Why ending a teletherapy session can be the hardest part and why small rituals actually matter

In my experience with Zoom therapy, one of the biggest emotional triggers wasn’t what happened during sessions; it was how they ended. At one point, I couldn’t handle seeing the screen flash “The host has ended the meeting.” It felt abrupt and honestly destabilizing. That message used to send me into a spiral, so eventually we changed how endings work. Now I’m always the one who clicks “Leave Meeting.” It might sound like a small thing, but it made a real difference. Just having control over that final moment helps me stay grounded instead of feeling cut off. We also built a kind of routine around it. Even if we turn video off early in the session, she’ll ask me to come back on camera in the last few minutes so we can say goodbye face to face. I don’t usually look directly at her, mostly just in the periphery, but it still helps make the ending feel less sudden. Over time, she’s adjusted her approach too. Instead of very formal or distant goodbyes, she’ll sometimes say something simple like she’ll be thinking of me or offer a more natural closing. That shift mattered more than I expected, especially because early on, the endings felt cold and I reacted badly to them. What I’ve realized is that in teletherapy, the way a session ends can carry just as much emotional weight as the session itself. It’s not just about saying goodbye; it’s about how safe that goodbye feels. Small adjustments like who ends the call or having a consistent closing routine might seem minor, but they can completely change the emotional experience of remote care.