn’t want me to do that anymore. She gave me a different number. So my brain started reeling. How is it that in two years she never brought this up? I felt like I violated a boundary I wasn’t aware was there. She gave me that number on our first day of therapy! So I brought it up last week. She said she’s just trying to keep her personal and office life more separate. Ok. I appreciate that. But I asked her about not telling me this a long time ago. She says she did and it’s in text. I told her I’m pretty sure she did not but I will respect her future wishes. Then she said, she knows she has given me mixed messages but she has decided I can’t text at all between sessions unless it’s an emergency. Again, this is a totally new rule all of a sudden. I kept asking what I did wrong and if she’s angry with me or something. She insisted she wasn’t and everything was ok. So I’ve been thinking about it and thinking about it and I’m more and more angry. I saved all my texts from the last two years and went through them. The other number was never brought up except as the emergency number to call if I’m feeling suicidal. That’s it. She never asked me to use a different number and she has always told me texting is fine. She changed all the rules on me without any explanation and it’s making me feel badly. I know I need to discuss this with her but I’m afraid she’ll abandon me. Any suggestions or thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.
February 24, 2017 @ 10:01 pm
My T uses the restroom prior to almost all of our sessions.
I enter her office and sit down. Then she tells me she will be right back, uses the restroom, and re-enters.
I confronted her about it several months ago and she said that she just has to go to the bathroom sometimes– you know, like all human beings. She didn’t leave much room for discussion following.
Our sessions typically begin at 5:45 and end at 6:30. She sees her next client at 6:45.
That gives her 15 minutes to pee or whatever. I get that she has notes to write…etc but can’t she fit that in?
I have read that behaviors such as this may indicate negative counter-transference.
Do you have any input? Should I inquire again?
She is a skilled therapist, but she has a certain analytic rigidity. I really do not want to incite a rupture/ baby impasse by asking again…
Thanks
(I am a clinical psychology doctoral student, so I certainly understand that psychologists are HUMAN beings that make mistakes… If she has a urinary problem or something, I’d rather she just tell me that… )
April 28, 2017 @ 6:58 am
It’s not clear from your post whether you object to her use of the bathroom at all and she is arriving on time for the session or if her use of the bathroom is routinely making her late to your sessions?
It’s so hard to tell someone what to do in such situations, but I think many a clinician would be interested in exploring the impact of their routines on your feelings about the therapy. Or they might decide they need to adjust their own schedule if they find themselves frequently late.
You also have the freedom and autonomy to decide that you would prefer to work with a therapist who is timely or who explores your feelings about such things in a more open way, with less rigidity.
April 24, 2017 @ 8:54 pm
I’m so happy that I found this site & particularly subject, but not at all happy that I needed to find it! I also don’t know if this is the way to post on this blog, but I’ll find out soon enough, I guess — so here goes….
Just 2 weeks ago my Psychiatrist (Manhattan, NY) unbeknownst to me deleted my standing weekly appt at 1 pm from his calendar. I didn’t receive his 2 day advanced “robo” call to confirm. When realizing this, “I” emailed the office to confirm my appt. The secy em’d back that I wasn’t on the calendar. Eventually my Dr. em’d at the end of the day expressing his apologies for the “oversight”. – No reason. I canceled my following appt. by email explaining that not only wasn’t I on the calendar & not notified but that recently I’ve been having “vibes” that he’s lost interest in my narrative/the same old & he seemed less engaged & now I’m feeling un-welcomed. He convinced me to keep my following appointment to discuss. I went. Then & there he admitted, that He, not his secy removed me b/c he had to cut his day short to leave for a holiday dinner & “forgot” to email me to tell me. At that moment, I was pleasant but after thinking more about it, the insult, disrespect & my unimportance, my disappointment in hm, & my anger started to build-up in me & to make this short, I have fired him – terminated all future appointments. I was seeing him for 3 years & we had a very comfortable relationship. In fact, he related personally to many of my issues. Problem there(?)-countertransference? Anyway, I took this very personally. It triggered all my abandonment issues. I also feel who knows because I can be cynical or realistic (depending on your person’s lens) that he took me off & replaced me with a self-pay patient or a new patient or accommodated another one, etc. I don’t trust him anymore. I “had” so much trust & respect for him which makes this all the more hurtful. I’m very hurt, disappointed & angry. He wanted me to go in to discuss this again & I wouldn’t. A day later I thought of all other possibilities, e.g, he’s grown weary of my narrative & he wants ME to quit so that he wouldn’t have to terminate me; thereby, it wouldn’t be HIM adding to my abandonment issues or as I said, he had a new or more important or profitable patient. I r.e.a.l.l.y dressed him down via email mentioning some of these possibilities along with questioning passive-aggressive behavior on his part & countertransference. I would be very appreciative if anyone would share their thoughts because I’m very distressed over this.
Thank you!
S.
April 28, 2017 @ 6:46 am
I am sorry that I am unable to respond to all of the posts on this topic. I have had so many comments and I appreciate just how troubling it can be for people to feel disappointed by their therapist. Generally, with scenarios like this, and with a history of a good relationship with the therapist, I do recommend bringing up how it made you feel. Of course, if the error is egregious such as sexual contact or inappropriate behavior (as opposed to something that hurts your feelings), it may be safer not to return. But in the scenario described, I think these are important feelings to bring up and it may be something that can be repaired. Best wishes.
April 27, 2017 @ 7:17 pm
My therapist just up and left. When I showed up at her office the doors were locked and it was for rent! I emailed her at the time and I did receive a vague email about her having a problem and couldn’t use the phone. So, that was 6 months ago. I desperately need my records. My emails are not answered (just asking for records or a referral) and her phone says VM is not set up “yet”. I think she is totally gone. What recourse do I have to get my records. How do I find her? Should she belong to a psychology group? Thank you
April 28, 2017 @ 6:49 am
Dear Merrikay, it may be worth contacting the licensing board in your state to see if your therapist is still licensed. The licensing board may have an address on file. While all therapists are supposed to set up a plan for continuation of care for clients in the event of illness, death, or emergency, many optimistic clinicians fail to do so (or they keep meaning to get to it). It is possible your therapist was unable to do this before whatever occurred that caused her to close her practice, but you may be able to get help from the state licensing board. Best wishes.
