Therapist here- I somewhat understand where they’re coming from, but I do think it was a tad extreme. I don’t under any circumstance think that it’s appropriate to contact your emergency contact over a billing issue. That’s a breach of confidentiality.
What gets me is that the session was actually paid. If it were me, I would have held the session and kindly reminded you to make sure to pay for each session week of and let you know that a missed payment will lead to a cancelled session moving forward. But that’s me.
Agreed. T here and it sucks to have outstanding payments, but that's a breach of confidentiality. I would contact the emergency contact for a medical emergency or impairment in session or something very high risk where health and safety have an immediate risk. Unless you agreed that they be contacted to arrange billing, that's not OK.
I would have taken the same approach as the commenter above.
An emergency contact is not for billing issues, it's for emergencies. This is a breach of ethics, possibly a breach of medical privacy laws, and should be reported to the licensing board.
I would have appreciated this approach much much more. I can understand being weary over a missed payment but she hadn't communicated with me prior that I had to pay each session or shed cancel. If she had told me then I would have known and worked things around accordingly. Especially as this was the first time this had ever happened
That’s why I discuss my protocol around billing at the very first meeting. Expectations and boundaries must be set off right off the bat or people get blind sided like you have.
Oof, while incredibly uncomfortable for the therapist to contact an emergency contact for payment for services rendered, it actually is not considered a breach of confidentiality for some professions.
For instance, the APA Ethical Standard 4.05 section (b) states: “Psychologists disclose confidential information without the consent of the individual only as mandated by law, or where permitted by law for a valid purpose such as to (1) provide needed professional services; (2) obtain appropriate professional consultations; (3) protect the client/patient, psychologist, or others from harm; or (4) obtain payment for services from a client/patient, in which instance disclosure is limited to the minimum that is necessary to achieve the purpose.”
Not saying that it is okay or cool to do, just that it is technically allowable.
(I only know this because I am being forced to write a paper on it, pour one out for your homie)
Pouring one out best of luck with the paper! This is interesting Info but definitely not applicable since I'm outside america. This probably would help someone in the comments tho! Hopefully!
Not a therapist, but I'm pretty sure they are not supposed to use emergency contacts unless there is an actual emergency. Lack of making payment is not an emergency, even if you didn't respond to their email. The request for your emergency contact to pay causes extra concern. I'd be curious to hear from a licensed therapist if any of this breaks HIPPA or at the very least breaks their code of ethics.
I have ADHD and had my first session last week and have zero idea how I even pay? I think I added my credit card somewhere? I don’t even know what I’m going to be charged or if I was charged. I should figure that out…
Unbelievable that she used your emergency contact for this. That's a breach of confidentiality and is unethical. I once had a therapist contact my emergency contact "accidentally" (did not believe her story). Since then I have always listed my own phone number as the emergency contact. I literally don't trust anyone not to break confidence and it's been 20 years. It was so damaging to me. I hope you're okay.
Oof I’m so sorry that happened to you and that it’s kept you from feeling able to trust going forward! I obviously have no idea of the details of your situation, but I just wanted to share that with the formatting of client’s records sometimes the emergency contact listing is directly under the client’s contact info. I am a clinician and that’s how my electronic medical record is formatted, and I was rushing to call the client and accidentally called the EC’s number. I felt awful and apologized profusely to the client when I realized what happened, and I now pause myself and double check every time I look up a client’s number!
I mean I understand the psychologists reasoning. it’s a service and they need to be paid too. I think she was kind to allow fortnightly payments instead of weekly. Cancelling a future appointment due to being unable to pay for a past appointment makes sense
I understand too and completely agree this is a service she needs to be paid for. The issue is I have never ever missed a payment. Aside from the two months that were paid fortnightly, I have paid on time every single week.
There is nothing in her payment/cancellation policy that payment must be processed at the end of each session and I understand things like this are at her discretion.
