Counselors and Therapists Come In

I'm a secretary at a counseling office, and I feel like my boss is giving me duties that should be handled by her or another counselor. The example that came up today was, one of her clients was a no show last week so I did not bring them forward to this week. She asked me to call them and started going on about "that's their regular time" (no it's not, it was for 1 week) "this is their pattern" (I'm not a counselor, why do I need to know this?)
She's just very flaky and all over the place all the time and I feel like her parent when I have to remind her that I'm not a counselor.
There are other issues I have with her flakiness but at least it's still within my job description (e.g. making copies at the very last minute when she knows our machine doesn't collate so it will take me longer than 30 minutes to make 10 copies of a 5 page thing)
It's just frustrating because I feel like I'm responsible and will do what she asks but she flip flops and it's annoying.
I guess this turned into more of a vent than anything. Thank for listening.

Re: Counselors and Therapists Come In

As a therapist I only contact my clients in regards to their lack of attendance or any other client related issues. The only time I would have the receptionist call a client is if I was going to be absent they would call to cancel. Normally if a client is being non-compliant with their sessions that would be an issue discussed during their session.

Re: Counselors and Therapists Come In

Re: Counselors and Therapists Come In

I'm not a therapist but have worked in the field for awhile in various positions as a social worker, and it seems to me that if a client were missing their sessions, it would be appropriate for the THERAPIST to reach out to them to find out what is going on, not the receptionist who is clearly not the one with the clinical background/professional relationship.

Passing the buck certainly occurs in many work settings, which is what she is clearly doing, regardless of what her credentials are.

Is there a Director you can speak to?

Re: Counselors and Therapists Come In

She is the director

Re: Counselors and Therapists Come In

Does she have a boss?

Honestly she probably is stressed and overwhelmed which is why she is pushing off the work on you. (Not that I agree with it but it is what it is).

I would probably consider sending resumes out at this point if this is just how things are with her.

Keep in mind though that a lot of places are like this though from time to time, especially anything dealing with human services.


There is way too much work and not enough staff. Once in awhile I would let things slide, but again, if it's a constant I would probably begin to look elsewhere.

Note: If you do call the client I would not take it upon yourself to get into the clinical details of why they are missing the appts; just reschedule on the therapist's behalf.

Re: Counselors and Therapists Come In

Thanks, that helps a bit to deal with it. Just take it one day at a time. I am going to start documenting to just see if it's a continuous pattern or a just something that happens every once in a while. I just don't like to be micromanaged, give me a task and I'll do it immediately. If I need to ask a question I will, I'm not incompetent.
It's probably a pride thing with me too, I want to do things perfectly and hate when people assume that I won't.