> ## 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.

# Services and pricing

> Define the services you offer, set your fees, and understand how pricing appears in directory filters.

You set your own prices. Open Therapy never changes them, and never adds anything to what the client pays.

## Defining a service

Each service has four things:

| Field           | Notes                        |
| --------------- | ---------------------------- |
| **Name**        | What you call it             |
| **Duration**    | In minutes                   |
| **Price**       | What the client pays         |
| **Description** | A line explaining what it is |

Add and edit them under **Services and fees** in **Settings**.

<Note>
  A client picks a service before picking a time, and the price and duration are applied server-side
  from what you've set. The figure they see at checkout is always the figure you configured — the
  browser can't supply an amount.
</Note>

## Service types and search

Practices name the same thing differently — *ADHD screening* here, *ADHD assessment* there. Behind each service you can set a **type**, which is what the directory actually groups and filters on.

This means a client searching *ADHD assessment* finds your *ADHD screening*, and you keep your own wording.

Generic entries like *Initial consultation* or *Review session* deliberately carry no type, because they don't describe a particular piece of work.

## Session fees versus hourly rates

Two delivery models, and they never mix in a price filter.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Appointment-based">
    A fee per session, with a stated length — "\$180 per 50 min". This is how psychology, counselling,
    speech pathology and most allied health work is priced.

    Directory price bands: under \$130, \$130–\$170, \$170–\$220, \$220+.
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Shift-based">
    An hourly rate with a minimum block, for disability support work. Clients engage you through a
    request and a service agreement rather than a booking, and you invoice after each shift.

    Directory price bands: under \$80 per hour, \$80+ per hour.
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

A support worker's four-hour minimum block never gets swept into a per-session price band.

## Shift rate bands

If you work shifts, seven rate bands are available:

| Band            | When                          |
| --------------- | ----------------------------- |
| Weekday day     | 6am to 8pm                    |
| Weekday evening | After 8pm                     |
| Weekday night   | Midnight to 6am               |
| Saturday        | All day                       |
| Sunday          | All day                       |
| Public holiday  | All day                       |
| Sleepover       | Inactive overnight, per night |

Each offering carries a **minimum hours** figure — two hours is the NDIS norm — plus your weekly roster, how much notice you need, and whether you do overnights.

Directory price filters compare only your weekday-daytime hourly rate, so that's the number clients see on your card.

## Initial consultations

Most practitioners set a separate, usually longer and higher, initial consultation fee. Worth doing: the first session is where the introduction fee lands, so a realistic initial fee protects your margin on it.

See the [worked example](/fees#a-worked-example) on the fees page.

## Funding you accept

Mark which funding types you accept — Medicare rebate, NDIS, private health. These appear on your profile as a tick or a dash with a line of detail, and they're a directory filter.

<Warning>
  Only privately paid sessions can currently be booked through Open Therapy. Bulk-billed, NDIS-invoiced,
  DVA and WorkCover sessions can't be booked online — that's deliberate, so they aren't booked and then
  mishandled. Clients pay in full and claim their rebate themselves.
</Warning>

## Changing your prices

Change them whenever you like. New prices apply to new bookings only. A session already booked keeps the price it was booked at, and a settled session keeps the rate that was in force when it settled.

## Membership discounts

Open Therapy+ members get 20% off sessions. That discount comes out of Open Therapy's margin, not your fee. You're paid the same whether or not the client is a member, and you don't opt in. See [Fees](/fees#membership-discounts-dont-come-out-of-your-fee).