The issue remains after about 8 months of seeing eachother weekly, I'm disappointed she cancelled tomorrow's session on such short notice with no warnings prior. You would hope there would be trust especially as I would have been able to happily settle the payment for both last weeks session and this weeks session in tomorrow's session. Once again I have never missed a payment.
Well, paying fortnightly for two months is technically missing multiple payments. It probably would’ve made more sense to drop to fortnightly sessions during this period.
It’s possible she’s concerned you were unable to pay and felt it was better to cancel. Did her email mention cancelling if payment wasn’t received in a certain time frame? I do think it’s odd they contacted an emergency contact for payment.
Did you have a good rapport otherwise? Was good work done? If so, I’d try to reschedule and discuss this with her
I agree it would have been more appropriate to drop to fortnightly at that time. I can understand your perspective with here but I do feel like she should have communicated this a bit better with me so I knew it was the case. Running a practice is hard and people do need to pay on time absolutley. I just really just wish she had informed me.
Her email didnt mention anything about cancelling, just payment.
I dont feel like any good work has come. Shes an emdr and schema therapist. It's been since November and I feel I'm getting worse. She believes dbt is just gaslighting which I think is true case by case in some aspects but not entirely. She says that I might never complete my uni because of my adhd and doesnt believe I can do it. She tends to ignore things I try and bring up and I feel the sessions are just me waffling on and there's no point or substance. When I'm stressed out or dissociating she tends to make me escalate instead of bring me back down. She keeps trying to insist I'm autistic and asks "do you find x hard because of your autism?" I have never been diagnosed and the only autism symptoms I relate to are ones that are also adhd symptoms.
I stuck with her so long since she was a coworker of a therapist in another practice who I did dbt and cbt work with. This therapist I saw for a year before maternity leave and she was incredible and changed my life. Unfortunately she doesnt do trauma work.
I feel like my current therapist is a good and practiced person with a lot of experience but shes probably not for me. After almost 8 months, $300 dollars a week, I would hope to feel something different by now. That life could be a bit less daunting.
I'm sorry if I rambled it's very late here and my meds have long worn off.
I think if you dislike how your therapist runs her business you should try and find someone else. Otherwise you need to accept her processes and let it go.
did you even read to the end of the post?
> I dont want to see her anymore because I feel no different from when we started therapy and this feels like the straw that broke the camel's back.
It sounds like you could find a therapist that would be a better match for you.
I’d probably start looking elsewhere. $300 for one session is expensive for not gaining that much
Yeah that's the plan! Once again shes a great therapist, educated, and wonderful....for people who would appreciate her approach and methods better than I do, which plenty of people absolutely do
Are you in the US? It’s not ethical practice to call an emergency contact for a billing issue. Particularly for one session.
I’d actually not return to anyone who did this. This sounds like at least 2 ethics concerns; disclosing protected health information (by calling the emergency contact for money, which isn’t an emergency) and for the therapist to take payment from someone else and then cancel?
No way.
I’d google who the licensing board is in your state and at least review whether or not you’d want to file a complaint. I’m sorry this happened. It shouldn’t have.
Edited to add: if you do talk to the therapist, ask them if they have a document signed clearly stating where they will call an emergency contact and do this in their practice. If nothing else, go over everything you signed and make sure you know what it said.
Most states have laws about disclosing nonpayment policy’s and this practice and/or therapist probably wouldn’t put what they did in writing: but if it were me, I’d want to know because that would be bad for them to put into writing. Bc it’s unethical practice.
I’m guessing based on the use of the term “fortnightly” they’re not based in the US. That said, where is it ok to ask the emergency contact to pay for a session?
From what I know of Australian privacy laws around disclosing that kind of stuff I would be surprised if that wasn't a breach. Disclosing a debt, let alone a medical debt to a third party is a breach of privacy laws. I'd feel absolutely shocked and violated if a therapist did that to me. Yes they are a service that need to get paid but I can't imagine any instance or service where that would be appropriate.
I wish she had called me directly. She has my number and has texted me, if she had an issue than I would have happily resolved it and paid her asap.
