I have been known to write boring articles—in fact I have a cannon of them, ranging from The Sanctity of The Counselling Receipt  to How to Book a Counselling Appointment  and today’s article would seem to fit nicely in this category too.

So, why write about so-called boring topics? I blame my neurodivergence for my chronic habit of wondering why things are the way they are, particularly if such questions are related to a topic that interests me, like therapy.

I’ll also admit that when every day of my working life is about working through emotional complexity, sometimes I just want to write about something that’s more straightforward. It’s also always been important to me to prioritize communication and transparency about counselling processes. Why keep clients in the dark about our systems?

So please read on if this is a topic that has left you guessing.

I’m known in my family as a bit of a stickler for accuracy: I don’t like hyperbolic statements, I’ve never been a fan of emotional reasoning, and I can be over-inclusive with details to a fault, leaving others sometimes wondering what my main point was.

One-Hour Sessions Are Not (Usually) A Thing

When I was writing the content for my first website back in 2008, when I was on parental leave, I agonized about a lot of counselling-related details, including what l was going to call my sessions and how long they would be. And I quickly came to the conclusion that I was not going to tell people that I offered “one hour sessions” because that would be largely imprecise.

But let me step back a little. When I was being trained as a therapist, the “counselling hour” as it was referred to, came with an assumption that clients, too, would also “understand that advertised “one hour sessions” were actually 50-minute sessions.

And this inaccuracy, to me is problematic because it doesn’t acknowlege real life. For example:

• Not all counsellors have the luxury in their schedule to create gaps between sessions, meaning that unless they are acting with military precision, it takes time to let clients out of the office and bring new clients in.
• Counsellors need to replenish – We’re pretty human after all with human needs like washroom breaks, a quick snack, water refilling and responding to urgent messages.
• Some counsellors work best by taking a few minutes to review their session note about the client they are meeting with next, right before seeing them.
• Mental space – Some therapists like to clear their mind in between sessions with a minute or two of meditation or some deep breathing, before welcoming their next client, allowing them to let go of the contents of the last session to be fully present for their next client.
• Clients, too, benefit from transition time – Clients may want to take a beat mentally before going on to their next scheduled activity, they may need time to leave an in-person therapy appointment before their parking runs out or they may need some moments of self care a work meeting, as just a few examples.
• Not every every minute of a session is spent on counselling – I like to have a few minutes to spare with my clients to verify that they have a follow-up appointment(s) reserved in the schedule or, if it’s easier for them to book an appointment together.
• Wiggle room should be baked in – Unexpected things can happen in, or before, a session, occasionally necessitating a late start or a late end such as: technology issues during a video session, client or therapist lateness or unexpected events such as a power outage, a weather event, extraordinary traffic or even a crisis or emergency situation that comes up in session.
• Therapy cadence takes time to learn – Particularly for new therapists (although not always!) getting timing right around the arch of a session, particularly the time needed to wind a session down in a comfortable manner, is not an easy skill and can take a lot of practice.
• Time Blindness – Sometimes both therapists and their clients can lose track of time during an appointment. This can be related to being intensely focused on a profound or difficult topic, a late start to the session which skews the sense of session time available or even factors like some forms of neurodivergence which cause misperceptions in the sense of time.Having a few extra minutes to spare can help ensure that clients receive the time that they are paying for.

When a One Hour Session is a One-Hour Session

Of course, there are a minority of counsellors who advertise “one hour sessions” and really mean it! These may be therapists who may have one or more of the following:

• Have their own office and are not in an office-sharing situation where they are renting by the hour, half-day or day, where every moment costs money
• Are online only and have lower overhead expenses
• Do not have timely family obligations that they have to rush back for such as school pick-ups, family appointments, elder-care or other caregiving responsibilities
• Have flexibility in their life and schedule and can space sessions as they see fit
• May be in a different season of life, such as semi-retirement, where there may be more time flexibility
• They want to be honest with themselves and factor in their self-knowledge that they struggle with time management, recognizing that sessions frequently run over 50 minutes
• Have financial privilege and can afford to work with little to no pressure or time constraints
• Are new clinicians learning the ropes and are still working on timing in session

What Happens When 50-Minutes Is Not Enough?

If you are a person who has been to counselling and has experienced 50-minutes as going by in the blink of an eye, or too short to get your concerns addressed, you may need a longer session length.

Why might this be the case?

• You may be a verbal processor who needs extra time to communicate your concerns
• You may want to go into specific concerns with more detail
• You may want to address more concerns than can be reasonably covered in 50-minutes
• Context and background information may be important to you both in terms of how you process what is going on for you and in feeling heard by your therapist
• Neurodivergences such as ADHD can take one down non-linear paths that may take more time
• You may be entering a session with more than usual amounts of distress and may need additional time for calming as well as other time for coming up with a coping plan, not to mention adequately exploring relevant details

If you can relate to any of the above, I recommend that you ask your therapist if they have any longer sessions available. If you are fortunate enough to have extended counselling benefits, some insurance plans cover longer counselling sessions (but it’s important to check, first!) Longer sessions will be more expensive, but for some folks, worth it, for the peace of mind.