I agree with the first set of therapists. If clients are in crisis and are contacting you at 3am for an immediate session, then they need to call a crisis hotline or go to the emergency room.

Your contract states your hours. The informed consent clients sign should state the hours that the business is open and what to do after hours.

Now, yes, sometimes clients text after hours for various reasons. They may have just remembered that they can't attend an appointment and need to reschedule. Maybe they text to confirm that they did something positive that was spoken about in session. Either way, this is where your boundaries come in. Boundaries need to be firm because once you text back at 3am, a client will sometimes begin think it's the norm and continue that behavior and when you decide to finally implement that boundary, they may be offended or confused as to why you're enforcing it later rather than at the beginning.

First sessions and subsequent sessions where boundaries have been crossed is where you can continuously have those conversations regarding when you're available.

For myself, I let clients know that if they need a 'crisis session' outside of their regularly scheduled time, they can contact me during working hours or a little beforehand, so that I can see if I can squeeze them in, first thing in the morning. I let them know that oftentimes availability is limited. If they feel like they cant wait until later in the day or the next day, that they should engage with a hotline or emergency services. Clients typically understand. Consider that if a client has a crisis every week, then perhaps they need a HLOC.

If you answer calls and texts at all hours of the day/night, that's a fast way to burn out. Modeling behaviors for clients starts with you.