How does First Session vet therapists?

Updated November 6, 2026.

First Session only lists therapists who are licensed, or practising under the supervision of a licensed therapist, and who meet our standards for booking, pricing and responsiveness. We interview and film every therapist before their profile goes live, and we turn many applicants down: of the 326 therapists who applied between May and early November 2026, we've turned down 132 (40%) so far, and 114 are still in our process.

First Session was founded in Toronto in 2019 with 11 therapists. Today more than 270 therapists across Canada are listed.

What we require of every therapist

• A licence in good standing with their provincial regulatory college or, where their profession isn't provincially regulated, a professional association such as the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors (BCACC) or the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA). Therapists whose licence is pending must practise under a fully licensed supervisor.
• Practising only where they're allowed to. Therapists may list only the provinces and territories where they're licensed and insured to practise, and must tell us right away if their licence is suspended, restricted or lapses.
• Direct booking. New clients book a free consultation or first session straight into the therapist's online calendar, with no back and forth. Therapists who can't take new clients are shown as waitlisted.
• Fair pricing. Therapists set their own rates, but under our price matching policy they can't advertise the same session for less anywhere else. The one exception is a sliding scale for individual clients with financial need.
• Quick replies. We ask therapists to reply to client messages within 24 hours.
• Comfort with technology. Online sessions run on secure Zoom links we provide, and bookings and payments with First Session clients go through First Session.
• An intro video filmed by our team. Every therapist on First Session has one.

How a therapist joins First Session

1. Application. Therapists tell us about their licence, training, experience and practice, confirm they'll use an online calendar and offer direct booking, and record a short video of themselves.
2. Review. We check the application against our requirements and watch how the therapist comes across on camera. We also look at where clients need more therapists: which provinces and cities, designations, specialties, in-person availability and cultural backgrounds.
3. Interview on camera. Each therapist does an interview of about an hour with our team. It's unscripted and only lightly edited, and it becomes the intro video on their profile, so you can see how they come across before you book.
4. Profile and booking setup. We build the profile with the therapist and set up their calendar for direct booking.

Going from application to a live profile usually takes about two months, mostly waiting for a filming slot. Once filming is done, a profile is typically live within about two weeks.

Who we turn down

We turn down therapists who:

• aren't licensed and in good standing, and aren't working toward a licence under supervision
• don't want to use an online calendar or let clients book directly
• don't want to film an intro video with us, or want to use their own video instead
• don't accept our fee structure
• we don't believe will serve clients well on First Session. This is a judgment call, made largely from the short video every applicant records.

Licensing is rarely the reason. Of the 132 applicants we turned down in the last six months, 12 told us they weren't licensed.

After a therapist goes live

Our standards apply for as long as a therapist is on First Session. We may close a therapist's profile to new clients, or remove it, for:

• missing consultations or sessions, or cancelling on clients at short notice
• complaints or negative feedback from clients
• not responding to clients or our team within a reasonable time
• unprofessional conduct toward clients or our team
• inaccurate information on their profile
• breaking our policies, such as booking First Session clients outside First Session or advertising lower rates elsewhere

When a concern comes up, we usually close the therapist's profile to new clients, hear their side, then decide whether to reopen it or end the partnership. For serious concerns, such as client safety, we remove the profile right away. In the last six months, we removed 6 therapists from First Session.

Therapists early in their careers

Some therapists on First Session are early in their careers. Most of them are Registered Psychotherapists (Qualifying), or RP(Q)s: they've completed their training and are registered with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO), and they're completing supervised clinical hours before they can register as a full RP. Learn what RP(Q) means. A small number are provisional registrants or therapists in training. They all practise under the clinical supervision of a licensed therapist, their designation is shown on their profile, and they usually charge less per session. Over the last 12 months, RP(Q)s on First Session charged a median of $150 per session, compared with $165 for fully registered RPs.

How to check a therapist's registration

Each therapist's designation is on their profile, and receipts from First Session therapists show their designation and registration number. To confirm a registration, search the therapist's name on the register of the college or association that registers them:

In other provinces, search the register of the college or association named on the therapist's profile. Most registers also show any conditions on a registration or discipline history.

If something goes wrong

Email us at [email protected] and tell us what happened. We'll keep your identity confidential if you ask us to, look into it and act, which can mean removing the therapist from First Session.

You can also make a formal complaint to the therapist's regulatory college or association. Each one listed above has a complaints process.

If you're in crisis, call or text 9-8-8 at any time. In an emergency, call 911.

How First Session works with therapists

Therapists on First Session are independent practitioners, and a few belong to small group practices. They set their own rates, own their relationships with clients and are responsible for the care they provide. First Session markets their profiles and handles booking and payments.

First Session makes money by keeping a share of each paid session. It comes out of the therapist's fee, not on top of what you pay, and it gets smaller the longer a client keeps seeing the same therapist. There's no fee on free consultations.

Who sets these standards

Our standards are set by First Session's co-founder and CEO, Rob Pintwala, with our clinical advisor, Dr. Martin Drapeau, a clinical psychologist and professor at McGill University.