Posted by gardenergirl on May 4, 2005, at 14:00:37
In reply to Re: Is it really harmful to be friends with T ? » Shortelise, posted by pinkeye on May 4, 2005, at 12:34:06
>But what I am trying to say is that the decision should be left to the therapist's common sense and the patients common sense and not make that a rule.Actually, there is NO rule that says a T must cut off all contact with clients after termination. It IS left up to the T within whatever constraints may be in place due to a situation. For example, it might be the policy of the agency, in which case the T has no choice. In other cases, the rule is that copies of all correspondence or contact must be placed in the client file, and that might lead a T to discourage contact.
But a T in independent practice, or one who does not have agency policy limiting them, can certainly choose to allow contact after termination. We actually discussed this in one class, and the professor stated her own policy. She tells former clients that they are free to contact her in the future, but that she may not necessarily respond. She frames this as how she always likes to hear how former clients are doing, but she is not always able to respond in a timely manner due to her workload. So with this knowledge in place, she leaves it up to the client.
And I have received emails from former clients in the past. I deal with them on an individual basis depending on the nature of the email.
But at any rate, there is no rule in the APA ethcial code that says contact MUST end at termination. Most states ethical codes or state laws are based on APA.
gg
poster:gardenergirl
thread:493094
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20050504/msgs/493668.html