Session schedules issues

Hello! I'm wondering how many of you have problems with session schedules?

Because I thought this is rather unusual, but with my current therapists we almost a month cannot agree on the right time, and I always ask him to reschedule, which makes me feel sometimes guilty of ruining his processes. This happens mostly because my job requires to do so.

Typically therapists try to schedule clients for the same day and time each week because it helps create the therapeutic container and gives consistency. My T gets very upset when he messes up and doesn’t have my regular day or time available. Honestly it doesn’t bother my much other than anxiety about showing up at the wrong day/time as he does not do reminder calls. Other T’s I have worked with have just fit me in wherever works. So my guess is that it is more about the client than the T.

If you're rescheduling because of work... that's not your fault! I mean, some jobs are like that... and you have to do what you have to do to maintain your job, so you can afford therapy (and everything else). I bet your T totally gets that, but if it's causing your anxiety, you could always chat with him about it, right?

I bet you're not "ruining his process" at all though!

But, when you say "a month" - do you mean it's been a month since you've seen your T? Or that you've been dealing with scheduling problems for the last month? A month in between T-sessions seems like it might be difficult to make much progress?

Good luck!

Thank you!

I meant that we are having such problems for the last month. Indeed, a session per month probably won't bring many benefits, so I'm having a session per week plus frequent in-between session contact

When I saw a therapist , we scheduled same time regardless of the day or days of the week , he had a pretty flexible schedule but after awhile asked me why that time ?

Getting cross town on paratransit took two hours from my house to his office , by keeping that certain time , the paratransit driver that would pick me up was a close friend , so instead of an hour of therapy it was a bonus 3 hours ,because I could talk with her about anything be it therapy or anything else . They actualy got to know each other when I was brain injured , I could get "lost" someplace i had been 1000 times ,so i had to be "handed off " between adults ( instinct is look for something familiar ,but if your memory is impaired you will not find it) we ended up talking about she and i on one "non work" session , he said she is probably the best thing I ever did for myself. And he completely understood what my timing was , sitting on bus for two hours ain't fun ,unless the driver is your friend (I know and like all the drivers ,however this driver I hang with outside of her work) .

If your work schedule fluctuates, that's beyond your control ,and I am sure your T understands , many people work changing "cŕazy" hours to support themselves , so you may have to shuffle appointments around but you do it , you would be shocked by how many don't cancel or reschedule prior to not showing up , the " invisible patient" is real ,so by taking the effort to cancel and reschedule , shows you care .

That makes sense, thanks for clarifying! I'm not doing therapy right now, but when I did, I usually had a standing appointment - i.e. same day/time every week. That worked well for me, as I was able to let people at work know that I had a "recurring doctor's appointment" - and we worked around it. I think it's harder if the time changes every week.

I hope you and your T can work out the time issues. I really do think that he's not going to blame you... it's not your fault! Good luck!