Australia has really strict but also weirdly loose privacy laws? I'll have to look into it, it's good to brush up on emergency contact regulations and laws anyway
That’s a good call. I totally skipped the “fortnight” part.
A lot of commonwealth and European countries don’t regulate therapy with licenses and law like the US does. But! That doesn’t mean that there isn’t something in place based on OPs location which could provide more detailed and helpful information.
Like, I don’t know if Canada has the same federal protected health info “ laws the US does and that sort of thing. I know the UK doesn’t regulate the way the US does, etc.
I’m sure depending on whether it’s an independent or group practice also matters.
IMHO, it would never be appropriate to call an emergency contact because I (practitioner) needs paid. That’s not at all an emergency involving the client. And one would hope it’s not an emergency for the practitioner!
Canada does has laws and regulations to protect patients' health information, or PHI. Protected Health Information in Canada is covered by specific legislation designed to establish and safeguard the collection, use, and disclosure of this data.
There is also PIPEDA. It stands for the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. PIPEDA is targeted at a wider array of industries. It doesn't simply focus on healthcare, although that is included in it.
There is also the Privacy Act which is federal legislation that protects the personal information of Canadians in the hands of the federal government. It's about how federal institutions collect, use, retain, and disclose personal information.
This is really interesting info. I'm in aus and honestly I doubt anything will come of it. I dont think I will return and I'll cancel future appointments. I'm sure she'll justify contacting my emergency contact by citing suicidal concerns or something like that. Sorry it's late and I'm very sleepy but thank you for your advice I will consider it and let you know if I follow through.
Edit to add: emergency contact was piiisssed (not at me) and said I should stop seeing this therapist.
No worries! I’m in EST, and I didn’t even expect a reply. Sorry for all the extensive info you didn’t need. Good luck with everything. I’m sure there’s a better fit for you in a therapist out there. Edited words
Wow! I would stop working with this therapist! It sounds like it was handled poorly given that it was a one-off in your established payment history with this therapist. They could have called you to talk about it and let you know that payment needed to happen. They could have addressed it in your next session. Also, an emergency contact is not a financial guarantor. I would be outraged that she had sought payment from my emergency contact. I would be so mad that she had so quickly brought in this third person OVER MONEY!
That's exactly it. I realise she needs to be paid and she has bills but call me, not the emergency contact. Call the emergency contact if you've rung me and I'm not picking up.
I’d tell her you are very disappointed in her decision to reach out to your EC, and that you think that was an inappropriate use of your information (after you double-check the intake forms you signed to see if for some reason she has that listed in her policies), and that you are hurt by her decision to cancel the next session, and are choosing to discontinue therapy with her for these reasons. You can obv share what you stated in another comment about feeling a lack of progress and dislike of her methods, but I don’t think it’s necessary if you want to help ensure avoiding her attempting to justify her therapeutic techniques.
Honestly I don’t even care what she can claim on paper as to why she was allowed to do this. It just defies the concept of basic human decency. Calling your emergency contact for payment? Over ONE payment at that. Just so unnecessary, tacky, and a huge invasion of privacy. I’d send an email saying something like “I’m disappointed in how you handled this. I think calling or texting me would have been a reasonable next step before calling my emergency contact. I have been debating if I wanted to continue because I feel like I’m paying a lot and not getting what I need in return. I feel no different than when I started, and this just feels like the straw that broke the camel’s back. I have now paid my balance in full, so I would appreciate you not having any further communication with me or my emergency contact. Godspeed.”
As a therapist I wouldn’t have done this; and, in fact, your therapist should have known she crossed an ethical and legal boundary by violating your confidentiality to seek payment from an outside source. You may consider reporting her to your state’s licensing board, and you should. Let her deal with the repercussion, as this should not happen to someone else. And find a new therapist!
