Late Cancellations and No Show Policy
Promontory Psychotherapy offer clients high quality and compassionate services that are rooted in evidence based practices and an anti-oppression framework. We work with clients to develop collaborative therapeutic relationships, and in doing so, we recognize that modeling clear and healthy boundaries is imperative to a collaborative therapeutic relationship. Our cancellation policy exists in an effort to operate our business from an anti-oppression framework ensuring equitable pay for therapists. This is a necessary tool for reducing burnout and avoiding the exploitation of labor. Cancellation fees safeguard both yours and your therapist’s time. While deeply personal, your therapist is providing a professional service and their availability is in high demand. When sessions are not cancelled within 48 hours— and especially when unexpectedly cancelled at the last minute--it is a lost hour that could have been utilized to service another client or tend to administrative work.
Therefore, if you cancel your appointment without 48 hours notice, or fail to show up to your session within 15 minutes of your scheduled time, you will be charged $100 per incident. If you are a client, and would like to read our full policy, we encourage you to log onto your client portal and review the “financial policy” or click on the link below to view the financial policy.
A TIP TO HELP YOU IMPROVE ADHERENCE
If you identify as neurodivergent or struggle with time management, organization, or communication skills:
Studies have shown that providers that make electronic reminder systems available—for example: systems such as text message or email reminders—significantly improve appointment adherence for neurodivergent individuals or those struggling with adherence. These systems can provide timely and specific reminders. Automated reminder systems can also reduce the cognitive burden on individuals by providing structured reminders without requiring them to remember to set them up.
Promontory Psychotherapy’s client portal offers the option to enroll in reminders. It gives you more flexibility, accessibility, and choice. If you are not enrolled in these features and feel like this could help you, visit the client portal to update your notifications settings.
More Reasons Why We Charge for Unattended Therapy Sessions
Paying a late cancellation or “no show” fee may be upsetting or uncomfortable for some, but it is a common practice and also a necessary policy for a private practice to deliver quality services. Promontory Psychotherapy seeks to not recreate trauma or exploit their therapists, and thus provides equitable wages despite the fact that insurance reimbursement rates are stagnant and have not kept pace with inflation. Increased time demands from insurance companies, rising claim fees, transaction fees, banking fee, HIPAA Compliant Software and taxes are all factored into the cost of each session. Promontory Psychotherapy is dedicated to ensuring therapists are practicing and modeling self-care. When a client cancels, this diminishes the practice’s ability to support therapists through ensuring their schedule is manageable and that they do not burnout by taking on too many clients to make sure they earn a living wage. Just one canceled session each week can add up to over $7,000 a year. As a result, the cancellation policy is in place to not recreate harmful dynamics in our practice or contribute to the exploitation of therapists.
Furthermore, a late cancellation, late rescheduled appointment, or failure to attend your appointment is a loss to three people:
1. The client who is delaying their therapy progress.
2. Another client who has been sitting on the waiting list to see the therapist.
3. The therapist who spent time preparing for the session, set aside the time in their calendar resulting in lost income.
If your Therapist Cancels or Reschedules
Your therapist will let you with as much advance notice as possible should there be a scheduling issue or emergency. When this happens you of course will not be charged. However, you may sometimes find that the cancellation brings up emotions for you that might be related to past experiences of being rejected, neglected, or feeling unimportant. You may logically understand that your therapist has to respond to emergencies or has things going on in their life that may cause them to occasionally need to cancel or reschedule their appointment with you, but the experience of what that feels like may be trigging. Since many people work on issues stemming from childhood in therapy, it is paramount for your therapist to prioritize and model consistency when scheduling your sessions together. In the rare event that they must cancel or reschedule a session with you, they should offer you an alternate time to meet with them when it is possible. Should your therapist cancel, and you notice yourself struggling with some of these feeling, this may be a great opportunity for you to bring these feelings to your therapist for discussion and processing.