July 26, 2017 @ 12:28 am
Hi this isn’t directly related to this thread but I am looking for thoughts from others on this topic. I recently started se in a therapist and she’s changed appointments on me pretty frequently and I even saw that she had placed a call to me at 2am (out late at night, a pocket dial..?). Anyway I was running late from work and texted to confirm our appt and let her know I was stuck in traffic. She made it seem like no big deal but ended the session at the same time as when we would have had I been there a half hour earlier. That was a little annoying – it would have been nice to know that ahead of time – but what really chapped me was that at the end she stood up and glared at me when I could mutinied talking about something. Yes I know my time was up but I was raising a topic for the next session. I felt an aggression and anger from her that just flickered and I don’t know if I want to go back. We were amicable and jokey at the end but deep down inside I don’t know if I can trust her robe a kind person. The therapy hasn’t been amazing so far. But I was optimistic.. what do you think?
September 6, 2017 @ 2:24 am
Hi Jane,
I am a therapist in a mental health agency (and also a client elsewhere). Maybe some of my perspective can be helpful.
In my opinion, your therapist should have been more upfront about how much time you would have if you came late. I can understand her ending at your usual time even though you came late — it is not always possible to extend sessions, as they might cut into someone else’s time, especially if someone works in a clinic setting. Those of us in clinics are often pressured to see as many people in a day as possible — I see clients every 45 minutes. So if my appointment with you was at 9am, my next appointment would be at 9:45 (the same time you and I would end). I would need to end with you at our usual time or be very late for my next client, which I am not willing to do because it is not fair to them. As a side note, I’ve also had the experience of being very accommodating with clients coming in very late and having that come back to bite me (they start showing up late chronically, or don’t show up at all), so I’m reluctant to move things around too much for that reason too. I wonder if any of this is similar for your therapist?
That said, there is no way that you should be expected to know what her schedule is like. It would have been good for her to let you know that you would need to end at your usual time, and give you the option of coming in for fifteen minutes if that were possible for her, or to take it as a no-show and reschedule. My clinic does not allow us to take clients who are more than 10 minutes late, but even if I were allowed to, I would want to make things clear, i.e. let them know that if they are going to be so late, the choices they have are to have a shortened session or to take a no-show (and to pay the fee, if applicable). There isn’t necessarily a lot of accommodating she can do regarding time, but she should respect you by giving you the information and letting you make a choice based on what is possible and available, even if the choices are very limited.
I hope this makes some sense. I encourage you to talk about how this experience resonated with you if/when you meet with your therapist again. If she becomes very defensive, that might be another red flag. But if you and she are able to have a productive conversation about it, it may be helpful and healing on multiple levels.
I wish you the best,
Denise
October 25, 2017 @ 5:06 pm
I realize this is an old post but I need to vent somewhere. I’ve been seeing the same therapist for 2 years, with weekly standing sessions. He is very reliable, never cancels, and has been very accommodating with changes of insurance and brief times with lack of coverage, etc. I am attached to him but because of my history I’m fairly up and down about it. I’m well aware how abandonment and rejection issues from childhood affect my relationship with him.
When we started 2 years ago it was 55 min sessions, which is what is says on his website. At one point I started getting confirmations from his calendar program that showed a fifty minute slot. I mentioned this and he said he doesn’t know how to change the default setting in his program, and that it is 55 minutes.
Fast forward to about 5 months ago, he is cutting sessions at 50 minutes. Simultaneous to this I notice a pretty young girl in the session before mine, leaving at one or two minutes before the hour. This week, he shooed me out of his office and I was in my car at 9:48. I sent him an email because I feel mad. I know I’m a tough client, and I wonder if he’s just sick of me. It boggles my mind that I can feel so trusting of him, and then something like this happens and I’m ready to quit. I’m not going to, because I’m old enough now to see how my avoidant/running patterns don’t serve me well in the end… I realize how petty this post is, and that a few minutes shouldn’t matter. But to me, it does matter, and I feel like if he was going to shorten our sessions I ought to have been informed, and he ought to do it across the board for everyone. I certainly understand the need to use the bathroom, chart, etc between clients. Im sensitive to changes in his office (new rug, pictures, knick knacks, throw me for a loop) and could have used a heads up. Thanks for listening.
February 6, 2018 @ 6:54 am
I hope he was receptive to your bringing it up. You are welcome for listening!
November 20, 2017 @ 6:25 pm
I started seeing my marriage counselor in late 2014. My ex chose alcohol over me. We were divorced in January 2016. I continued to see the counselor on my own. I haven’t seen him in 5 months because I’m doing great! I sent him a Thanksgiving card saying I was thankful for our time together, I’ve learned, grown, yadda, yadda.
This morning I got an email from him saying he wanted to “move our professional relationship to a personal relationship”. I’m crushed. It feels like a kick in the gut.
February 6, 2018 @ 6:58 am
I can understand your disappointment. I have always taken the view “once a therapist, always a therapist” in relationships. I suppose if there is overlap in a small community, it is possible that over time, things may change. But this type of direct solicitation for something else…I can understand why you feel the way you do. If he meant a dating relationship, in CA, we are required to give out this pamphlet: Professional Therapy Never Includes Sex.
April 12, 2018 @ 12:28 am
Today I got stood up by my therapist for the third time in a year. Besides these 3 full no-shows, she has cancelled about 5 times on the nick of time, 10 to 5 minutes before sessions, when I was already getting there… The 2 previous no-shows I said nothing, but today I had enough.
During the past weeks I was getting pissed because of the last minute cancellations and the no-shows, so I had been messaging beforehand to see if she would be there before each session, because I didn’t trust the session would happen at all… she got kind of annoyed with my messages and said that “she always calls if she has to cancel”…., which is not true, and when she does call it is too late for me to call that a proper cancellation, but anyway at her bidding I stopped checking with her before each session…
In therapy we were getting to the point that I had to work on my “feelings of not having any rights at all to be happy, loved, repected, etc.” issues… (hahaha), and she stood me up yet again.
This time I called, and when she tried to tell me about all her problems which had let to the third no-show, I just said she should have called before, and that I didn’t want to continue talking, and hunged up. She then left me a message telling me all about her many suppsed health ailments, saying she would probably even have to stop treatment with patients for a while, etc.
At all times I felt she was not being entirely sincere. I felt today, and before, that she wanted me to care for her, to be worried for her or something of that sort. Many times during sessions she would interrupt me and ask me for information regarding things that interested her, or things she needed, like addresses, and where to find this or that, and how I managed this thing and the other, like I am her friend, which I am not. When this situations came up, I let her see that I was very uncomformtable with her questions, and changed subject abruptly, bringing the conversation back to my treatment, but it never seemed to deterr her from continuing to attempt to use the session time for her needs for direction.
Also, most days I would have to wait for 10 to 15 minutes, which made my session very short due to my time restrictions (I have to get back to work).
