Does your T have a policy for missed appointments?

I do not cancel lightly or often: an example of a rare case where I cancelled was because my daughter was unexpectedly home sick. I am her primary caretaker and don't have a last minute backup, nor would I want to leave her with someone if she was ill.

When I have to cancel, I inevitably reschedule for the same week.

I always offer to pay for missed sessions, regardless of the reason or timing.

I respect my therapist's time highly, and seem more concerned about it than she does, frankly.

If I offer to compensate her for the time and she declines... I do accept her decision appreciatively. I believe when we have a good working relationship grounded in mutual respect and consideration, this type of arrangement works just fine.

(P.S. I too was self employed from 2007-2011, and I know very well what it is like to deal with non-paying clients.)

I agree to pay for a certain number of sessions--one. I make one appointment at a time and am very reliable about showing up for that appointment. If I cancel within 24 hours, I have to pay--I find this a reasonable policy. I would never commit to pay for more than one appointment, though. For a therapist to suggest such a thing takes some balls, IMO. When I see any health care provider, I do not agree to see them at least a certain number of times a year. I only see them if I need to, if I need help with my health. I recently saw my primary care provider for the first time in over a year. She didn't complain I hadn't seen her frequently enough so she was short of money. She was happy I was healthy and hadn't needed to see her. A T should be the same way. They should not expect you to come weekly, or commit to a certain number of sessions, and hold you to that as if it is some kind of contract. They should want you to come as frequently as you need it. If you are in a place in your life where you only need to go every other week, you shouldn't get charged for the other weeks. That's absurd. JMO. I am with stopdog on this--there are plenty of fish in the sea if a T has outrageous policies.

We all talk about how we want our Ts to be consistent and reliable. We expect the absolute most from them. Shouldn't that work both ways?

When I said you're committing to paying for more than one appointment, I mean by being an ongoing client you expect your T to have an appointment for you and therefore you theoretically committed to paying for it. If you want your T to keep a standing weekly slot open then, yes, you are committing to coming weekly, surely? If you change to every two weeks, then that would be different.

I don't think it is outrageous to have a cancellation policy. I still don't know why this bugs me quite so much.

It's old school. I don't mean that in a negative way. It's before the insurance companies came in and said, get 'er done in six sessions. it's probably responding to market pressures - charge me for missing? I'll find another t who won't! And such another t exists - but then people might complain about the quality. I dont think the question exists in a vacuum. The whole relationship is involved.

I don't either. 24 hours notice seems very reasonable to me, and respectful of the T's time and livelihood. I just didn't like the suggestion that a T would expect a commitment to a certain number of sessions, because how can one know? When one starts therapy, it's not clear if it will take 6, 20 or 50 sessions.

My T's policy is 24 hours notice. However, he's also said that I have one of the easiest time slots for him to fill with his cancellation list, so I could have a bit more leeway if he can fill the session.

I've never cancelled.

Or freakin forever. *sigh*

I'm not sure what my therapist's policy is, but I know there is one, when she moved from one clinic to another on my first visit there was a stack of notices about the cancellation policy, she didn't give me one I'm sure because I NEVER miss appointments. In fact I was 5 minutes late (only once) and she called to check on me.