Working with 2 Ts at the same time?

I didn't think my main T would be ok with me working with 2 Ts at the same time as she ended with me temporarily while I was under the eating disorder services, and I was monitored there by their psychologist and psychiatrists regularly.

However I told her about three months ago my GP referred me to a sexual assault charity, and I was put on the waiting list for some specialist support and counselling. I got a call about two weeks ago that I was at the top of the waiting lists, and I had a telephone appointment with a counsellor (T2). My main T seem to see this as positive thing, whilst we are still working together, she's encouraging me to talk to T2 about what happened six months ago (a SA incident). She seem to be perfectly ok with me seeing 2 Ts at the same time, which I didn't think she would be.

Anyway things can get quite confusing working with 2 Ts. I see my main T twice a week, and T2 fortnightly so my main support is still my main T and I have been seeing her for 2 years so she knows me a lot better.

Anyone worked with 2 Ts at the same time before? and what was it like for you?

It's a bit confusing like I used to see so many different people and they weren't necessary on the same page, especially when I was with the general mental health team as well as the eating disorder team as I have bipolar and an eating disorder, and it was just a mess because they dont really communicate with each other.

I just started working with two T’s yesterday. Slightly different situation. I have been with T1 almost two years and he is wonderful. He suggested it would be helpful for me to have a strong female friend or mentor a few sessions back (I am a woman). I suggested instead of finding a mentor adding in a second T, specifically the woman that works in the same building. Long story short T1 is T2’s supervisor as she is still working on her degree. T2 is studying art therapy which I have initiated some with T1 and he has been very good with but it isn’t his “thing”. T1 and T2 so far are so very different in their personalities and what they bring out in me. I am going to see them alternating weeks. I wish I could see both of them weekly but that just isn’t in my budget. I think it is going to be a good thing for me BUT I am comfortable with them having open communications about their work with me and with T1 being T2’s supervisor there will be a lot of communication.

Has something happened which has changed your mind about working with the sexual violence counsellor? Your GP will have needed your permission to make the referral and you pursued the referral once contact was made, so it seems that working with two practitioners is something which you want or need. All of this contact (GP, therapist, SV worker) is voluntary and you should only continue with it if it works for you. The mess that you have experienced previously will not necessarily be repeated and if it is, you can intervene and take control or suggest better ways of communication. You are not a passive by-stander, you have agency.

I hired two of those people for about 5 years. I did not find it confusing in the least. I actually don't understand how it would be confusing. Neither of them did anything at all so they would not have confused me like that and even had they each actually done anything - I would have found it interesting to compare the two but I could easily distinguish from each other and had no difficulty in keeping them separate.

Personally I could never work with more than one, because it's all too complex. I feel lucky having found one person that can cover all the issues I have, and would never jeopardize what we have by letting someone else in.

I saw regular T and I saw my pastor for therapy (he has a PhD in Marriage Family Therapy) at the same time for maybe 9 months. It wasn't confusing. Sometimes they disagreed with each other. But they didn't talk directly. They just talked to me. It worked okay until Pastor T kept trying to push me towards things I wasn't ready for so I terminated with him. I still see regular T.

I worked with two Ts for about 10 months. I had been seeing long term T weekly for about 9 years then started seeing EMDR bi-weekly. I won't say it was easy as it definitely had its challenges. Long term T knew all my trauma history and was always my safety net. When I felt like I was hanging on a ledge she was there to guide me down and catch me if necessary. The issue was that with traditional talk therapy we hit a wall in regards to my trauma. Both T's knew from the very beginning about the other. Emdr T knew about the bond long term T and I had. I encouraged them to talk to each other and they did on two occasion. Both of them told me what they discussed as they believed in transparency and that it was important to building and maintaining trust. As I said there were challenges. One being I couldn't suddenly just stop talking completely about my trauma and when I was triggered. When I needed to reach out to somebody she was my go to. I hadn't developed the trust with EMDR and she doesn't email with clients. If I contacted T about being triggered between appointments she will tell me T reach out to EMDR T or if I talked about it in appointments or struggles with EMDR t. She would encourage me to to talk to Emdr T. It was frustrating. Also, I dont think Emdr T really knew what her role was. However, we all kept open communication and worked through the challenges. If I had to do it over again, I would do it in a heartbeat.