In short, today I decided to stop tratment with her. I called the healthcare carrier and asked for a different therapist. I will have to meet with a counselor and explain why. We’ll see…
This is not the first time I have an issue with therapists that are consistently late, the one I had before arrived in 30 to 50 minutes late to every session, I got angry and stopped treatment as well.
Matbe a therapist would try to excuse their colleague by saying they are “just human” as well, and point to my abandonement issues (which are there), but I won’t buy that. Standing people up consistently is a bad habit, it is disrespectful. I won’t take it.
My advice on how to deal with these type of therapist is: DON’T DEAL WITH THEM, RUN!
Because: 1) Your time is as valuable as theirs. 2) The product they sell IS their time and attention, which they should be able to manage professionally. 3) Someone who disrespects your time (time is everything we have in life, and our only true treasure) on a consistent basis, for any reason, will not be able to help you in any way! 4) It may not be personal, but it is wrong anyway! No excuses. 5) You session time, is for you, not for them. 6) They are not your friend. 7) You are not there to give them advice on how to manage their daily errands, or to provide advice on the price of things. 8) If you are seeking the help of a professional, you are probably a brave person who wants to get better, even against all odds, so you deserve the best. Many people just give up and sink in a bottle… 9) I am sure they are taught basic manners in college, so again, no excuses for being always late or regular no-shows. 10) If they don’t respect their profession, their own workspace and their own clients, it means they probably don’t like what they do, so they probably cannot help you! So, RUN! And find someone else, there are good professionals out there.
June 5, 2018 @ 9:36 am
This is quite late to the game but I had an experience the other week when I sat in the therapists office and the receptionist didn’t tell her that I was in – as a result I didn’t get in until there was only 20 minutes left. My therapist didn’t let the session count but still talked to me a little in the time and gave me the next session for free. Although she then cancelled that session the morning of saying she was sick – I then went to lunch with a friend and spotted her at the same restaurant :/
June 18, 2018 @ 3:36 pm
I’ve been going to my therapist for about 3 years. I go twice a week because of enduring life long trauma and I have C-PTSD. Over the past year, and ever since he got his license and no longer in the interim period after graduating (hes older and it’s his second career) he seems to be taking off more and more time. Some times hes gone the whole week and some times hes gone 3 days a week. Since October of last year it’s been a monthly thing and sometimes more than that. I have a similar degree and I know that a therapist understands the need for consistency when working with traumatized and hurting people. Everytime he tells me hes going to be out of the office next week I find myself shutting down in order to not be in a state of need when hes gone. I might have and usually do have deep things to work on but I wont knowing I’m going to open up painful traumatic things only to be left hanging. Now I find that I’m always afraid to bring it up at all because I never know when hes shutting down for the week. I do trust him even though he misses some things because hes still new to this. I believe hes a truly caring and empathetic therapist but I don’t know how to tell him my feelings because like so many others on here I know I’m a difficult client due to the trauma. I never want to be the whiney demanding type so I stay quiet even though it affects how deep I’ll go with sharing and definitely triggers my abandonment issues.
October 26, 2018 @ 11:58 pm
I’m not sure what to do about my situation, my therapist is good (I think) but I realized I feel like she doesn’t prep for sessions really or think about my case at all unless we are in the room together which is why I was shocked when she said she took my case to her colleagues to ask for help with it and came back with a new idea/suggestion about my feeling stuck. I get the sense that generally she is rushed and I just am thinking about how I don’t want to be difficult or be a burden to her because then she won’t want to help me. I really try hard to be a “good client” and give her grace about things because she is a human but idk when it is too much or not enough. She apologizes for starting our sessions late (her sessions are hour long and one right after the other and usually run 5 to 10 minutes late) sometimes mine will run over and sometimes it won’t, thus sometimes I don’t get a full hour but I don’t usually pay attention to that stuff. I’ve only been seriously late (like 10-15 mins) a handful of times and I have only accidentally missed one session. I show up on time and I pay in full. One time early on she was late due to her seeing a crazy person on the side of the road and she stopped to call emergency services and said she thought to herself (she will understand of all my clients) and I realized that I began to feel like less of a priority, which is actually a more comfortable situation for me. Another time however, we were deep in a session that was running long but I was in a vulnerable spot with healing a wound and she stayed like an extra 45 minutes with me and didn’t charge me and just was super gracious and kind about it. So I feel guilty for feeling the way I do, like I owe her or something or I am ungrateful. Idk…there have been other comments she’s made when I’ve been “gracious” saying that some of her other clients don’t understand so she appreciates that I do and that’s a nice sentiment but it makes me wonder if she tries harder or holds herself to a different standard with them. Which then I feel really bad/taken advantage of but also like I deserve it anyway. It’s a big part of my past and wounds that I feel unimportant to other people or that my needs don’t matter as much as theirs/ other people’s so it’s just kind of a tender subject. It is also difficult for me to stand up for myself or not gaslight myself for having feelings so I plan to talk with her if I can get through those feelings. Thank you for reading, any feedback is welcome. I tend to have a hard time knowing internally what is appropriate or okay or how I should proceed.
October 30, 2018 @ 7:03 am
I only get to see my school counselor for 15 min a week because his schedule is full. And it’s been messing me up more than helping me. Four weeks ago he had to take in a patient with crisis. He was worried about me and that I might feel hurt. Anyways he took me in for 10 min cutting time from the student who he sees after me. He said he was afraid of me and that really messed me up!? I wondered for hours what’s scary about me! I knew he possibly didn’t want to hurt my feelings but I felt bad and sent him and email explaining how I felt and he replied with an apology but didn’t answer my question which made me more confused. I canceled a session and had to meet him after 2 weeks. I always sent him emails and said what happened during the week. I did tell him that I feel like he doesn’t understand me and I don’t understand him. He didn’t reply and that made me angry. He had told me to not send him thoughtful emails which had really bothered me. I’m just a deep thinker. Asking why and how is what I do everyday. I’m curious and I think a lot. Anyways I sent him an email saying how angry I was. And that I hate apologies as much as excuses. I guess I really walked on his nerves. The moment we sat when we met today he brought the emails up and told me that he is doing me a favor by allowing me to email him! And that he thinks I shouldn’t email him. I felt he didn’t care about me before but I felt I totally lost him today. I couldn’t concentrate in any of my classes. I feel depressed as if I lost a loved one. I couldn’t stop my tears from dropping. And I can’t email him because that’s his boundary now! I’m feeling so hurt and hated. I don’t know if I should trust him. He keeps making unthoughtful mistakes. It’s just his personality I guess but it’s annoying me. I was already avoiding him but he pushed me even further away. I’m wondering if I should terminate therapy. I feel betrayed and not understood. I feel he is acting childish more than I am.
