Posted by Aphrodite on October 2, 2004, at 7:24:13
In reply to Re: Phone Policies, posted by Daisym on October 1, 2004, at 23:04:54
This whole phone policy thing has been a thorn in my side in therapy. I never called for anything more than a scheduling issue for the first 6 months. Even in my worst moments, he never gave me the "phone policy" or told me what to do. I finally asked. In his long-winded explanantion, he said I could call, gave me his pager number, but ended with a caveat about abusing a privilege. Yeah, like I would really call after that!
So, we talked about it later and he apologized. He said he had been struggling with the phone issue and the timing of my question was bad. He was trying to formulate a policy, but was realizing he couldn't have a cookie cutter approach, that we would have to give a different policy to each client based on their particular situation. He said some clients call him every day. He said he knew I wouldn't call as much as I should and had no reservation about me calling him. I said, "Damage done! I'll never call!" So, he started calling me himself and doing check-ins. I've only called him a handful of times and promptly paid him for anything beyond 15 minutes even if he initiated the call. He doesn't have a payment policy about calls, but for me it keeps it "clean." At first he protested the payments, but acquiesed when he realized the only way I would call is if I could pay for his time. I've spent a lot of money on those calls lately!
I now believe in between calls are necessary during the hard times, but I'll never get past our original "misunderstanding" and doubt I'll ever feel comfortable with it.
poster:Aphrodite
thread:396496
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20041002/msgs/398202.html