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Messages are text between you and one therapist: the practical things around a session, or a question before you book. They aren’t a live chat and aren’t a place to be assessed.
The Messages page in the workspace, noting that it is for scheduling, worksheets and check-ins between sessions and is not a crisis channel, with a searchable conversation list on the left and an open thread with a clinical psychologist on the right above a message box with an attachment button.

Your conversations sit on the left, the thread you're reading on the right

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Messaging a therapist before you book

Messaging any listed therapist is free, commits you to nothing, and the first message doesn’t need an account. Open their profile and use the message form.
  • Not signed in, give your name and email address. The answer comes there, you can reply by email, and the email links to account setup.
  • Write a line or two. One-word openers are turned away.
  • Signed in, you can start up to five conversations in any 24 hours.
  • Only published, verified listings can be reached. If someone isn’t taking messages, you’re told.
A therapist is under no obligation to reply, and a reply isn’t a booking. If nobody answers, browse the directory.

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What you can and can’t send

Until you’ve paid for a session with that therapist, phone numbers, email addresses, links and social handles are blocked both ways. Include one and the message comes back to edit. Paying lifts it.

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Replying from your email inbox

Reply to any message email and it posts to the thread, because each conversation has its own reply address. Write above the Reply above this line marker; everything below is stripped.
  • Reply from the email address on your account, or it isn’t posted.
  • Write something above the line, or we email you to say the reply arrived empty.
  • Trim your signature. Before you’ve paid, a phone number in it trips the contact details rule and the reply isn’t posted.

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Auto-replies

A therapist can set an automatic reply, usually a response time or that they’re closed to new clients. It arrives a moment after your message, labelled Automatic reply with the time.
  • At most one per conversation per day.
  • It can be set to switch itself off on a date.
  • An auto-reply is not an answer.

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Read state and typing

A message shows as read once the other person opens the conversation, both ways, and you’ll see when someone is typing with it open. There’s no “last seen” and no expectation that you answer quickly.

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What notifications say

New messages reach you at the bell in the app and by email. Notification emails say that something happened, not what it said. New messages are the exception: quoted in full by email, and the first 140 characters at the bell. So a message can appear in your inbox and on your lock screen. If you share a mailbox or a device, turn New messages off under Notifications in Settings and it waits in the app instead. Support doesn’t read your conversations. Quote the part that matters when you write to us.

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Reporting a message

If a message is inappropriate, or someone pushes you to move off the platform or pay outside it, write to support@opentherapy.app with the therapist’s name and the date it was sent. The conversation stays on your account. If a message leaves you distressed, Getting help has the crisis lines. Messages aren’t monitored.