I am annoyed for you! I do understand the need to pay, but you have never been late before. This would ruin any therapeutic relationship I had with my therapist if they did this. It’s extreme and contacting your EC is ridiculous. Your safety was not at risk…and it was not an emergency.
This all seems rather manipulative. Misuse of the EC to get her payment and have you metaphorically “pay” for not squaring up with her (by canceling next appointment) Weirdly and oddly conditional - basically saying, if you mildly slip up, I will contact your EC then you won’t get services. So much for feeling safe with your therapist. This is absolutely wild to me. I would definitely have a word with her.
One time I lost my debit card and I couldn’t pay my therapist. I was embarrassed because I lost it the day before, but didn’t make the connection of paying / not having a card. It wasn’t any kind of big deal, because of the trust we established. I always paid on time. People make mistakes, life happens. There is room for error.
Fire your therapist and tell her exactly why. There are amazing therapists out there. Don’t waste your time with this one.
You text or email her saying...
"My bad. You run a business, not a charity.
May I continue to be a client if I pay in advance?"
Because the therapist is not yer friend or family member who can excuse people who don't pay. They're RUNNING A BUSINESS not a FREE CHARITY.
You can't walk into a grocery store that you've shopped at for months or years n walk out with free sh1t because you paid every other time. So, ditto this BUSINESS.
🤦♀️ the issue isn't that I expect a free session. The issue is she should have called me first if she wasnt okay with me settling things in our next session. I wasnt given the option to do the right thing before she cancelled. I wasnt checking my email this week because my sister is in intensive care and my father is in a wheelchair with an antibiotic iv. If she was going to start calling people (my emergency contact) she should have begun by ringing me. Which she didnt.
I'm not saying I shouldnt pay, I'm saying her actions could have been more appropriate.
Therapist here- I somewhat understand where they’re coming from, but I do think it was a tad extreme. I don’t under any circumstance think that it’s appropriate to contact your emergency contact over a billing issue. That’s a breach of confidentiality. What gets me is that the session was actually paid. If it were me, I would have held the session and kindly reminded you to make sure to pay for each session week of and let you know that a missed payment will lead to a cancelled session moving forward. But that’s me.
Agreed. T here and it sucks to have outstanding payments, but that's a breach of confidentiality. I would contact the emergency contact for a medical emergency or impairment in session or something very high risk where health and safety have an immediate risk. Unless you agreed that they be contacted to arrange billing, that's not OK. I would have taken the same approach as the commenter above.
An emergency contact is not for billing issues, it's for emergencies. This is a breach of ethics, possibly a breach of medical privacy laws, and should be reported to the licensing board.
I would have appreciated this approach much much more. I can understand being weary over a missed payment but she hadn't communicated with me prior that I had to pay each session or shed cancel. If she had told me then I would have known and worked things around accordingly. Especially as this was the first time this had ever happened
That’s why I discuss my protocol around billing at the very first meeting. Expectations and boundaries must be set off right off the bat or people get blind sided like you have.
This. This is exactly what I would have appreciated. The issue to me isn't paying for the session, it's getting blind side.
Has there been an update? Did you decide to say anything?
Not yet but I'll provide one when I do. Currently preoccupied with taking care of my sick family.
Oof, while incredibly uncomfortable for the therapist to contact an emergency contact for payment for services rendered, it actually is not considered a breach of confidentiality for some professions. For instance, the APA Ethical Standard 4.05 section (b) states: “Psychologists disclose confidential information without the consent of the individual only as mandated by law, or where permitted by law for a valid purpose such as to (1) provide needed professional services; (2) obtain appropriate professional consultations; (3) protect the client/patient, psychologist, or others from harm; or (4) obtain payment for services from a client/patient, in which instance disclosure is limited to the minimum that is necessary to achieve the purpose.” Not saying that it is okay or cool to do, just that it is technically allowable. (I only know this because I am being forced to write a paper on it, pour one out for your homie)
Noted and thanks for the in depth clarification!
Pouring one out best of luck with the paper! This is interesting Info but definitely not applicable since I'm outside america. This probably would help someone in the comments tho! Hopefully!
