I emailed my clients about the heat. Here’s the policy I wish I’d already had.

A ready-to-use hot weather policy for therapists in private practice: the cancellation wording, client emails and decision checklist to adapt before the next heat warning.

This week has been a bit of a shock.

The heat was intense, uncomfortable and, for some people, genuinely difficult to manage. And although we might still think of this kind of weather as unusual, the truth is that hot summers and extreme heat warnings are becoming part of the landscape of private practice. The worst of it may have passed for now but it will be back, probably sooner than we’d like.

Which is exactly why I’m writing this now, with the room cooler and my head clearer, rather than in the middle of the next one.

Because I found myself doing something I don’t usually have to think about in quite the same way.

I emailed some of my clients, especially those I felt might be more vulnerable, to check whether they were still okay to attend their appointments.

The email was simple. I let them know the office was very warm, that I had fans on, and that if they needed to cancel because of the heat, my usual 24-hour cancellation policy wouldn’t apply because of the severe weather.

It was a small thing. But it left me with a question I hadn’t properly sat with before:

Do therapists in private practice need a hot weather policy?

Not a huge formal document.

Not another bit of admin for the sake of it.

But a clear position we can reach for when the therapy room is too hot, when clients are struggling to travel, or when severe weather makes our usual cancellation policy feel too rigid.

The therapy room isn’t separate from the weather

When we work in private practice, it’s easy to think about policies in terms of the obvious things: cancellation, confidentiality, safeguarding, fees, privacy notices, risk and record keeping.

But there are also the practical realities of working with real people in real rooms.

Is the room too hot?

Can the client get there safely?

Are they travelling by public transport during a weather warning?

Are they elderly, pregnant, physically unwell, menopausal, on medication, neurodivergent, or otherwise more vulnerable to heat?

Are we expecting people to sit in a small room and process trauma, anxiety, grief or depression while feeling physically uncomfortable, faint or overwhelmed?

And what about us as therapists?

We also have to think about whether we can work safely, think clearly, stay regulated, and offer good clinical care when the environment itself is uncomfortable.

This isn’t just a customer service issue. It’s a clinical, ethical and practical one.

The cancellation policy question

This is where it gets tricky.

In private practice, cancellation policies matter. They protect our income, our time, our boundaries and the sustainability of the work.

But extreme weather isn’t the same as ordinary inconvenience.

When there’s an amber or red weather warning, travel disruption, a health vulnerability, or a therapy room that’s genuinely uncomfortable, I think it’s reasonable to pause and ask:

Does my usual cancellation policy still feel fair, ethical and clinically appropriate today?

That doesn’t mean abandoning boundaries.

It means having enough structure to make a thoughtful decision rather than scrambling for one mid-heatwave, which is exactly what I found myself doing last week.

And that’s why I think it’s worth having a simple hot weather policy ready before the next one arrives.

Below, the exact wording I used — the policy paragraph for your client agreement, a more boundaried version, the three client emails, and the checklist I run through before waiving a fee — all ready to adapt and file away before the next heat warning lands.