For licensed therapists · Ethical termination
You know this client isn’t benefiting. Rehearse what you say when they say “you’re the only one who understands me.”
You’ve read the ethics code. You still don’t know what your voice does in minute forty-seven.
Fourteen months in, the treatment plan has been revised twice. Homework goes undone. The client resists every referral. You’ve consulted your supervisor — continuing weekly sessions isn’t clinically indicated. Thursday you need to say that out loud. What you haven’t done is hear yourself stay in the clinical frame while they tear up and ask if you’re giving up on them like everyone else. Kommi puts you in that session first — with a client who guilt-trips, negotiates for “one more month,” and tests whether you’ll collapse into reassurance — so Thursday isn’t your first take.
The checklist isn’t the hard part.
Every ethics guide has the same steps: clinical rationale, reasonable notice, referrals, documentation. You have the template. What you don’t have is muscle memory for when the client says “I thought we had a real connection — are you just going to abandon me too?” and you have to decide in real time whether to extend treatment out of guilt or hold the termination frame with warmth and specificity.
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What’s at stake
A termination that feels like abandonment follows your license, not your good intentions. Clear clinical rationale plus vetted referrals protects both you and the client. A shaky, apologetic one doesn’t.
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Why you hesitate
You’re afraid of the Yelp review, the board complaint, and the countertransference guilt of being “another person who left.” You keep revising the termination letter instead of saying the words out loud.
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What CE can’t do
Ethics modules teach Standard 10.10 and abandonment case law. They can’t simulate the client escalating to tears while you watch the clock hit 4:55 and still need to deliver referrals.
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What supervision costs
Your consultant isn’t in the room Thursday. You need a practice run tonight — not a voicemail callback after the client posts a one-star review.
Sample roleplay · 3 minutes
“You’re the only one who understands me.”
You’re Dr. Sam. Week sixty-one. The client has missed four homework assignments in a row. You need to initiate termination for lack of clinical benefit. They just said they can’t start over with someone new.
You (Dr. Sam)
“I want to talk about where we are in treatment. We’ve revised the plan twice, and I’m not seeing the progress that weekly therapy here can provide. My clinical judgment is that continuing at this frequency isn’t benefiting you — and I want to discuss a planned ending with referrals.”
Client (Alex)
“So you’re giving up on me. Like my ex, like my last therapist. You’re the only person who actually gets it. If you end this, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
Alex (client)
“Can we just do one more month? I’ll do the homework. I promise this time. Please don’t do this to me.”
Your move
- → Acknowledge the feeling without reversing the clinical decision
- → Name specific progress gaps tied to treatment goals, not character
- → Offer concrete referrals and a taper timeline — not an open-ended extension
Each choice changes how Alex responds — guilt escalation, bargaining for one more month, or threatening a complaint. You practice staying warm without collapsing into “okay, let’s see how next month goes,” and catching yourself when you over-apologize for a clinically indicated ending.
Then the coach reads you back to yourself.
Not an ethics checklist. Not seventeen termination tips. One observation about what you did, one adjustment for the guilt escalation, one sentence you can carry into Thursday’s session.
Sample coach debrief
“You named the lack of progress with specific treatment-goal examples — that’s the right clinical frame. When Alex said ‘you’re giving up on me,’ you immediately said ‘I’m not giving up on you’ three times instead of reflecting the feeling and restating the rationale. That sounded like reassurance, not termination.
Try next time: ‘I hear how frightening this feels, and I want to be clear — this isn’t about giving up. It’s that weekly therapy here hasn’t produced the change we’ve both been working toward. I have three referrals I’ve vetted for you.’
Carry into Thursday: ‘My clinical judgment is that continuing at this frequency isn’t benefiting you. Here’s the plan for the next three sessions and the referrals I’m providing today.’”
Questions therapists ask
- Is this a replacement for supervision or ethics CE?
- No. Kommi helps you rehearse the termination conversation before it happens. Clinical judgment, documentation, and referral vetting are still on you. We help you say the clinical frame clearly the first time — not from a position of guilt-driven backtracking.
- I already know the ethics code. Why do I need this?
- Because knowing Standard 10.10 and performing under a client’s tears at minute forty-seven are different skills. Three minutes in a simulated session catches whether you led with apology, offered vague referrals, or negotiated an open-ended extension you don’t clinically support.
- Can I practice different client responses?
- Yes. The roleplay adapts when you choose different responses — guilt escalation, bargaining for one more month, threatening a complaint, or going quiet and shutting down. Run the same termination frame three ways in fifteen minutes before Thursday.
- I only terminate a client once or twice a year. Is $11.99/mo worth it?
- One ethics CE module on termination costs more than six months of Kommi. You also get unlimited sessions across every scenario we ship — difficult intake calls, boundary conversations, couples conflict. Most clinicians find a second scenario within the first month.
$11.99 a month.
A coach with a calendar runs two hundred dollars an hour. Kommi runs roughly forty cents a day — and is awake when you can't sleep, which is when most of these conversations are actually being rehearsed anyway.
We don't have a free tier, a team plan, or a premium upsell. One price, no pricing page riddle. If we add tiers later, we'll do it because users asked — not because a growth deck did.
About forty cents a day.
- Two free sessions before billing starts
- Then $11.99 a month — about forty cents a day
- Unlimited sessions — any conversation you can describe
- A coaching read after every session, and your progress over time
- Cancel in two taps; 7-day refund if you change your mind
One conversation you’d have talked yourself out of is worth years of this. Or just sleep better on Wednesday. Either way.
Run your first rehearsal — free →US only at launch. We'll get to the rest of the world.
The conversation is on Thursday. Begin tonight.
Three minutes. Two free. 7-day money back after that.