When Clients Text Between Sessions
A therapist toolkit for setting between-session contact boundaries without sounding cold, punitive, or abruptly unavailable.
A logistical text can gradually turn into reassurance seeking, processing, urgent questions, or repeated contact outside session. By the time the pattern feels difficult, many therapists are already trying to decide whether to respond, set a limit, bring it into session, or revise the policy.
This toolkit gives you language for those decisions and a between-session contact policy you can adapt before the next difficult text arrives.
9-page PDF · Instant download · $4.00
Use this when texting has started to become part of the clinical work
- A client sends long messages between sessions.
- Texting is becoming a source of reassurance or regulation.
- You want to limit clinical work by text without shaming the client for reaching out.
- A message sounds urgent and you need a clearer decision process.
- You want to bring the texting pattern back into the session.
- You need a written contact policy that sets expectations before problems develop.
What you get
- Therapist scripts for common between-session texting situations.
- Boundary language that is clear without being unnecessarily harsh.
- A between-session contact policy you can adapt for your practice.
- A decision guide for when texting may need clinical attention.
- Prompts for bringing the pattern into session rather than trying to resolve it entirely by text.
For a problem most therapists solve only after it happens
Created by Kristen McClure, MSW, LCSW, drawing on 31 years of clinical practice. The resource is designed to help you respond consistently while preserving both the therapeutic relationship and your own capacity.
For educational and professional support only. This resource does not replace clinical judgment, supervision, crisis protocols, privacy requirements, or applicable ethical and legal standards.