How we order results

Why you're seeing these therapists, in this order

Finding a therapist is hard enough without wondering whether the list is rigged. So here's the whole truth about how we order results — in plain language. The short version: we put providers whose listed details fit your search and whose availability information is current closer to the top. This is directory ordering, not a clinical recommendation, and nobody can pay us to rank higher.

Who shows up at all

Before we order anything, two things have to be true. A therapist can only appear if our verified records show they're authorized to practice where you are — by license in your state, or through PSYPACT or the Counseling Compact (that's the little chip on each card) — and if they've confirmed their availability status in the last two weeks. A provider's status can change between check-ins, so confirm availability and eligibility with the provider before beginning care.

What moves someone up the list

A few honest things, and nothing else:

Whether they fit what you asked forThe specialties, insurance, language, and other filters you set. The more of them a therapist's listed details match, the higher they sit.

How closely their profile fits your descriptionWhen you tell us, in your own words, what you're looking for, we compare it to each therapist's own description of their work and float the closest profiles up. Your words are processed to sort this search and are not added to a saved-search record.

How close they areFor in-person sessions, nearer is higher. For telehealth, distance doesn't matter at all — providers whose verified authorization records cover your location are on equal footing.

First-contact responsivenessTherapists who keep their availability current and reply to initial messages promptly rank a little higher. This uses event timing, not message content. New therapists aren't penalized for not having a track record yet.

Open and fair

The results above are ordered by the same open calculation for everyone (spec 1.1.0, readable by anyone at /api/ranking-version). For filter-based searches, you can reproduce any day's order exactly from public inputs. When you also describe what you're looking for in your own words, one extra component joins the blend — the similarity between your description and each therapist's profile, scored by an embedding model — and that piece can't be recomputed from outside; the published weights still show exactly how much it counts. When two therapists are an equally good fit, we rotate who appears first each day, so no one is stuck at the bottom.