December 7, 2018 @ 7:49 am
I had a therapist who was so rude and unprofessional as to not tell me she was canceling our therapy sessions before i had already shown up and waited hours for her. I called her and she said in a very brisk and unfriendly tone, to talk to my supervisor she will explain, and her supervisor never did. Previous session, I had told her I like to wear dresses that were childish, and I was an inner child, and my emotional age was very young. her reaction was so unprofessional. she said why I can’t understand why any grown adult would want to look childish. And her refusing to tell me she was terminating our sessions and why, made me feel like I had done something wrong, and I was in trouble. I was panicking and trying not to cry, and I had nobody there in the office to come to take me home, because he was in a session with his own therapist, and I had a breakdown and my bf’s therapist was kind enough to hug me and calm me down so I could go home.
January 5, 2019 @ 9:28 pm
I think just by realizing the effect it can have on the client you are way ahead of many other therapists.
The first therapist I saw regularly missed appointments. I was extremely young, living on the other side of the world from where I had grown up, trying to make it on my own with virtually no one in my life and trying to heal from a traumatic childhood, and despite all my therapy misgivings, I decided to reach out and she was offering very affordable rates. I really didn’t know what was appropriate, what was not. I certainly had no idea about lisenced or unlisenced therapists (at the time she was not, but she is now).
She worked from home and probably every other time I arrived she wouldn’t be there. I was so embarassed to even be going to therapy – and she worked locally in my neighborhood – and I would stand and wait at the front door of her house for 10-20 minutes until I would just leave. Often she didn’t even follow up to acknowlege and apologize.
Why did I keep going? Like I said, I really had no way of knowing what was normal at that point in my life.
What made me stop going? On one occasion we were in a session (on her living room couch, which I now know is unprofessional in and of itself) and her kids came home from school early. She sent me running down to the basement and then she followed to finish up the session, but her kids were standing at the top of the steps clambering to get a look at who was there. Believe it or not, I even went back once after this!
The final straw was when I arrived one week – and she was there, but with her young son sitting on the couch next to hear. She merely said, “It’s ok, he’s only five,” and expected to continue the session like that. That’s when I knew this was just so not ok and I never went back.
She (and a few other therapists I tried out in short succession at that time) turned me off therapy for a long time. Now, 10 years later, I am finally seeing someone really good and just started to do the healing work I should have started way back then. It’s been a really bumpy ride developing trust and attachment with this therapist, and I’m sure we are not out of the woods yet, but we are getting there, and I only wish I had discovered her sooner.
February 7, 2019 @ 8:32 pm
I haven’t read all the replies. Just the article & 1st few, so apologize if I repeat but I agree, it would be equitible to offer a free session. I am blessed to have a skilled, kind therapist, whom I’ve seen weekly for nearly 1 year. She was 1 minute late once. I was several minutes late a couple times. I forgot one session altogether once, which she forgives once but makes clear will need to charge for in the furture. Very generous.
For those with therapist who are habitually late & often don’t show up. That’s shockingly disrespectful, selfish & unprofessional. Wouldn’t it be unwise on the clients part to continue to see them? Wouldn’t it be the course of wisdom to find a true professional instead?
For those angry or hurt over a therapist who is usually on time & present, but makes 1 or 2 errors, on very rare occassions, could you consider applying the good advice found in God’s word at Proverbs 19:11 “The insight of a man certainly slows down anger, And it is beauty on his part to overlook an offense.” For those who profess to be Christian this is a requirement !(Luke 17:3,4, Eph 4:32; Col 3:13). We are all imperfect & all make mistakes, many times. Don’t you feel relieved & grateful when someone kindly overlooks your errors?
February 11, 2019 @ 12:32 am
This question is not related to the post but I’ve been unable to find anything anywhere to address my issue. My new therapist seems to like to sell things to my husband and I. We have recently started marriage therapy. She has already suggested several books-which I purchased. But she also suggested talking mats (which she created, markets and sells and a few other things have been suggested which all have an additional cost on top of the therapy (and which she has created) I have declined so far. Is it wrong of me to just want therapy and not a sales pitch?
April 19, 2019 @ 3:55 am
of course it’s not wrong of you to just want therapy and not a sales pitch. i would find a new therapist if i was you. selling products to your clients shows poor boundaries on the therapist’s part. you don’t need to feel bad or guilty or responsible for the therapist’s poor boundaries. just get a therapist with appropriate boundaries.
May 14, 2019 @ 8:26 pm
A therapist should NOT be selling you her own merchandise, not even her own books. It probably voilates the ethical standards of the licensing board. You could check, on line or by phone, without identifying her by name.
Consider the emotional leverage that a therapist can have. You want her help, and you can’t help wondering how she feels about your refusal. She should not put clients in that position.
June 25, 2019 @ 6:01 pm
What about mistakes other than a missed appointment? I love my therapist. I feel safe telling her anything. Things I swore no matter what I would never share. I know she cares about me. However, there have been some mistakes in judgement that have resulted in my feelings of significant anger. When I first began with this therapist I was on medication that I was weening from because it made me unstable. I told her never to allow me to have that medication again. We had just met and she determined to herself that the behaviors I exhibited were due to my mental health and not the meds. She had me take a different med and about a year and a half later I had an injury that meant that I could no longer take the med I was on. After some time, I asked for the old medicine. I was sleep deprived and anxious and just wanted something. Anything. I wasn’t thinking about the consequences. I just needed sleep. So, she prescribed what I asked for and did not even question why I would want something I knew was a problem for me. Like the previous time, my behavior started to change. I was less controlled and it impacted our sessions significantly. She presumed the changes were related to the new stresses and life changes I was about to experience. It did not even occur to her that it was the medication. It wasn’t until about 6 months later after speaking with the co-director of the facility about financing and having that discussion completely breakdown to where I ran from his office screaming and then dissociated, that the issue of the meds started to be realized. The co-director, someone with whom I had only met for the purpose of finances, followed up with me via email with discussions that would only occur if I had been in a therapeutic relationship with him. I wasn’t. It upset me. I felt like my boundaries were violated. I felt uncomfortable with what he wrote as it contained information about diagnosis I had not even discussed with my therapist. When I expressed my anger and discomfort with my therapist, she avoided the discussion. She said his intent was good. For months and months I have brought up the issues which originally focused on his actions then became even greater anger at feeling ignored. At feeling his intent, due to her relationship with him, outweighed the outcome. I tried every way I could to explain my feelings. I wrote them. I verbalized them. And the sum of her response was that she didn’t agree. I don’t know what to do. I feel devastated and I don’t know how to get her to hear me and engage in the dialog with me. She cannot seem to acknowledge her mistakes, his mistakes, their mistakes in misreading the situation.
