If you are looking for a therapist
What this site can and cannot tell you
Couch Commons checks one thing carefully and says so with a date: whether a clinician's license matches the state's own register. Everything else on a profile is the clinician speaking. This page shows you which is which, so you can weigh it yourself.
Reviewed .
How to read a profile
The license receipt
The state, the register we searched — NYSED in New York — the date we searched it, and the standing it returned. This is the only thing on a profile that Couch Commons itself checked.
Availability, fees, insurance, telehealth
These are the clinician's own statements, printed with the date they said them. We do not confirm them, and an old date means an old statement, not a current fact.
The bio and the focus list
Their own words about their practice. Where a profile was compiled from a clinician's public professional site instead, the profile says so in the same place.
If a check has not happened yet, the profile says that in the same place, in plain words. A blank is never dressed up as a pass.
What we cannot tell you
- Whether a clinician is good at their job, or right for you.
- Whether they have an opening this week.
- Whether your insurance will actually pay.
- Whether therapy with this person will help.
- Anything about a clinician's conduct. We never publish a negative about a clinician; an absence here means nothing either way.
Five questions worth asking before you book
- Do you work with what I am bringing you, and how often have you?
- What does a session cost me out of pocket, this month?
- Do you have an opening, and when?
- Are you licensed where I will physically be sitting during our sessions?
- What happens if this is not working — how would we know, and what then?
The fourth one catches more people than it should. Where you are sitting during the session is what decides which state's rules apply — not where the therapist's office is. How that works in New York →
Searching
Type what is going on in plain language and where you are. Each result shows which parts of your search it actually matched. If nothing matches, the page says so and offers the closest results — it does not quietly drop a filter and hand you a full page of people who do not fit.
Common questions
Does Couch Commons cost me anything?
No. Searching is free, there is no account, and contacting a clinician costs nothing. Clinicians pay for membership; that payment never affects who you see or in what order.
Does a license check mean this is a good therapist?
No. It means we found a matching record in the state's official register on the date printed and recorded what it said. It is a fact about a license, not a judgment about care.
Can a therapist pay to be at the top?
No. Every matching clinician gets an equal turn under a published rotation rule. There is no sponsored position and no advertising on this site.
Do you see my messages?
No. Profiles link directly to the clinician's own website, booking page, email or phone. Your message goes to them. We count how many times a link was used on a given day. The count holds nothing about who used it.
Can I check a license myself?
Yes, and you should be able to. Every check we publish names the official register and links to it, and there are step-by-step guides for New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California, Texas, Massachusetts, Colorado and Florida.