We sometimes get questions about our cancelation policy.

Here at Trailhead, we ask that clients give us 24 hours notice if they need to cancel or reschedule a session. If clients are unable to do so, we charge them the full cost of their therapist’s session. Sometimes clients feel confused or punished by this, or fear that this is a sign that their therapist is angry with them for not showing up or canceling late. Or clients may feel that the charge is unfair, thinking, “If I didn’t get my hour of therapy, why do I have to pay for it?”

Let us explain. When clients are scheduled for a therapy session, their therapist dedicates that full clinical hour (typically 50-55 minutes) to that client. That therapist is here and ready to go for the session. If a client either doesn’t show up for a session or doesn’t give enough notice of a cancelation and then doesn’t pay for the cost of that hour, their therapist does not get paid for that hour they showed up to work and were ready to work. I think most of us would agree that if we showed up for work as scheduled and were told we weren’t getting paid for part of that day, we would be angry. And rightly so!

Unlike barbers who can supplement no shows with walk-in clients or doctors whose schedules often get overfilled to compensate for no-shows (could explain why we often wait thirty minutes to an hour in our doctor’s waiting room…), our therapists can’t easily or quickly fill that hour, when a client doesn’t show up.

When clients give us 24-hour notice of a cancelation, it increases our ability to fill that now-empty slot with a new client, a client on the therapist’s waitlist, or a client that may be having a mental health emergency.

We want our clients to understand that neither their therapist nor anyone else at Trailhead is angry with them, when they have to late cancel. We all get sick, have unexpected family obligations, or even just forget about commitments we’ve made. Our late cancellation and no-show policy is simply our way of ensuring our therapists get paid for the time they have committed to their clients’ care, whether or not that client is able to make it to the session.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT CLIENT’S USING INSURANCE: If you are using insurance, it’s easy to think about your co-pay as your “payment” for the session, and so, it might not initially make sense that you would be charged more than your co-pay, if you don’t show up for a session. However, if you don’t show up for your session, cancel your session too late, or show up more than a few minutes late for your session, we are unable to bill your insurance company for the session, and just like the situations mentioned above, the therapist would not get paid for the time they were here and ready to go. Therefore, insurance clients who late cancel, do not show up, or show up too late to have a full session will be directly charged their therapist’s full session rate.

We hope this helps to ease any frustration, confusion, or anxiety our clients might feel after being charged a No Show or Late Cancel Fee.