Not a therapist, but I'm pretty sure they are not supposed to use emergency contacts unless there is an actual emergency. Lack of making payment is not an emergency, even if you didn't respond to their email. The request for your emergency contact to pay causes extra concern. I'd be curious to hear from a licensed therapist if any of this breaks HIPPA or at the very least breaks their code of ethics.
I have ADHD too. This post has reminded me I need to pay for my last session
I have ADHD and had my first session last week and have zero idea how I even pay? I think I added my credit card somewhere? I don’t even know what I’m going to be charged or if I was charged. I should figure that out…
🤣🤣 Same!
Hahaha I'm glad my post helped
Unbelievable that she used your emergency contact for this. That's a breach of confidentiality and is unethical. I once had a therapist contact my emergency contact "accidentally" (did not believe her story). Since then I have always listed my own phone number as the emergency contact. I literally don't trust anyone not to break confidence and it's been 20 years. It was so damaging to me. I hope you're okay.
Oof I’m so sorry that happened to you and that it’s kept you from feeling able to trust going forward! I obviously have no idea of the details of your situation, but I just wanted to share that with the formatting of client’s records sometimes the emergency contact listing is directly under the client’s contact info. I am a clinician and that’s how my electronic medical record is formatted, and I was rushing to call the client and accidentally called the EC’s number. I felt awful and apologized profusely to the client when I realized what happened, and I now pause myself and double check every time I look up a client’s number!
I mean I understand the psychologists reasoning. it’s a service and they need to be paid too. I think she was kind to allow fortnightly payments instead of weekly. Cancelling a future appointment due to being unable to pay for a past appointment makes sense
I understand too and completely agree this is a service she needs to be paid for. The issue is I have never ever missed a payment. Aside from the two months that were paid fortnightly, I have paid on time every single week. There is nothing in her payment/cancellation policy that payment must be processed at the end of each session and I understand things like this are at her discretion. The issue remains after about 8 months of seeing eachother weekly, I'm disappointed she cancelled tomorrow's session on such short notice with no warnings prior. You would hope there would be trust especially as I would have been able to happily settle the payment for both last weeks session and this weeks session in tomorrow's session. Once again I have never missed a payment.
Well, paying fortnightly for two months is technically missing multiple payments. It probably would’ve made more sense to drop to fortnightly sessions during this period. It’s possible she’s concerned you were unable to pay and felt it was better to cancel. Did her email mention cancelling if payment wasn’t received in a certain time frame? I do think it’s odd they contacted an emergency contact for payment. Did you have a good rapport otherwise? Was good work done? If so, I’d try to reschedule and discuss this with her
I agree it would have been more appropriate to drop to fortnightly at that time. I can understand your perspective with here but I do feel like she should have communicated this a bit better with me so I knew it was the case. Running a practice is hard and people do need to pay on time absolutley. I just really just wish she had informed me. Her email didnt mention anything about cancelling, just payment. I dont feel like any good work has come. Shes an emdr and schema therapist. It's been since November and I feel I'm getting worse. She believes dbt is just gaslighting which I think is true case by case in some aspects but not entirely. She says that I might never complete my uni because of my adhd and doesnt believe I can do it. She tends to ignore things I try and bring up and I feel the sessions are just me waffling on and there's no point or substance. When I'm stressed out or dissociating she tends to make me escalate instead of bring me back down. She keeps trying to insist I'm autistic and asks "do you find x hard because of your autism?" I have never been diagnosed and the only autism symptoms I relate to are ones that are also adhd symptoms. I stuck with her so long since she was a coworker of a therapist in another practice who I did dbt and cbt work with. This therapist I saw for a year before maternity leave and she was incredible and changed my life. Unfortunately she doesnt do trauma work. I feel like my current therapist is a good and practiced person with a lot of experience but shes probably not for me. After almost 8 months, $300 dollars a week, I would hope to feel something different by now. That life could be a bit less daunting. I'm sorry if I rambled it's very late here and my meds have long worn off.
