What we record when you contact a therapist, and what we never see

If you are working out how to contact a therapist, it helps to know who sits in the middle. Most directories put themselves between you and the therapist. You fill in a form, the platform holds the message, and something about you becomes a record on a server you have never seen. Couch Commons does not do that. This post says exactly what happens instead.

You go straight to them

A clinician's page lists the ways they chose to be reached: their website, a booking page, an email address, a phone number, or a public profile of theirs. The link takes you there. There is no form on Couch Commons, no inbox here, and no message for us to hold.

What you say next is between you and the service you picked. We never see it. Before you reach out, you can check the license in the state's own register; the ASWB list of social work boards links to each state's lookup, and our register table covers the eight states we list.

What we count

When you follow one of those links, we add one to a daily total: how many times that clinician's website link, or booking link, was used on that day. That is the whole record.

It is a count, not a person. We do not store your name, your email, your message, your address, your browser, the page you came from, or any identifier that could tie one click to another. If you click twice, that is two.

The clinician sees the same thing you would: best-effort daily totals of page opens and link uses. Not who, not from where, not why.

Those totals exist for one reason. A clinician paying for a listing deserves to know whether it is being used. Two numbers a day answer that. Nothing about you is needed to produce them.

What we do not run

For a plain explanation of how websites usually collect data, see the FTC's guide on how websites and apps collect and use your information. This site uses PostHog, an analytics tool, on its public pages. It runs through our own server, so your IP address never reaches PostHog. It records no session replays, builds no person profiles and sets no cookies (it uses tab-only storage that clears when you close the tab), and it never sees what you type into a search. There are no ad pixels and no cross-site identifiers. Nothing on these pages is fetched from anybody else's server.

Search queries on the find page are never logged. What you type when you are trying to describe what is happening to you does not become a record.

If you sign in as a member, the picture is the same. Members sign in by a magic link sent to their email. No passwords exist here, so there are none to store, reset or leak.

What we used to do, and stopped

Couch Commons used to relay messages. It no longer accepts them, and the email addresses and message text collected under the old relay have been destroyed. The privacy page says so in the same words, because a promise about data is only worth something if it is specific.

Why it is built this way

A directory's job is to help you find a person and step aside. The moment a platform holds the conversation, it has something to sell: the lead, the introduction, the data. Couch Commons sells one thing, membership to the clinicians listed, and it sells that at one published price. It has no lead to broker and no reason to stand in the middle.

So the page does the one thing it should. It shows you the license receipt, the clinician's own words, and the ways to reach them. Then it gets out of the way. See how it works or the fact sheet.

FAQ

How do I contact a therapist I found on Couch Commons?

Use the website, booking page, email, or phone number on the clinician's page. The link takes you straight to them.

Does Couch Commons see my message?

No. There is no form and no inbox on Couch Commons. What you say is between you and the clinician.

What does Couch Commons record when I use a contact link?

One is added to a daily count for that kind of link on that clinician's page. It is a count of clicks, not people, and it carries nothing that identifies you.

Does it cost anything to contact a therapist?

No. There is no account, no paywall, and no fee for contacting a clinician.