Scheduling long-term therapy: fixed slots, breaks, holidays

For long-term therapy, give each ongoing client a fixed weekly slot and book it yourself, rather than letting them search for a new time every week. Open only first appointments on your public page, plan your breaks and holidays well in advance and announce them early, and keep a small number of flexible slots for moves and urgent requests. The regularity is part of the work, and the diary should protect it.

In long-term work, the same day and time each week gives the therapy a frame. The client knows when the next session is, doesn't need to negotiate it, and the slot becomes a stable point in their week. For you, a diary built on fixed slots is predictable: you know how many ongoing clients you see and how much room is left.

On Book, open for public booking only what new people need: a first appointment, and perhaps a short phone call beforehand. Create it as its own service, with a description of what the first session is for and how long it lasts. Ongoing clients don't need to go through the page every week; you book their slots yourself.

Once a client starts, agree on their day and time and book the sessions yourself from your calendar, up to your next break. You can set up a weekly slot pattern with Book's repeat function, which creates slots on the weekdays you choose until an end date, then book each client into their slot straight away. With one place per slot, a booked slot is full and no longer appears on your public page. The client receives a confirmation email for each session you book when you enter their email address, and the dates appear in your synced calendar.

If a client needs a fortnightly rhythm, book those dates individually: Book repeats weekly, not every other week.

Breaks matter in therapy, and some clients feel them strongly. Decide your holiday periods months ahead and tell clients at least a few weeks before, so the break can be talked about in sessions rather than announced at the door. Simply don't book sessions during those weeks, and don't open first appointments either. When you come back, the weekly slots resume where they were.

Write your planned closures in the first-appointment service description too, so new clients know if you start just before a break.

Life gets in the way: a work trip, an illness, a child's school event. Keep one or two flexible slots in your week that you don't give as fixed slots, so a session can move without cancelling someone else. To move a session, reschedule it from your bookings list and tell the client yourself, since Book doesn't email them when a booking changes. Your policy for missed or late-cancelled sessions is your own; say it clearly at the start and in writing.

Long-term work can outlast a client's circumstances: a move to another city, a period abroad, a new job with travel. Video sessions can keep the thread going. If you offer them, create a separate video service, and book the client's fixed slot in that service for the weeks concerned, so both of you know which format applies. Book doesn't create video links, so send yours with the confirmation.

If the client moves to another time zone, your page shows times in your business's time zone with its name. Agree on the slot in both zones and write it down, especially around daylight saving changes.

Your capacity depends on your energy, your supervision and the rest of your work. Once you know how many weekly sessions you want, keep that number and stop opening first appointments when you're full. Your page only offers what you open, so a waiting period doesn't need to be explained to each caller: close first appointments, and reopen them when a slot frees up.

Book costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited bookings and services, no commission and no contract. It doesn't take payments or store clinical notes; it handles appointments.