Posted by Tamar on August 12, 2005, at 20:26:39
In reply to Terrible termination *trigger*, posted by rabidreader on August 12, 2005, at 15:24:31
I’m so sorry your last session with your therapist was so painful. I can totally relate to the new shirt and earrings. And I think it was really sweet that you bought him a gift and wrote him a card.
From what you say, his reactions were unhelpful, to say the least. It’s true that many therapists won’t accept gifts as a matter of policy. However, he should have explained the reasons for the policy.
I’m very sorry he changed his mind about letting you write to him. That seems unfair, especially as he had agreed to it previously. I think he should have allowed you to write but warned you that he might not reply very often, or that he might not reply at all.
It sounds as if he hasn’t handled your termination as well as he could have. He didn’t give you much notice (he probably knew some time before he told you that there was a possibility of his leaving). And I do think it was somewhat unprofessional to tell you in your final session that he’d changed his mind about letting you write to him.
You probably don’t want to think about this right now, but I expect that the best way to deal with all this would probably to go into therapy with someone new. Did your therapist give you a referral? If the reason for termination was his move out of state, then perhaps you have things you still want to work on. I’m sorry that your termination is likely to become a new issue for therapy.
I hope a bit of happiness comes your way very soon.
Tamar
poster:Tamar
thread:540775
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20050801/msgs/540881.html