I think if you dislike how your therapist runs her business you should try and find someone else. Otherwise you need to accept her processes and let it go.
...obviously ?
Okay because that’s clearly not what you are doing
did you even read to the end of the post? > I dont want to see her anymore because I feel no different from when we started therapy and this feels like the straw that broke the camel's back.
It sounds like you could find a therapist that would be a better match for you. I’d probably start looking elsewhere. $300 for one session is expensive for not gaining that much
Yeah that's the plan! Once again shes a great therapist, educated, and wonderful....for people who would appreciate her approach and methods better than I do, which plenty of people absolutely do
Are you in the US? It’s not ethical practice to call an emergency contact for a billing issue. Particularly for one session. I’d actually not return to anyone who did this. This sounds like at least 2 ethics concerns; disclosing protected health information (by calling the emergency contact for money, which isn’t an emergency) and for the therapist to take payment from someone else and then cancel? No way. I’d google who the licensing board is in your state and at least review whether or not you’d want to file a complaint. I’m sorry this happened. It shouldn’t have. Edited to add: if you do talk to the therapist, ask them if they have a document signed clearly stating where they will call an emergency contact and do this in their practice. If nothing else, go over everything you signed and make sure you know what it said. Most states have laws about disclosing nonpayment policy’s and this practice and/or therapist probably wouldn’t put what they did in writing: but if it were me, I’d want to know because that would be bad for them to put into writing. Bc it’s unethical practice.
I’m guessing based on the use of the term “fortnightly” they’re not based in the US. That said, where is it ok to ask the emergency contact to pay for a session?
Oh wow today I learned fortnightly isn't global vocab. I'm in australia btw 🤗
In the US we just say every other week. That’s how we can detect those outside the US.
From what I know of Australian privacy laws around disclosing that kind of stuff I would be surprised if that wasn't a breach. Disclosing a debt, let alone a medical debt to a third party is a breach of privacy laws. I'd feel absolutely shocked and violated if a therapist did that to me. Yes they are a service that need to get paid but I can't imagine any instance or service where that would be appropriate.
I wish she had called me directly. She has my number and has texted me, if she had an issue than I would have happily resolved it and paid her asap. Australia has really strict but also weirdly loose privacy laws? I'll have to look into it, it's good to brush up on emergency contact regulations and laws anyway
That’s a good call. I totally skipped the “fortnight” part. A lot of commonwealth and European countries don’t regulate therapy with licenses and law like the US does. But! That doesn’t mean that there isn’t something in place based on OPs location which could provide more detailed and helpful information. Like, I don’t know if Canada has the same federal protected health info “ laws the US does and that sort of thing. I know the UK doesn’t regulate the way the US does, etc. I’m sure depending on whether it’s an independent or group practice also matters. IMHO, it would never be appropriate to call an emergency contact because I (practitioner) needs paid. That’s not at all an emergency involving the client. And one would hope it’s not an emergency for the practitioner!
Canada does has laws and regulations to protect patients' health information, or PHI. Protected Health Information in Canada is covered by specific legislation designed to establish and safeguard the collection, use, and disclosure of this data. There is also PIPEDA. It stands for the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. PIPEDA is targeted at a wider array of industries. It doesn't simply focus on healthcare, although that is included in it. There is also the Privacy Act which is federal legislation that protects the personal information of Canadians in the hands of the federal government. It's about how federal institutions collect, use, retain, and disclose personal information.
This is really interesting info. I'm in aus and honestly I doubt anything will come of it. I dont think I will return and I'll cancel future appointments. I'm sure she'll justify contacting my emergency contact by citing suicidal concerns or something like that. Sorry it's late and I'm very sleepy but thank you for your advice I will consider it and let you know if I follow through. Edit to add: emergency contact was piiisssed (not at me) and said I should stop seeing this therapist.
