Being Terminated from Therapy
The termination process has begun. I've only ever been on the client side of termination one time before now, when I was in counseling during my junior year of college, and that really wasn't too bad. The expectation was that the counseling would stop when the semester ended. I knew it at the beginning and didn't really notice any termination techniques during that time. I'm noticing now.
I think I have about three more weeks of physical therapy left before I am finished. No one will really say anything about timelines (which I hate), but the insurance company has authorized treatment through my six-month post-surgery appointment at the beginning of June. So, the physical therapist has started the topic of termination.
I bet that most of his clients don't realize what is going on, but I do. I have experience being on the other side of things. You start to talk about how far the client has progressed. You continue with discussion about how to maintain the level reached. You reiterate the amount of progress that has occurred, and you offer reassurance that progress can be made without the therapist.
As a therapist at my facility, I don't often have the luxury of saying goodbye to clients much less to engage in formal termination proceedings, but I have coached interns through the process. I get to do a bit of relationship closing with our graduates.
I know that I have made progress in the past 6 months. I can now stand without need for support. I can also sit in a chair without using my hands to lower myself. This is great!! I can also jump, walk with a barely discernible limp, and even run a bit... a very little bit. My knee still hurts at times, swells at others, and twinges basically every time I move, but it is so much better than it was. i know that.
Still, I am having some twinges about leaving physical therapy. I've enjoyed the process (not the pain, but definitely the process and the results), but I'm not sure that I'm ready to leave yet. I know that this is part of the termination process, and I will get through it. I am already trying to figure out ways to keep up with the strengthening and working out. I will miss the need to be accountable to someone - that's one of the best things for me - and the attitude that comes from my PT. He's really helped keep me going, and I appreciate that more than I can say.
I have lots of questions about the future that need to be answered before I stop doing PT. Most of them are going to have to be directed to both my surgeon and my PT and include things about whether I have to brace my knee for much longer. The answers to these questions will affect my future.
My mother, the occupational therapist, always says that every therapist should have to be a client to see what happens on the other side. I agree that this experience has strengthened my own view of therapy, but I would rather not have to do this every year.
I think I have about three more weeks of physical therapy left before I am finished. No one will really say anything about timelines (which I hate), but the insurance company has authorized treatment through my six-month post-surgery appointment at the beginning of June. So, the physical therapist has started the topic of termination.
I bet that most of his clients don't realize what is going on, but I do. I have experience being on the other side of things. You start to talk about how far the client has progressed. You continue with discussion about how to maintain the level reached. You reiterate the amount of progress that has occurred, and you offer reassurance that progress can be made without the therapist.
As a therapist at my facility, I don't often have the luxury of saying goodbye to clients much less to engage in formal termination proceedings, but I have coached interns through the process. I get to do a bit of relationship closing with our graduates.
I know that I have made progress in the past 6 months. I can now stand without need for support. I can also sit in a chair without using my hands to lower myself. This is great!! I can also jump, walk with a barely discernible limp, and even run a bit... a very little bit. My knee still hurts at times, swells at others, and twinges basically every time I move, but it is so much better than it was. i know that.
Still, I am having some twinges about leaving physical therapy. I've enjoyed the process (not the pain, but definitely the process and the results), but I'm not sure that I'm ready to leave yet. I know that this is part of the termination process, and I will get through it. I am already trying to figure out ways to keep up with the strengthening and working out. I will miss the need to be accountable to someone - that's one of the best things for me - and the attitude that comes from my PT. He's really helped keep me going, and I appreciate that more than I can say.
I have lots of questions about the future that need to be answered before I stop doing PT. Most of them are going to have to be directed to both my surgeon and my PT and include things about whether I have to brace my knee for much longer. The answers to these questions will affect my future.
My mother, the occupational therapist, always says that every therapist should have to be a client to see what happens on the other side. I agree that this experience has strengthened my own view of therapy, but I would rather not have to do this every year.
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