It was hard for me at first because my T actually splits his time between two offices. So he only sees people in the morning. After I got a set day and time I was able to work around that.

I'm a stay at home mom which means I'm super busy all the time chasing around a toddler. My husband watches her in the morning while I see my T but when I get home there really is no recovery time because I go right back to taking care of my daughter, making lunch and cleaning house. Sometimes I don't process our session until that night after she goes to bed.

I'm a little worried at how things might change because he's been recruited by the hospital to do psych evals for people getting bariatric (sp?) surgery so he has even more responsibility. He says it shouldn't effect his time, but that's a lot of responsibility I'm worried it'll overlap. It would have to somewhere right?

(((e))) maybe the time is coming out of other areas of private practice. My t2 does work sorta like that with some people (for surgery and such)! She is still around can you wrote your T for reassurance?

I've had to ask my t for that sort of stuff (reassurance) sometimes it helps but sometimes not.

Being a mama is a demanding job!! I'm so happy you have the support of your H and you're strong for going back immediately... I don't have my own kids (yet) but those sweet little beings need a lot!

Thank you for your words. Sometimes I feel unusual finding time. It sounds so easy but it's totally not.

Hey Cat.. this has been an ongoing issue for me and I have still not really found a solution. I see T twice a week at lunch hour. I am fortunate that he is located a 3 minute drive from work. On the downside... I have 3 minutes of recovery time after session before walking back into my busy office. I know this impacts my ability to reach down into the deeper stuff because then I am in no condition to go back to work and actually focus on what I am doing. There have been many times that I am so dissociated that it's scary when people are talking to me and I have NO idea what they are saying.

In the days when I saw oldT I had a private office at work and usually when I got back from session my 2 bosses were out to lunch or the older one traveled a lot and was out of the office. So I had time to sit and eat lunch and maybe call a friend or journal about my session which brought me back to earth and also allowed me time to actually process the session and it would result in the session staying with me in a longer and more permanent way.

I now sit in the hallway with no partitions or any privacy at all and work for 3 busy people and answer phones for 12 people. I have zero time to process my session or even think about it at all. I think this impacts me being able to hold my T close to me or to maintain any connection that we tried to establish in session. I basically have to totally, mentally shut out the session so I can do my work. It is not a good situation for processing deeper trauma memories.

I am thinking of asking T to try to fit me in for at least one evening session. that would give me some downtime afterwards but then I have the complication of explaining to my family where I am and also it complicates my son's schedule with homework and picking him up after chorus or play rehearsals at middle school. Our district does not have late buses for kids who do extracurricular stuff. So again... I don't know what to do. And btw, my bosses are not the kind who work with me on anything.

One last idea would be that I take some vacation hours on the days when T and I can plan ahead to do the more difficult trauma work. But sometimes that is hard to predict or force on a schedule.

So... yeah I have no idea how to solve the problem. I just deal with it day to day and some days I just have to sit in the ladies room for awhile after session.

I am sorry you are also grappling with this issues.

TN

(((TN))) I know you struggle with this too and was hoping I would get to hear from you (I'm sorry you struggle with this too). I could not imagine answering phones when you got back!! My team has an open floor plan (yay eccentric coworkers) where I have been used to working from home for several years. It's exhausting just being near the building. I've done the sit in the bathroom thing too... We have a lounge here and sometimes I will sit there mid day to survive. I don't know how Ts manage their schedule. With my T it goes around her vacation schedule and her husband's schedule (she seems quite attached and in love). I'm sure it also matters that if she can fill her schedule when she wants to work so of she gets money for those times then she likely doesn't care about moving it around. She also hates getting up early... Like hates it bad.

(((Peng))) I have no clue how people would manage with pengels being a parent is probably the hardest job to get time off from.

Sorry not to add more right now I'm at work and slammed.

My issue is kind if the opposite - my T works one day a week, so can only see me Fridays. I can get an app every week. But I work on call in my job, and I never know if I will have to cancel her at the last minute - or even half way through a session if I'm paged (only paged in emergencies and it's not something I can ignore if it does go off).

Being on call means I might be paged and called away for urgent situations at any time - 5 minutes before I'm due to see my T, during, or a few minutes afterwards. I HAVE to out myself together and just carry on birth work. I don't have a choice.

Most of the time lately I actually purposefully schedule work about an hour and a half after my T session. And try to schedule some work the next day too (Saturday morning). Why? Because it centres me. Grounds me I guess. At work, no matter the situation, I Feel in control and Know what to do no matter what is thrown at me.

I can go from being in a crisis to having to - and then being able to - cope with an emergency situation, putting all my stuff aside.

I've been paged once so far (in nearly a year of seeing my T) dung a session -thankfully it was 5 mins before the end. I have made it to every app - but it's bound to happen sometime I can't make out app no matter how badly I need to see her.

ElizaJ - I can imagine an on call job would be difficult! My Ts require at least 24hrs notice bit prefer a lot more. It's good it's only happened once in a year. Work can ground me depending on what I'm doing so I understand the knowing and being in control etc helps. It's interesting how out minds can switch off if we have a pressing thing to do... My work I go back to right now usually gives me nothing new = time to think!

My T and Dr require 24 hour notice to cancel too but they also know I have no control over when / if I'll be called. Sure will suck to have to pay the large bill of a missed app when I don't even GET the app, but I can't control that either.

I only see T about once a month these days. He's been able to work it so I have my own slot every fourth Thursday at 5:00. Otherwise, I'd have to "sneak" out by 3:30 to make a 4:00 appointment and end up feeling guilty about it. So, muchas gracias T for holding a 5 o'clock slot for me

(((Cd))) once a month! you're strong! I'm sooo glad your T holds a good spot for you. The spot my T has me in does make me sneak out of work.. She sees someone after me but for some reason I can't have it! I think it's a slot she puts people in who she sees on the days she isn't on vacation (she takes 2-3 days vacation plus the weekend every other week.. ). Why can't everything be the way I want it when I want it!? That would solve everything for me at this point :P (((((cd)))))

For my time slot, I need to hire a babysitter to watch my toddler. Then I go straight to pick up the older kids from school after my session. I wish I had some down time after to process. I usually process late at night when everyone is in bed already. Summer would have been perfect, but we're not meeting this summer.

My T used to be super flexible, but he's gotten so many new clients there isn't much availability anymore unless someone cancels. He currently only sees clients 4x/week. He might start doing 5 days a week and hopefully that will open up better times.

Therapy is a huge sacrifice - time, money, energy, emotional stamina. And then all the work we do at home.

(((PF))) ugh i know it's hard when a T stocks up on clients my somatic T and P are nearly impossible to get in with w/o 1-4 weeks notice.

You made such a big point - the work done at home. Sometimes the stress of work and/or stress of trying to find time (this devastated me in January February this year... Devestating. Adjustments).... It makes the therapy work done at home harder too.

I wish I didn't feel so negative! Argh.

I used to book childcare for my toddler and then have to go pick her up right after therapy It was hard going. Now she is in school and I have therapy on fridays (different T), which is my day off from work. It's a long drive, so 1 hour of therapy takes 4 hrs of my day - and when I get home I often just get in bed until 3pm - when I pick her up from school. It often means I'm not in a great place over the weekend, as I'm processing stuff.

sb