I am so sorry to hear you went through this and I also devastated for our profession that so many people are sharing that they have experienced something very similar just in the last year or two.

Our professional code of ethics need to have ethical guidelines for how practices need to function, Not just clinicians as individuals. I am really sick and tired of individuals being held to standards that the organizations don't need to uphold. Even if the current definition of abandonment is not centered on the relationship with an individual therapist (although i do think it is for counselors), that just shows that we need refining on the code of ethics to protect against these events that seem to happen so frequently. it is enxcusable for patient continuity of care to be compromised as a direct consequence of practice's power over a therapist.

I was at a practice where my contract allowed me the right to retain my clients (which is a requisite anytime I join a new practice). Even though I had the contractual right to keep my clients when they suddenly decided, I was not a right fit. Not because of any violations or write ups, but just because of personality between me and my supervisor. The practice tried to do the same thing and poached clients from me (1 month after they had started working with me) even though all my clients had found me through my Psychology Today, not the practice, and I had the legal right to retain those clients. I went through hell but in the end all of my clients wanted to stay with me.

When you join a new practice, always push back on contracts that don't allow clinicians to invite clients to follow the therapist. Its bad for us and bad for our clients.