Doctors and other health providers such as therapists each have a policy on how late before your appointment you can cancel and not be charged. They usually give you their office policy the first time you see them. Just call up your pdoc's office and ask the staff how much time you need to give for a cancelation and not be charged. With my therapist, for example, it is 24 hours. I'm not sure of the role of your counselor in all of this, but I think for info on the pdoc, you should ask from the pdoc's office and not go by what your counselor says.