Managing your calendar

Using your Sigmund calendar

Once you set your weekly working hours in the provider portal, Sigmund, we'll display availability for new client bookings around your schedule. You'll have availability based on the open spots in your calendar, which we'll display as openings to prospective clients.

Aside from the unavailable hours we automatically pull from any external calendar(s), you can also set other specific blocks of unavailable time directly in your Headway calendar.

You have the option to: 

• Add sessions, phone consultations, unavailability blocks, or 
• Update your working hours

Setting availability / working hours

Set your weekly working hours in Sigmund so new clients can book with you. 

To set working hours

1. Visit your calendar settings page 
2. Click on the toggle to the right of the day(s) you'd like to set availability for 
   
   
    
3. Adjust the Start/End times and location as needed 
   
   

To add additional blocks of availability on the same day

1. Click the next to the toggle
2. Adjust the Start/End times and location as needed
   
   
    

To remove blocks of availability, click the trash can icon to the right of the location. 

When you sync your external calendar(s), Headway will automatically remove availability that conflicts with your external events so you won’t be double-booked.

Adding blocks of unavailability

Aside from the unavailable hours we automatically pull from your external calendar(s), you can also set specific unavailable hours directly in your Headway calendar.

To add blocks of unavailability

1. Visit your calendar
2. Click the green Add button
3. Select Unavailability from the dropdown 
4. Fill out the details of your unavailability 
5. Click Save
   
    

Adding individual appointments to your calendar

Once you've added a client to your roster:

1. Visit your calendar
2. Click the Add button
3. Choose from session or phone consultation
   • You'll be able to enter the relevant details right in that window
4. If this is an individual appointment that won't be repeating, leave the Recurrence selection as "Does not repeat"
5. Click Save to put the session on your calendar

Adding repeat appointments

Once you've added a client to your roster:

1. Visit your calendar
2. Click the green Add button
3. Choose from session or phone consultation
   • You'll be able to enter the relevant details right in that window
4. Select the frequency of the appointment in the dropdown under Recurrence
   • This will allow you to set recurring appointments, whether they repeat every week or every other week
5. Click Save to put the session on your calendar

Adding one-off availability

If your schedule changes often, set working hours that most commonly reflect your schedule. 

Instead of going in to add sporadic openings, you can add Unavailability blocks, after you have confirmed your working hours.

Removing individual sessions from your calendar

To remove an existing session from your calendar, you'll have to cancel it: 

1. Visit your calendar
2. Click into the session you need to cancel
3. Select Cancel session
4. Select the reason for cancellation and confirm the client fee (if any)

Removing recurring sessions from your calendar

To remove recurring sessions from your calendar, you'll have to cancel them: 

1. Visit your calendar
2. Click into the session you need to cancel
3. Select Cancel session
4. Select the reason for cancellation and confirm the client fee (if any)

5. Select This and all following sessions 

    

Color of sessions on your calendar

• Green indicates that the session is confirmed.
• Blue indicates that the session has not yet been confirmed.
• Orange indicates that billing action is required. Clicking on the session will show instructions on how to resolve the outstanding billing issue with your client.

Canceled sessions

When you cancel a session, we will automatically remove it from your calendar to declutter your schedule.

If you’d like to keep canceled sessions on your calendar, you can always turn the setting back on:

1. Click the gear icon in the top right corner of the calendar
2. Check the box next to Show canceled sessions

Recurring sessions

To update recurring sessions:

1. Click on  a session from the calendar
2. Update the Recurrence setting and set an end date of your choice
    

Out of office and availability

You can block time off in your calendar ahead of time, auto-canceling affected sessions and notifying clients of the cancellation, or add one-off availability to your calendar, for last-minute openings in your schedule.

To add out of office:

1. Click on the calendar
2. Click Unavailable
3. Add in out of office details
    

To add availability:

1. Click on a session from the calendar
2. Click Available
3. Enter your last minute availability details 

Direct booking

Direct booking lets clients manage their own follow-up sessions—saving you admin time. Once you’ve had at least one billed session with a client, they can book, cancel, and reschedule on their own.

If direct booking is off, clients will message you to book or reschedule instead.

How to update your direct booking settings

1. Sign in to the provider portal
2. Visit Settings > Referrals > Existing client direct booking
3. Toggle direct booking ON to enable and toggle OFF to disable
4. (Optional) If you want follow-up sessions to be different from your intake session length, update your Follow-up session length (Settings > Referrals > Follow-up session length)

Once enabled:

• Clients will see booking options on the Appointments page of their Headway care portal.
• Your Advanced booking window determines how soon they can book (e.g., if set to 2 days, they can only book sessions ≥2 days out). They cannot book sooner than what your window allows.
• Your normal cancellation policy applies to all client-made bookings; clients do not see this policy in their portal, so we recommend reminding them periodically.
• You’ll receive SMS/email notifications anytime a client books or cancels a session.
• All bookings appear automatically on your Headway calendar.

Note: Direct booking cannot be turned on/off for individual clients. If enabled, all existing clients (with at least one billed session) can use it.

Which clients are eligible to directly book on your calendar

Any client who:

• Has had at least one billed session with you
• Is not archived on your Client List
   

Client notifications (starting November 19, 2025)

To help clients schedule follow-up sessions as needed, direct booking will include:

• An educational email explaining how to find and use direct booking
• Up to six booking reminders (email/SMS), sent only when:
  • The client does not have an upcoming session
  • They recently had a confirmed session with you

Direct booking FAQs