Any Mental Health Therapists out there?

Honey127 · May 2013

Hi Everyone!
I am currently TTC, 6 months in, and I am a psychotherapist.
I work in a private practice with other mental health professionals, but we are all independant contractors.
My questions are for those of you who are therapists and have children....

When did you tell your patients you were pregnant?
Did you get a lot of negative reactions from patients?
How long did you take for maternity leave?
Did you accept phone calls during ML?
Did you lose any of your patients?
For those patients who are higher risk, did you find another therapist for them to see in the meantime?

Thank you in advance...:even though I am not yet pregnant, these concerns plague me at times!

christinak22 · May 2013

I'm not a therapist myself, but am seeing one who's going on maternity leave soon so I can tell you what she's doing

She told me when she was twelve weeks so we could plan ahead with our visits (how often and content). I am not a "high risk" patient, so I actually thought to myself that her maternity leave would be a great goal to give myself to finish up counseling, though I'm thinking I would like to continue monthly indefinitely when she comes back. She works in an office with 2-3 other counselors, so told me yesterday that they are willing to step in for some appointments while she's gone. She's taking 12 full weeks of leave and not accepting calls.

Myaflowers · May 2013

I'm just a lurker on this board, so I hope it's ok if I respond. I'm a mental health therapist and have a 4 month old daughter. I told my patients I was pregnant after I had my anatomy scan at 19 weeks. I probably would have told them at 13 weeks but have a history of loss and wanted to make sure everything was ok before telling anyone.

I didn't have any negative reactions at all. I work with children and adolescents, and my patients and their parents were all very happy for me. I had some complications and had some unplanned trips to labor and delivery and delivered 4 weeks early, and they were all very understanding of appointments being rescheduled, etc.

I took 9.5 weeks of maternity leave because that's all we could manage financially. I did not accept calls and did have my high risk patients see another therapist in the office while I was out or follow up with their psychiatrist more often while I was gone. We discussed the plan well in advance and I had a list of patients and the plan for each one that I left with my secretary. Even though I was out sooner than expected, everyone knew the plan, so it was ok. I also made sure patients already had appointments scheduled after my return. I did lose a few patients who had things come up unexpectedly while I was out and ended up seeing another therapist and choosing to stay with the other therapist. I think losing a few is unavoidable. The same thing happened a few years ago when I was out for 5 weeks after having surgery.

Good luck with everything and hope this helps!

ETA: I made sure to give all my patients the name and phone number for a therapist who would cover for me while I was out...just in case something came up and a patient needed to be seen.

Bella427 · May 2013

When did you tell your patients you were pregnant? I was about 16 weeks

Did you get a lot of negative reactions from patients? Not at all. One socially awkward client said, "Oh, I thought you were just getting fat." One client had lost a daughter and she was very happy for me. It was bittersweet though. I was having a girl but when she asked me I pretended to be team green. She gave me a baby onesie during our last session and I cried after she left.
How long did you take for maternity leave? I transitioned to another job after ML.
Did you accept phone calls during ML? No
Did you lose any of your patients? Yes, all of them b/c I was leaving. Some I transferred and some just wrapped up therapy right before I was due.
For those patients who are higher risk, did you find another therapist for them to see in the meantime? Yes

p.s. The worst thing about being a pregnant therapist was morning sickness! I once had to run out in the middle of the session to avoid throwing up in front of a client. Mortifying.

Honey127 · May 2013

Thank you all so much for taking the time to respond! As you all know, our jobs deal with sensitive people in sensitive situations and I want to prepare myself as much as I can!!! Any further comments are welcomed!

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