July 24, 2019 @ 3:24 am
Just started two months ago with a new male therapist who is much different than I am -he is not the best listener and is very abrupt. I went in this week just feeling defeated -years and years of depression and not feeling like I belong anywhere or accepted anywhere…I told him about a situation that happened this past week and how “I’m the only one this kind of thing would happen to”. He freaked out and screamed “THAT IS PSYCHOTIC”. “You do realize that anyone who would hear you would think you are psychotic -there are 7 billion people in this world do you really believe you are the only person this would happen to”. Um well it was a pretty unique situation but this is just a phrase people use. Then he said “I guess now you will worry all week about what I mean about you being psychotic too right”? Proceeds then to tell me the reason people don’t like me is that “I am needy and remind them of someone annoying that was anxious like me and they will avoid me at all costs”. I feel so sick -this was really devastating for me.
October 12, 2020 @ 10:52 am
I know this is a year-old comment but I have to say that is just awful behaviour on his part. That there are therapists like this who get away with treating their clients like this is horrifying.
August 1, 2019 @ 3:02 am
I appreciate this article from the HCP’s perspective. I, myself, am in great need of regular sessions due to current and past life traumas. I found a therapist who seemed to just click with my personality; the session went well and I left feeling hopeful.
I told her I’d really prefer to see someone every two weeks for the time being, so she scheduled accordingly. Two weeks later, on the date of my appointment, I get a call it’s been cancelled. And that they rescheduled me for the last day of the month (it was the 5th or 6th at the time). I had no choice but to accept although I panicked. I wasn’t sure I’d somehow get to that day.
Well, today is that day. I had things prepared to discuss and it was going to be a gut-wrenching time for me. I got called and told the appointment was cancelled again. And I positively broke down. It paralyzed me. And sent my thoughts reeling. I’m looking for someone new, but I’m honestly not going to have faith in them actually seeing the sessions through.
My honest to god temperament today turned basically to “I really, really need an adult to help me right now and no one is here. No one cares. I don’t know what to do. I just want to sit here and cry.” That’s new for me. It’s tough, this situation. I don’t know how I would go about trusting this therapist again if I ever had another session.
August 10, 2019 @ 6:28 am
My therapist of three decades made a terrible mistake. She was diagnosed with late stage lung cancer. She never told me she was sick and continued to see me, almost right up until her death. When I questioned her about her weight loss she said it was due to “a respitory thing” she was dealing with. I never questioned what that was. She knew both of my parents were at the end of their life and she ended up dying within the same 7 weeks that they died. I was beyond devestated. How am I suppose to get through this?
September 18, 2019 @ 4:51 pm
I have been seeing the same therapist for four years. Just today, I heard my text message notification and I knew it was his office cancelling. He cancels frequently. He has small children, he is the first therapist I’ve seen that has several young children. I get that kids are sick, I get that therapists are sick. But I seriously have PTSD from when he cancels. Not only do I have the abandonment issues, he doesn’t seem to get how it affects me. He will acknowledge it, we’ll talk about it, but I come away with the feeling that it’s something I need to deal with, and “it is what it is”. I think that’s unfair. I think a free session or an extra session should be offered. I don’t know if therapists consider what it does to the clients. I know they are human, we all are, but when you have cancelled several times it has an effect on clients. Every time it’s my session day I’m anxious, I know he’s going to cancel, I just wait for it. If he doesn’t, it’s a bonus. When he does, it’s routine. Although I still get upset, albeit it’s shorter now. I cry and have to calm myself down. I don’t know if therapists know how much we look forward to a session, and how dissapointed we are when it’s cancelled as if our time and feelings mean nothing.
March 4, 2020 @ 5:39 pm
I appreciate that therapists can acknowledge their own mistakes. At the end of the day we are all human beings but empathy and acknowledgement are primary.
I think much comes down to intentions. I used a therapist who made good points, and acknowledged my thoughts/feelings, but I didn’t find that they were genuine and actually cared about me as a person – and more as a product of generating income. Maybe part of it was we didnt completely mesh, but I felt that she didn’t respect my time and money and much as I thought she should.
I used to go to my therapist’s personal home and pay cash. My impressions were how lavish she lived. Huge house in an upscale neighborhood, drove expensive vehicles, wore $1000 name-brands, etc. Now I’m not one to judge or be intimidated by material things – She is entitled to live the way she wants… but she used a lot of my paid time to answer the door right on time, make small talk, play with her dogs, take shoes off, walk to her office upstairs, only to start session 10 minutes into my appointment and cut me off 5 minutes early to schedule me in again. To add the unproductive topics during sessions like her knee-jerk reactions to how she thought my reno contractor financially ripped me off, which wasn’t relevant in the topic I wanted to talk about.
They can be the best therapist in the world, but there has to be a level of consideration.
March 27, 2020 @ 8:58 pm
Hi, it’s nice to here that you can admit mistakes as a therapist. Not all do. Unfortunately, I had to do the following experience and unitil now never heard anything of my “therapist”:
He had 2 sessions with me getting to know me a little but and my main issues. After that I took a week time to think if I like to start therapy with this person. I was actually instantly stunned about his sensibility but I decided I would be probably better to also get to know some other to compare. Unfortunately, after getting 50 rejections I decided to go with him. He instantly called me back and made an appointment for the next evening. I should mention that at that time I was very stressed and felt very lonely with a lot of changes in my life ( new job, new flat, consequences on my high performance at university etc..). I came the next evening very concerned and desperately waiting for a new session to talk about my fears. But 2hen I arrived the shared space with offices were empty. He took me in and went through all the paper work and told me then that since he only takes clients with private health insurance we will assign me on the paper on another person who will send me to him. But also told me that my insurance will probably take 6 weeks until they approve. He started to get nervous. So I offered him to take my other left over hours I got before from my insurance for extra sessions. He told that he needs to apply for them aswell and even then my insurance will answer after 6 weeks. After all formalities I asked to have a now a session. He told he actually didnt plan that. But I was a bit insisting so we had a session. Something about his behaviour seemed off.
After 2 weeks I decided to call my insurance to ask how far they are with all the paper work. They told my my therapist never send in any application. Then I asked how long does it take for them to approve such an application. They told me max 2-3 weeks. I was shocked! I then realized that my instincts were probably right. Since I want to have a therapist who is honest to me and relyable I wrote him a long mail explaining why changed my mind and prefer to look for another therapist. Until now he never replied or send any application to my insurance.
