Has anyone had a supervisor abruptly terminate all contact with your therapist after you raised concerns about harm in therapy?
I worked with a therapist for eight months. They were described as a “clinical social worker/therapist,” and their Psychology Today profile listed 21 specialties, with trauma, PTSD, anxiety, and life transitions among the primary ones.
I later learned that they had received their LMSW only five months before I began working with them. My childhood and adult life included significant trauma, including CSA. About three and a half months into our work, I asked specifically about their experience working with CSA survivors and learned that they had none.
Over time, the therapeutic relationship became increasingly strained, and I began to realize that I was being retraumatized by what was happening in therapy.
During the eight months we worked together, I was never told that my therapist was practicing under supervision. I wasn’t given the supervisor’s name or contact information, and I had no idea that this person had any involvement in my treatment.
After I contacted the practice to raise concerns, the supervisor stepped in and instructed my therapist to have no further communication with me. That was the end of an eight-month therapeutic relationship. There was no final session, no termination conversation and no opportunity to speak with my therapist again. It was abrupt and final.
That is the part that hurt most.
From my perspective, the focus immediately shifted from what had happened to me and how I could safely transition out of the therapeutic relationship to protecting the practice from liability.
I was given the names of three clinics as referrals. I understand that a “soft handoff” isn’t always possible, but at that point I was deeply distressed and in no position to start calling clinics and vetting therapists on my own.
The aftermath was severe. For approximately eight months, I experienced profound depression and suicidal ideation. I was badly hurt by what had happened, and the idea of trusting another therapist seemed almost impossible.
I have only recently begun working with another therapist. They can see how significantly the previous therapeutic experience and its abrupt ending affected me, and rebuilding trust has become part of the work itself.
I’m particularly interested in the role of the supervisor here. When a client raises concerns about harm occurring in therapy, is abruptly cutting off all communication between therapist and client an appropriate response? How should a supervisor balance concerns about the practice with the welfare and continuity of care of the client?
And for clients: has anyone experienced something similar, where a therapeutic relationship was abruptly cut off without a final session or termination conversation? What did the aftermath look like for you?