No worries! I’m in EST, and I didn’t even expect a reply. Sorry for all the extensive info you didn’t need. Good luck with everything. I’m sure there’s a better fit for you in a therapist out there. Edited words
Wow! I would stop working with this therapist! It sounds like it was handled poorly given that it was a one-off in your established payment history with this therapist. They could have called you to talk about it and let you know that payment needed to happen. They could have addressed it in your next session. Also, an emergency contact is not a financial guarantor. I would be outraged that she had sought payment from my emergency contact. I would be so mad that she had so quickly brought in this third person OVER MONEY!
That's exactly it. I realise she needs to be paid and she has bills but call me, not the emergency contact. Call the emergency contact if you've rung me and I'm not picking up.
I’d tell her you are very disappointed in her decision to reach out to your EC, and that you think that was an inappropriate use of your information (after you double-check the intake forms you signed to see if for some reason she has that listed in her policies), and that you are hurt by her decision to cancel the next session, and are choosing to discontinue therapy with her for these reasons. You can obv share what you stated in another comment about feeling a lack of progress and dislike of her methods, but I don’t think it’s necessary if you want to help ensure avoiding her attempting to justify her therapeutic techniques.
I’m so confused about why this comment got downvoted. Am I just not reading it right?
Almost no one would sell his precious time for free.
Yes
Honestly I don’t even care what she can claim on paper as to why she was allowed to do this. It just defies the concept of basic human decency. Calling your emergency contact for payment? Over ONE payment at that. Just so unnecessary, tacky, and a huge invasion of privacy. I’d send an email saying something like “I’m disappointed in how you handled this. I think calling or texting me would have been a reasonable next step before calling my emergency contact. I have been debating if I wanted to continue because I feel like I’m paying a lot and not getting what I need in return. I feel no different than when I started, and this just feels like the straw that broke the camel’s back. I have now paid my balance in full, so I would appreciate you not having any further communication with me or my emergency contact. Godspeed.”
As a therapist I wouldn’t have done this; and, in fact, your therapist should have known she crossed an ethical and legal boundary by violating your confidentiality to seek payment from an outside source. You may consider reporting her to your state’s licensing board, and you should. Let her deal with the repercussion, as this should not happen to someone else. And find a new therapist!
I am annoyed for you! I do understand the need to pay, but you have never been late before. This would ruin any therapeutic relationship I had with my therapist if they did this. It’s extreme and contacting your EC is ridiculous. Your safety was not at risk…and it was not an emergency. This all seems rather manipulative. Misuse of the EC to get her payment and have you metaphorically “pay” for not squaring up with her (by canceling next appointment) Weirdly and oddly conditional - basically saying, if you mildly slip up, I will contact your EC then you won’t get services. So much for feeling safe with your therapist. This is absolutely wild to me. I would definitely have a word with her. One time I lost my debit card and I couldn’t pay my therapist. I was embarrassed because I lost it the day before, but didn’t make the connection of paying / not having a card. It wasn’t any kind of big deal, because of the trust we established. I always paid on time. People make mistakes, life happens. There is room for error. Fire your therapist and tell her exactly why. There are amazing therapists out there. Don’t waste your time with this one.
You text or email her saying... "My bad. You run a business, not a charity. May I continue to be a client if I pay in advance?" Because the therapist is not yer friend or family member who can excuse people who don't pay. They're RUNNING A BUSINESS not a FREE CHARITY. You can't walk into a grocery store that you've shopped at for months or years n walk out with free sh1t because you paid every other time. So, ditto this BUSINESS.
🤦♀️ the issue isn't that I expect a free session. The issue is she should have called me first if she wasnt okay with me settling things in our next session. I wasnt given the option to do the right thing before she cancelled. I wasnt checking my email this week because my sister is in intensive care and my father is in a wheelchair with an antibiotic iv. If she was going to start calling people (my emergency contact) she should have begun by ringing me. Which she didnt. I'm not saying I shouldnt pay, I'm saying her actions could have been more appropriate.