March 27, 2020 @ 9:15 pm
And I guess I should add that I have due to stress neurodermitis, gastritis and another skin disease. In times of stress my physical main becomes that much that cannot do anything anymore I cannot even thing. It feels like my skin is going to fall off my body. And I am randomly throwing up or having dihereah. So my concernes like new job, new flat, difficult conditions to study might sound ridiculous but it unfortunately effects my very much. After my experience with that therapist and in combitions with previous rejections I feel like I must be so horrible and disgusting and worthless. Not even when I pay a person to listen to my issues he would be interested to listen to them.
April 29, 2020 @ 11:32 am
Reading your post many years after its publication, I’m struck by this:
“When we make mistakes as therapists, how do we convey both our regret, and the reassurance that this is not typical. And, more importantly, despite the fact that (hopefully) mistakes of this nature are atypical how do we position ourselves to be fully available for the range of our client’s feelings, whether they be rage, despair, sadness, or blame over the fact that we have let them down?”
I feel this is far more about the therapist’s feelings than the client’s, especially the desire to reassure that it’s “not typical”. While, yes, the client needs to know that it won’t happen again, it seems to me that the therapist here is looking both to maintain both their own self-image as a competent, considerate therapist and person, and to maintain their reputation in the eyes of their client. A meaningful reassurance for the client would need to involve:
1. a brief explanation of what went wrong, within or possibly slightly outside the limitations of whatever level of self-disclosure the therapist generally practises (e.g. “my car broke down”, “a family member was suddenly unwell”, “there was an emergency with another client”, “I made a mistake with my calendar”, “I mistakenly went to the wrong site”, whatever); and, if appropriate:
2. an explanation of what the therapist is going to do to make sure it doesn’t happen again, if it’s something avoidable like an accidental double-booking.
If the client is capable of it, it’s likely they will genuinely understand and forgive a therapist who had to deal with an emergent situation or who made a human mistake.
But even genuine understanding and forgiveness, genuine belief that it’s atypical for the therapist and that the therapist regrets any error, genuine lack of any blame or rage, doesn’t mean the subject is closed.
Too many therapists consider their own feelings a barometer for their client’s, and once they feel their own and the client’s perception of them as a competent and reliable therapist is secure, will consider the matter dealt with.
But the consequences for the client are not only relational and/or interpersonal; for a therapist to focus on rage, despair, sadness and blame centres the therapist. Many of the emotional or psychological consequences for the client, such as anxiety caused by uncertainty, fear of having themselves made an appointment time mistake, mental preparation for a session having nowhere to go, and so on, will have little or nothing to do with the therapist personally, but must still be dealt with.
And there are other consequences outside the emotional and psychological — wasted time, money on petrol, money for having unnecessarily missed work, and so on. When a therapist no-show has financial consequences for a client, the client should be financially compensated, in addition to compensation in time with an uncharged session to deal with the emotional and psychological consequences of the therapist’s error. Therefore I feel that two free sessions is an appropriate offer, with the option of a monetary alternative if the client chooses to leave therapy.
June 26, 2020 @ 6:41 am
I have/had this P.T who was very chipper when I first met him, but left me with a rotten outlook on him and lack of understanding, oblivious to what’s going on. I had a shoulder arthroscopic surgery performed on my left shoulder. Kept dislocating after 4years of not knowing I needed this operation. Therapy was stressed by everyone so I set up appointments, they were earlier than 3month period however I went along with his judgment bc I figured “the communication lines are open” from my surgeons office to his. I had to cancel a couple in February for my aunts liver transplant and in case she passed, my son and I flew down there. When I can back there was no response to my messages of being out of town. Nor received messages of his cancellation of being sick. Then the bs started with his offices nonchalant attitude and excuses of why there’s a communication breakdown. One night some bozo tried to get weird with me and pushed me around on my bad shoulder before I hip tossed him and sat on his ribs. (Especially since I put on a few from being benched from everything lol) and I called him up. Told him I was concerned about the altercation, and expecting a plan of attack for reassuring my progress wasn’t lost or no further injury occurred. He cancels all my future scheduled appointment and says until my surgeon gives the ok, he won’t give me treatment. Not bc he’s concerned or to get things x rayed, just point blank. Now I’m feeling very irked by this guy. It’s all these excuses and lame techniques and as my surgeon is clueless why he did such a thing, the Covid pandemic is creeping around, and still no brains used on his part. The surgeon said I’d be fine as long and we socially distanced and so forth (lock down hadn’t happened in CA yet) then when they locked CA down he didn’t tell me anything until I called him up and “reminded him” it’s not recommended. Then I asked what’s going to happen after 5 months since surgery with only 2 visits. And he says he will do video appointments. And I just thought to myself, I got the runaround. His office calls and asked if I needed a note Giving me the clear to go to work (in case my employer was worried of reinsure) when they didn’t even schedule me for my appointment that week.
There was zero effort out into my therapy agenda. It felt like I was the one organizing everything. Telling him his computer screen was on the patient, again. It’s really bothered me and I feel stupid for once again putting too much faith in him initially and the system. I felt discriminated against the more we spoke through emails and messages. Even the way he spoke to me was way different than his other patients. He’s in the wrong field and I don’t know how to get this message to him that he’s lousy, like this story haha. Thanks for listening. If you’ve read down to this point, please flip tape over “to side B “ lol
August 7, 2020 @ 10:51 am
What an interesting post and such interesting comments!
Personally, I would feel really bad if my therapist offered to financially compensate a missed session because of her last minute cancellation/no-show. I would really prefer to explore my feelings related to this incident and experience how the bond that has been a bit impacted, gets stronger through a repair.
In case my therapist would notoriously be late/cancel sessions, hence being not able to provide me with the service we agreed on, I would simply look for someone else who can be for me. It would not be different from a nanny/cleaning lady/handy man who would frequently call-off/forget about appointments.
October 5, 2020 @ 8:11 pm
The therapist I just started seeing was a no-show for our *second* session. I called 5 mins after our appointment time to find out where they were. They didn’t answer so I left a message. I waited another 10 minutes, called again, left another voice message, then left their office. They called me about 45 minutes after we were supposed to meet to tell me they had a toothache that kept them up all night, and they had an emergency appointment with their dentist, then said they’d completely forgot about our appointment. I find that to be highly unprofessional. As a licensed Psychologist? It’s unacceptable. Toothaches are one thing, forgetting an appointment? It speaks volumes about a personand how they view others. After my first appointment it should have been abundantly clear I have both trust issues as well issues with people who show lack or respect. The irony of all ironies is this is the very subject I’d intended to discuss today. Not the kind of relationship you hope for or expect to have with your therapist after only one session. So the search continues. Hopefully the next one will take their position less lightly. As for the “free session? In my case, as I suspect is the same with many others, thankfully insurance is paying, so a “freebie” is a hollow gesture. Moral character is of far greater value.
