> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.opentherapy.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How it works

> The path from searching for a therapist to a first session, and what happens on the practitioner side of the same booking.

Open Therapy connects two sides of the same appointment. This page follows one booking from both.

## For a client

<Steps>
  <Step title="Answer five questions" icon="clipboard-list">
    The matching questionnaire asks who the therapy is for, what you're bringing, anything running
    through your story, what would make it easier, and the practical constraints — how you'd like to
    meet, where you are, and how you'll pay. Only the first two are required.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Review your shortlist" icon="layers">
    Every therapist who scores against your answers is dealt to you as a card, ranked, each with a
    one-line reason. Keep the ones worth a second look and pass on the rest. Nothing is booked and
    nobody is told either way.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Read the profile" icon="user">
    Bio, qualifications, registration, focus areas, services and prices, locations, funding accepted,
    and reviews. You can also skip matching entirely and search the directory yourself.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Book and pay" icon="calendar-check">
    Pick a service, a session mode, a date and a time. You'll need an account. Your card is charged at
    booking and the money is held until the session happens.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Attend" icon="video">
    Online sessions get an encrypted video link. In-person sessions get the address. Home visits get
    confirmed arrival details.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## For a therapist

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create an account and apply" icon="user-plus">
    Sign up as a therapist and complete onboarding: your discipline, registration body and number,
    where and how you practise, what you work with, your approaches, your fees and your availability.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Get verified" icon="badge-check">
    Open Therapy checks your registration against the relevant national register. Nothing goes live
    until it clears.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Go live" icon="globe">
    Your profile appears in the directory and in client shortlists where your experience overlaps
    with theirs. You also get a personal booking link at `opentherapy.link/your-name`.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Take the session" icon="calendar">
    Bookings arrive against the availability you set. The client has already paid.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Record what happened" icon="check">
    After the session you mark it as attended or a no-show. Nothing settles and nothing transfers
    until you do — attendance is your word, not an inference from the clock.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Get paid" icon="banknote">
    Your share transfers 24 hours after the session ends, then Stripe pays it to your bank on its
    normal schedule.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Who does what

|                                | Client | Therapist | Open Therapy        |
| ------------------------------ | ------ | --------- | ------------------- |
| Sets the session price         | —      | Yes       | No                  |
| Sets the cancellation policy   | —      | Yes       | No                  |
| Pays for the session           | Yes    | —         | —                   |
| Receives the money             | —      | Yes       | Takes a fee from it |
| Merchant on the card statement | —      | Yes       | No                  |
| Verifies registration          | —      | —         | Yes                 |
| Holds the clinical record      | —      | Yes       | Stores it           |

<Note>
  The therapist is the merchant of record on every payment. Their practice name — not Open Therapy —
  is what appears on the client's card statement.
</Note>

## Two domains

Open Therapy runs on two hostnames, and both are legitimate.

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="opentherapy.app" icon="globe">
    The marketplace: search, profiles, booking, and both portals.
  </Card>

  <Card title="opentherapy.link" icon="link">
    Vanity links only. A therapist hands out `opentherapy.link/sarah-chen` and it opens their profile.
  </Card>
</Columns>

## Where to go next

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Client documentation" icon="heart" href="/clients/overview" horizontal>
    Accounts, matching, booking, payment and your portal.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Therapist documentation" icon="stethoscope" href="/therapists/overview" horizontal>
    Verification, your listing, sessions and payouts.
  </Card>
</Columns>