How to tell my counselor?

Question

I have been in counseling for depression for 3 months and I feel perfectly fine now and I want to tell her that I am okay and do not need her services any more. I am worried where I might offend her. Can anyone tell me how I can tell her at the same time not offend her. I also wanted to give her a thank you gift..what would be a good gift? Thank you all for your replies in advance

Answer 1

First off, no gift: ethically a counselor or therapist cannot accept a gift from a client, although some will accept token gifts (like a scented candle or a coffee mug filled with candy). Please do not put your counselor in the awkward position of having to reject your gift. (This happened to me when I tried to give my counselor a gift for the baby she was expecting.)

Do not worry about offending your counselor. She wants you to be well and be able to terminate your sessions with her. Telling her that you think you feel well enough to do without the counseling is telling her she has succeeded! Thank her for the help she has given you, cite a specific instance of how she helped you, if you're the huggy type give her a hug, and sally forth to face the world a happier, more healthy person than you were when you started with her!

Answer 2

There is no reason why you shouldn't stop counseling when you feel that you don't need it anymore. In fact, good counselors should be able to tell you a specific number of visits that it usually takes people to work on certain problems. So I don't think your counselor will be insulted at all. You might not want to cut things off completely, but schedule an appointment for a month or two in the future just so you can make sure that everything's still all right.

(Personally, three months sounds like kind of a short time to me, so perhaps before telling your counselor you think you need to stop, you might want to ask her what she thinks about your progress and discuss whether and when she thinks you'll be ready.)

And here's a link talking about a recent APA discussion about accepting gifts from clients. According to this link, it's left up to the psychologist:
http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct04/dilemmas.html

Answer 3

If you're having trouble doing this, it suggests to me that you may need some help asserting yourself in general. I mean, this is a business/professional relationship, not a personal friendship. It's not like you're telling someone you don't want to date them anymore. Perhaps the next time you see her, you should bring up the fact that you're having trouble telling her this, and you think maybe you have problems with taking charge of situations and worry too much about other people's feelings or approval. I definitely would not give her a thank you gift -- as I said, this is a professional relationship, for which this person is being paid (by someone).

Answer 4

If you're feeling fine, and she was a counselor worth anything, she would understand completely. You are paying her for her services. When her job is complete, you should feel strong enough to cut the cord. Tell her you feel much better now and that you think she has done a great job, therefore you don't need to go on a regular basis. Ask her if you can call her in the future if you have a crisis you don't feel strong enough to deal with. This is about you and your health, not your shrink's feelings. If she tries to resist, ask her point blank what she thinks you need to work on further. If she does not give you a satisfactory reason, then I would suspect she thinks you are a cash cow.

Answer 5

Tell her that you appreciate her help and believe that you no longer need her. Then see if she wants to have a few more follow up appointments are at least discuss why you think you can now deal with your problem without her . Let her know that if you need her you will be back in touch. Just saying thank you should be enough. I am not sure that most people appreciate such gifts! Do whatever makes you feel good-a pen set -note pad-card-or something simple.

Answer 6

Just say that due to her passionate and comforting counseling that you think you have been cured. Be sure to thank her and use a proper tone. Also, be sure to say this at the proper moment, like over the phone while scheduling an appointment.

Oh yeah! A good gift would be something with a smiley face to prove that you are happy.

Answer 7

Well... it depends how often you are seeing this counselor. You might want to ween yourself in the safest way possible. You might want to tell her 'I think I can start seeing you once a month or once every three months'. Then, you go from there. Some people leave their treatments in such a rapid way and then end up going back again a year later or so. Be sure you are ready

Answer 8

Tell her that she has helped you and that you want to try and test how effective her help has been. Thank her for everything and make her think that she helped you that way even if she is upset for losing you as a client she will still feel good about herself having thought she helped you. As for a gift uh... I would go with a basket of some sort that way you can put it together yourself and make it look like it has more of a personal touch as a really good thank you. Just fill it with like chocolates and fruits and soaps and stuff like that. Hope this helped

Answer 9

I don't think it would be offensive to tell her that you're feeling better now and don't need her help anymore. If anything, it should make her feel like she's good at her job. I don't know about a thank you gift. I've never given one to a counselor.

Answer 10

Being a minor has no longer something to do with smoking weed. it somewhat is unlawful for adults too. the counselor shouldn't tell your mom and dad. they generally in basic terms tell the mum and dad if its something life threatening. additionally you have no longer have been given a dependency on it, you're only 14...