October 22, 2020 @ 9:47 am
Hi! A debt of gratitude is in order for the post. It’s been truly useful as I required an advisor perspective on this issue. This is a decent issue and top notch.
November 4, 2020 @ 12:08 pm
I accept there are a lot more pleasurable open doors ahead for people that took a gander at your site.
January 6, 2021 @ 6:43 am
I found this thread after googling “when therapists no-show.” I am a newly licensed therapist working only from home doing telehealth due to the pandemic. My client only wants phone call sessions (which has been covered now due to the pandemic). The practice I work for requires the 24 hour cancelation fee. I am not comfortable with this policy because I feel everyone makes mistakes, including me. And today was that day… for the second time. I am a new mother of an almost one year old, and also am in my first trimester pregnant again, very sick and not well. Typically I only work Fridays-Sundays full days of clients, and the rest of the week I am with my son. I have a client who feels he needs more support, so he asked me to give him an extra session during the week. I did explain I don’t normally see client’s on days other than Friday-Sunday, but that I wanted to accommodate him and offer support. Tonight at 7pm, for the second time (this happened last month as well) I just forgot what day it is, because I am putting my baby down, I myself have had zero rest, don’t have much support at home/childcare outside of Friday-Sunday. I feel absolutely horrified and ashamed. I obviously want to offer any reconciliation I can for this client and fear any damage I have done. The first time I apologized profusely and tried to make any amends I could. My client seems very relaxed about it and gracious. But this time I am just so upset about it. I myself have been crying for the past hour about it. I will obviously talk with him about it and how sorry I feel, and maybe explain that I won’t be able to add an additional session right now as I don’t have the ability to. I don’t ever want this to happen again, and honestly, if it was my work day my brain would never forget something like this. I care deeply for my clients. It’s so hard to switch my brain to work mode at the end of a very long day that is not normally a work day, and additionally while working at home and not in a traditional setting. It just feels very overwhelming as a therapist doing only telehealth from home. Much easier to make this mistake than when I had an office to go to and the ability to meet face to face. Ultimately I will explain my situation and that it is my responsibility to keep my appts. and therefore be realistic about when I schedule them and what I am capable of. If you read this far… thanks for listening to this therapist!
January 8, 2021 @ 7:19 pm
Dear LM, I feel for you in your distress over letting down your client. It does remind me that self-care is considered to be part of professional ethics. This year (even if you haven’t had a baby!) has been a challenging year for mental health professionals to balance our own self-care with the needs of our clients and patients. We are all experiencing a collective trauma and it can feel important to show up for people in distress. But it is also imperative to prioritize our own self-care, as we obviously cannot do good work when we are over-stressed, over-worked, or sleep deprived. I hope that you can find a way to forgive yourself and also make the necessary changes to ensure that you are able to get the time you need so that you can not over-extend and then make this kind of error. That said, this can happen to any of us at any time since we are, in fact, human! Best wishes.
January 15, 2021 @ 11:47 pm
I am happy to say that your article is interesting to read. Successful psychotherapy works in light of the fact that the advisor keeps on developing personal and as a healer. Keep it up and thank you for sharing your blog.
March 30, 2021 @ 10:24 am
Nice post. I learn something more challenging on different blogs every day. It will always be stimulating to read content from other writers and practice a little something from their store. Thanks for sharing.
April 20, 2021 @ 4:46 pm
As someone who suffers from multiple mental health issues, I have been receiving regular therapy for the past 1.5 years; however, I have just been assigned to the care of a new therapist who touched base with me a little over a week ago and scheduled an appointment for today at 9:45 a.m. As I key this comment it is 10:37 a.m. and I have to receive her call (due to the pandemic therapy is done by telephone).
I called the office and was put through to her voicemail.
This is very, very troubling to me and currently I am suffering a variety of emotions raging for supremacy.
Perhaps I am so disturbed because despite suffering several debilitating mental health issues, I force myself to get up and arrive at any appointments made on time (I usually arrive early as I am fearful of being late due to traffic, accidents, etc. so I usually end up arriving early).
Being emotionally and mentally unwell, I suffer very poor quality sleep and yet, I set my alarms such that I do get up for these telephone therapy appointments.
I cannot begin to tell you how troubling this is for me – most especially because I did the ‘online check-in’ for the appointment last week and downloaded the appointment in my cell-phone calendar so I know that both the date and time are accurate and to further exacerbate it – this is our first session.
Nausea, stomach upset and a warring range of emotions are running through my mind (and I am trying to consider that perhaps she is caught up with another client or something has occurred to which this has caused her to be unable to attend the phone call; however, even if caught up or unavailable (unless life-threatening) one would think that one could find someone to make a quick call to advise of the delay and/or cancellation of the booked session.
Example: I left three hours early for work due to a raging winter storm (it was normally an hour’s drive) and despite leaving so early, I got caught up in a multi-vehicle car accident and though I was only a few km from work, I called (blue tooth in the car) my employer to advise him of my location and the circumstances which had me running late.
I was raised that it was very impolite and discourteous to be late and to not at least make an effort to contact the person with whom you were to meet – and as stated earlier, despite the numerous handicaps under which I function, I do at least respect other people and the time that they give to me when making appointments.
Somehow, I feel unimportant and invalidated.
April 20, 2021 @ 5:23 pm
Perhaps it would be worth noting that I suffer from: PTSD, Major Depression, Anxiety Disorder, Adjustment Disorder and Mood Disorder.
I tried calling back again (the office from whence my therapist works) and they cannot locate her (originally they advised that they had no reason to believe that she is not in the office); they suggested I call the ‘supervisor’ but that too resulted in a voicemail and then I was advised that the telephone administrative assistant would send out an email to see if anyone would return my call or at least apprise me of the situation/status of the appointment.
It is now 11:23 a.m. (almost two hours after the scheduled appointment and I have yet to hear a response from anyone).
April 27, 2021 @ 8:28 pm
Hello,
Just wondering why my two previous (inoffensive) comments were not published.
Did I breach some unknown rule?
My queries and comments were legitimate and I am still struggling with the experience of having my therapist ‘stand me up’ without so much as any attempt made at an apology.
Additionally, I just received a call (from the desk clerk) that my upcoming appointment (end of April) was being cancelled and the therapist to which I was assigned is not going to be back in the office until late May.
