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Adding a Client

Every client type — adult, minor, couple or family, or therapy group — starts from the same place: the + button in the top bar, New Client (the Clients page also has its own New Client button). This guide walks the individual, minor, and couple/family paths, plus sending intake paperwork as part of creation and managing the client list afterward. For the Group type — a group-therapy roster of independent clients — see Group therapy.

Adding an individual client​

  1. Click + in the top bar (available on any page) and choose New Client.
  2. Leave the client type on Individual.
  3. Enter the first and last name (the only required fields), and as much of the rest as you have: Preferred Name ("what they go by"), Date of Birth, Email, Phone, and a Default Session Location if your practice has more than one.
  4. Pick the Billing Type — Self-pay or Insurance. (Self-pay is ready to bill immediately; for insurance you'll add the coverage details afterward on the client's Payment & Insurance tab.)
  5. Leave Start intake workflow after creating patient checked to send paperwork right away — see below.
  6. Click Create Patient.

The New Patient form with client type, billing type, and the intake workflow option

The new client is assigned to you as their clinician, so they appear on your My Clients list; hand them to a colleague later with Change Provider (below). Creating a client sends no emails by itself — welcome and portal emails go out only through the intake workflow.

If you type an email that's already on another client, an orange warning appears — "This email is already registered to another patient" — and blocks the save. That's your duplicate check: search the Clients page first if you're unsure whether someone already exists.

Adding a minor client​

  1. + → New Client, choose the Minor type. The form splits into two tabs.
  2. Client tab — the minor's name, date of birth, and billing type. Their own email/phone are optional and deliberately separate: "Only add email or phone if the minor has their own, separate from their parent or guardian."
  3. Contact tab — at least one parent/guardian with first name, last name, and email (the email is what gets portal access). Add their phone, pick the Relationship to Client, and use Add Another Contact for a second parent. One contact is always marked Responsible for billing — bills go to them, never to the child.
  4. Click Create Minor Client.

The New Minor Client form's Contact tab with guardian fields

The guardian handles paperwork and billing through their own portal login — see Minor clients for how consent, intakes, and portal access work for families.

Adding a couple or family​

  1. + → New Client, choose Couple / Family.
  2. Pick the group Type — Couple or Family. (A family can be any size from two people up — say a parent and child; adding a third person to a couple switches the type to Family automatically.)
  3. Fill in each member's tab. For someone already in your practice, click Add Existing Client and search by name instead of retyping — they join the group under their existing record.
  4. Tick Responsible for billing on the member who pays — they become the group's guarantor (marked with a dollar icon).
  5. Click Create Couple (or Create Family).

The New Couple / Family form with member tabs and the billing-responsibility checkbox

This creates the individual client records and the therapy group that appointments and notes attach to — see Couples & family therapy.

Sending intake paperwork as you create​

With Start intake workflow checked, creating the client opens the three-step intake wizard:

  1. Select Documents — questionnaires, consent forms, scored measures, and the demographics form (whose answers save directly to the client's profile).
  2. Customize Email — the welcome message, plus whether to create their portal account.
  3. Review & Send — click Send Intake; the client gets an email with instructions to access their forms.

The checkbox is greyed out until two things exist: your client portal URL (one-time setup — the form links you to it) and an email on the client (for minors: on a guardian). You can always run it later from the Clients page: ⋮ → Start Intake Workflow. See Intake forms.

Finding and managing clients​

The Clients page lists everyone — individuals plus couples and families (badged Couple/Family):

The Clients page with search, view toggle, and per-row menus

  • Search by name; toggle My Clients (your caseload — the default) vs All Clients (practice-wide, subject to your access level); switch Active Only to Include Inactive to see former clients.
  • Each row's ⋮ menu: View Profile, Start Intake Workflow, Change Provider (reassign the primary clinician), Make Inactive / Make Active, and Delete.

Inactive, not deleted, is the normal ending: marking a client inactive keeps their full record but removes them from day-to-day lists. Delete is for mistakes — it asks you to type DELETE to confirm, and clients with any clinical or billing history are refused ("This client has history and can't be deleted").

FAQ​

Can I create a client while scheduling an appointment? Not currently — the appointment form only selects existing clients. Create the client first (it takes four fields), then book.

Why didn't my new client get a welcome email? Plain creation sends nothing — that's by design, so you control the moment of first contact. Run Start Intake Workflow (or check the box at creation) to send the welcome/portal email.

I created a client but don't see their profile. Creation returns you to where you were — find them via the Clients page or the search bar.

Someone's already in the system with that email. You're likely re-adding an existing client — search for them instead. For couples, use Add Existing Client so the group reuses their record.