- Therapy
- Onboarding
- 4 mins
Intake is a term that can sound a little impersonal, and does not always carry the greatest connotations for therapists or patients. It may bring to mind images of old-fashioned file folders stacked on the front desk of a therapist’s office, expectations of long waits on the phone, and even the prospect of having to put the brakes on an appointment over a misunderstood or misplaced form. It’s also a process so ingrained that it is easy to forget it is there. Offices fall, understandably, into intake routines. They move paperwork through the system without thinking too much about it. They treat snags as unfortunate, unavoidable bumps in the road on the way to providing counseling. Patient onboarding software, however, is changing all that.
Counselors across specializations are finding that with a new generation of software solutions, the intake process can serve as the foundation for more effective client/counselor relationships, and is becoming the point where effective therapy truly starts.
New patient onboarding solutions are revolutionizing therapy intake, transforming it into a friendlier, more human, and more functional process. The following illustrations of how exactly these software solutions are making that happen anticipate a future where office staff, therapists and, most importantly, clients are all benefiting from simple but powerful process improvements, which redefine “intake” to mean, “getting to know the patient.”
1. Onboarding software reduces client (and therapist) stress.
Difficulty dealing with stress is a common concern among those seeking counseling. Whether prospective clients are experiencing stress about money, stress about relationships, stress about precarious job situations, or something else, the last thing they need is more stress. For an overwhelmed client, a tedious intake process can feel just like one more thing to add to the pile. Facing the prospect of wrestling with a frustrating, out-of-date portal or a manual form can be a serious hurdle to moving forward with an appointment.
Yet therapists offices need to capture basic patient data; name, address, birthdate, social and everything else. Built with top-of-the-line best practices for usability in mind, onboarding software makes getting this information from incoming clients so seamless they hardly notice it, cutting the time investment of this chore down to zero. For the therapist, well-architected software makes sure the data is collected with perfect reliability in a consistent, easy-to-process format so that anyone in the office who needs it, for any purpose, knows where to find it--so life is less stressful for care providers, too.
2. Onboarding software calms first-timer jitters.
Just like stress, anxiety is a major problem people face, and the very idea of pursuing therapy can sometimes provoke anxiety. In order to establish a relationship with a therapist, clients must walk into a new situation and open up to someone they have never met about their most private matters, a notion that can put some off from the idea of counseling entirely, including many who would truly benefit from it.
New onboarding tools can relieve this, providing space for patients to both warm up to the concept of counseling and to the individual who will work with them. The tools let the therapist begin therapy before therapy begins, using personalized messaging to provide clients with reassurance, letting them know what to expect and maybe even diffusing misconceptions about therapy that have made them otherwise hesitant to pursue it. Such pre-therapy prep can take a huge weight off an incoming client’s mind, and help the therapist and client get off on the right foot.
3. Onboarding software catches intake up to the speed of life.
Life moves fast today, and people seeking therapy sometimes feel like they can’t keep up. They face disruption, uncertainty, and a sense that they have lost control. In the past, a trip to a therapist’s office and all the administrative red tape it entailed may, unfortunately, have left them feeling even more uncertain. Good onboarding software clarifies things. It takes all the loose ends that therapists assumed were just a necessary inefficiencies that came with offering therapy services, and finds ways to do them better--at a pace that meets the needs and fits the lives of clients.
Letting clients fill out pre-therapy questionnaires at their own pace, on their own time, so they don’t feel compelled to rush through them. Facilitating direct messaging with clients so that therapists can help them understand the importance of carefully considering their questionnaire answers. Letting clients set things up in a way that best suits their schedule, whether via telehealth, in person or both. These are only a few of the features new onboarding solutions offer; features which fix the kinds of process inefficiencies that are difficult to see, but have long been making things harder than they need to be for both client and therapist.
And the improvements to intake will just keep coming.
The starting point for productive therapy
Patient onboarding software is emerging as a surprisingly critical tool in the therapist’s toolbox, and leaders in onboarding software are always developing new intake-specific features that can free up incoming clients’ time and mental space, and allow therapists to treat intake not as an administrative obstacle to getting started, but as the starting point of care. As the software improves, vendors will find new ways for it to guide and incentivize patients to play an active role in their own care from the outset, making partnerships between therapists and their clients ever stronger from day one.
Therapists play a crucial role in helping clients manage, maintain, and find contentment amid the unpredictability that is life. Those who have deployed onboarding software know that a predictable, intentional intake process is the first step to better helping clients face the world with confidence.
Our client onboarding courses help therapists streamline operations and educate new clients. The course modules cover a wealth of information that will benefit your clients and prepare them for therapeutic success. Simply sign up as a member and provide each new client with a link to our platform. Sign up for our free course preview now!