Thus far, my experience with this particular therapist has been a stream of negatives (first the call came without benefit of the therapist consulting my file – evident when she made a couple of inappropriate comments, then she was not available, nor was a call made when she was unavailable for our scheduled appointment, then when she called back (a couple of weeks later to reschedule) we were ‘disconnected’ part-way through setting up the appointment (no call back to ensure I had noted the appropriate date and time) and then a call, as stated above, from the desk clerk that the scheduled appointment was to be put off.
All in all, not a great start with this particular therapist.
April 27, 2021 @ 8:39 pm
Earlier this month when I was assigned a new therapist, she called me to set up our first appointment and during our ‘intake’ session it became evident very quickly to me that she had not bothered to read my file.
Additionally, on the date of our scheduled appointment, she was a ‘no show’ and throughout the course of the day, I tried to reach her (initially, I thought perhaps that she was caught up with some other client that ran overtime as sometimes can happen) – ultimately, though, it was about 7 hours later when I heard back from her supervisor that she was not in that day and that my session was cancelled.
When I received a call from her at a later date, to reschedule our call was disconnected just after the date was set for the next session.
For my part, if I were disconnected quite abruptly from a call with someone, I would return the call just to ‘tidy up’ and finish the call more politely.
Lastly, when my session was coming due a few days beforehand, I received a call from the desk clerk that my therapist would not be available for several more weeks and I was asked if I would mind waiting for the appointment – some time towards the end of May.
I am not sure how other clients would feel but this is troubling me and seems not particularly professional behaviour for a therapist – especially one working in the field of mental health.
Just my opinion and observations of course.
November 10, 2021 @ 9:04 pm
Hi, very interesting reading. Ive had about 8 sessions with my therapist here in UK. I work a lot! We decided on an evening and time, and I changed my evening shifts, and spoke to my boss, asking not to give me shifts that evening. Just recently she has tried to reschedule 2 dates. 1 i managed to change, but not the second one. She said she was sorry the dates didn’t suit me! Errrmmm I work those nights??!!
I’ve asked to not to tslk too much, and listen….I’m seriously wondering if she’s just inexperienced and maybe not the right person for my needs. Any thoughts would be gratefully received. Thanks
July 18, 2022 @ 11:29 pm
After 15 years with my therapist, after getting through the worst of the pandemic and it’s effect on therapy, and in the midst of her working toward retirement, giving up her office to share space part-time in another office in the suite, plans changing several times in a few weeks about completely leaving this office to work in another office 1 hour away, my longtime therapist forgot my 2 pm appointment. She called, told me to wait, she could be there by 2:30. I wanted to just reschedule, too much chaos for me, but she “absolutely did not want me to reschedule’. So I waited, she arrived after 2:30, and spent half of the few minutes left taking initial paperwork out to the lobby to new clients. It really was not a session. Next session she kept looking at her watch. When I asked what time it was, she replied “25 to” (2:35) and added “but that’s ok”. I was confused but continued; however, her responses were limited to “what else?, pen poised over paper. (Note keeping was new a couple of years ago; we’re both aging, me in mid 60’s, her 10 years older, so I get the need for notes.). As I was leaving, in the doorway of the room, she said something about my having done many half-sessions. I blinked, confused, and told her that I have -never- done half sessions. I asked if that was why she said ‘tgat’s ok’ at 2:35. She nodded. She looked over at the desk where my check was and said “I thought that was the amount you usually wrote’. I asked if she wanted more (she discounts her fee for me); no, she didn’t. The following 2 weeks I was away out of state. Then the next week was holiday and she was traveling.I was to call to schedule when I returned. After those 2 concerning, horrible, disconnected sessions, I can’t bring myself to call. It felt like she was already no longer there.
October 20, 2022 @ 12:13 am
This really helped me put things into perspective. I recently stated with a new therapist. We’ve had about 5 weekly sessions. She is always late number one but it didn’t bother me that deeply. Well 2 weeks ago, I started a new job and communicated that to her in our session. During the session she looked into her calendar to see what her openings were after 4:30pm on Weekdays. She told me that she had Tuesdays at 6pm open weekly. We agreed to that new day and time before closing the session.
Come the following week, on Tuesday at 6pm, I am on the website trying to get into out session. I then see that she never changed our day and time so I could not join the session at all. Being as though I thought that fixing issues had to be done through the office, I call the office to ask them if there is anything that I can do. They are unaware of the change because my therapist had never even made a note of it. Later that day, my therapist asks me if I could do a session but I told her I could not at the time. Then she texts me, on our old day and time, later that week on Thursday and asks if I’m available to do a session at our old time, 3pm. I inform her that I could not because I am at work. She apologizes and says she would be sure to update our new date and time on the website.
Flash forward to this week, we were supposed to have our session yesterday at 6pm. I go to the website and it says that I missed my appointment at 2pm. Then it says all my future appointments are on Tuesdays at 2pm. Now I am completely confused and just frustrated because I was really looking forward to that appointment. I call the office to get it sorted out and see if I can still do my session. They tell me that they will contact my therapist and when she responds they will get in touch with me. I was never contacted by the office and my therapist didn’t contact me.
The next morning, today, I end up seeing a message from my therapist that I didn’t see yesterday, with her looking to confirm our appointment at 2pm. I message her stating that our appointment was actually at 6pm not 2pm. She responds saying that it was her understanding that I wanted it at 2pm and she doesn’t have availability at 6pm. I inform her that she is the one who told me her availability, which was Tuesdays at 6pm. Then she apologized and said she must have heard me wrong, then says she has been nothing but kind and respectful to me. I am unsure as to why she is saying this because I am not being rude or disrespectful to her in the messages. I am just stating that she gave the availability, I accepted the time and day and we mutually agreed to that. Then she goes on to say that she must have heard me wrong or forgot. And then accuses me of reporting her to the office and telling the office that my only availability was Tuesday at 6pm. She also stated that I should get another therapist that works better for me. Which was hurtful because I really enjoyed having her as a therapist.
I communicated that I was unaware of my calling the office was actually a report against her, I thought I had to go through the office for anything regarding issues on the website and just trying to figure out what the next step was. I also inform her that I did not tell the office that I only had availability on Tuesdays at 6pm, I simply told the office that Tuesdays at 6pm was the new day and time that we agreed on. I told her that I enjoyed having her as my therapist. She hasn’t responded to any of that.
I have been sitting in confusion since having this conversation with my therapist. I am just baffled at the way that the conversation went and her not taking accountability for everything right away. Especially with that being one of the main topics in our sessions. Just trying to figure where everything went left.
Pricey Administrative Mistakes for Therapy Practice | TheraNest
November 14, 2024 @ 4:58 pm
[…] Keely Kolmes writes on her site about how therapists make mistakes. “The details aren’t important, but I’ll acknowledge that […]