Real Time Therapist Availability, Explained

How open slots are calculated, why they change while you browse, and what that means for getting a session this week.

For a long time, availability on our professional cards was generic. Every profile suggested roughly the same thing, which was honest about nothing and useful to nobody. That has changed. The times you see now come from the professional own calendar.

## Where the times come from

Each professional sets a weekly pattern of working hours and can add exceptions for holidays, one off blocks, and days they are not taking clients. When a booking is confirmed, that slot disappears. When a booking is cancelled inside the notice window, the slot returns.

The card shows the next genuinely open times in your local time zone, so free this week means there is a specific hour this week you can actually take.


## Why a slot can vanish while you look at it

Because somebody else booked it. Availability is shared, and it is first come. If you open a profile, read for ten minutes and come back, the earliest slot may have moved. That is the cost of showing real data instead of a comfortable placeholder.

The practical answer is to book the slot rather than saving the profile, especially for evening and weekend times, which go first almost everywhere.

## Reading the chips on a card

The card shows the soonest open times in a compact form. A day and a time for something in the next few days, and a date with a time for anything further out. If nothing is open in the near window, the card says so rather than inventing something.

Fewer chips does not mean a worse professional. It usually means a full calendar.


## Time zones are handled for you

Times are converted to the zone on your device. If you are booking with someone across the world, the hour you see is your hour, and the confirmation shows it again so there is no ambiguity. This is also why the offset appears next to the time on your booking page.

## What happens after you book

The slot is held, the professional is notified, and the booking appears in your bookings area with the price, the length, and a message thread tied to that session. The video opens shortly before the start time rather than hours in advance, which keeps the session boundary clean at both ends and prevents a room sitting open all day.

## If plans change

Cancellation windows are set by the professional and shown before you confirm. Cancel inside the window and the slot goes back on the market. Outside it, the policy on the booking applies, and the refund rules are on [refunds](/how-it-works/refunds).

## Why this matters more than it sounds

Access is most of the problem in this field. A perfect match with a three week wait is often worse for a couple mid argument than a good match on Thursday evening. Real availability lets you filter on the thing that actually determines whether the work happens.