Adding a new client

At a Glance

From your dashboard, Create New Client opens one form; the only thing it insists on is a client identifier, and everything else can be added now or later.

Before you start

Decide on a client identifier before you open the form. This is not the client's name; it is a code or reference of your own choosing. TherapyLock deliberately has no field for a client's first or last name, or their date of birth. The less identifying information a record holds, the more robust the protection for your client.

That raises a fair question: how will you remember who each identifier belongs to? The answer is a separate key, kept outside TherapyLock. A simple spreadsheet, or a page kept somewhere secure, with the identifier on one side and the person it refers to on the other. Held apart, the two halves protect each other: your clinical records hold no names, and your key holds nothing clinical. Either one on its own reveals very little.

Two habits make identifiers work well:

• Be consistent. Pick a pattern and stay with it, so you can find people quickly as your practice grows
• Keep the identity out of the code itself. Initials and a year of birth would quietly undo the protection; a plain reference with meaning only in your key does not

Why the vault works this way has its own article.

The form, section by section

Client identifier. The one required field. Choose it carefully, because it is how you will find this person on your dashboard.

Contact details. How you reach them, including their preferred way of being contacted. Worth recording thoughtfully: for some clients, an unexpected phone call or a letter home is not a small thing.

Client classification. Whether this is a client or a supervisee, how you meet (online, in person or by telephone), their session fee, and the practical details for each: the meeting link for online work, the location for in person, and who telephones whom for phone sessions.

Place of work. If you work in more than one setting, this is where you say which one this client belongs to. Set your places up first in My Account, under Places of work, adding each organisation you work for plus Private practice. You can add as many as you need and put them in whatever order suits you. A client belongs to one place of work, and you can leave it unset if it does not apply.

Child or young person. Tick this for CYP work and the form opens space for their school, social worker, and parent or guardian details. It also asks for a manual deletion date, because retention for children runs differently; you set the date their record should go, guided by your professional requirements.

Therapy dates. When therapy started, or when it is due to start: you can set the start date to a first session that is still weeks away, and book their appointments straight away. If the date moves, change it on the client's record at any time. If you are adding someone whose therapy has already finished, there is a place for the end date too, and it matters: the retention clock runs from the date therapy ended, so give the real dates rather than today's. If you are bringing a whole practice across, read Bringing an existing practice into TherapyLock before you begin.

Record retention policy. How long the record is kept after therapy ends, guided by your professional body and insurer. Seven years is a common choice for adult work. For a child or young person this section stands aside, and the manual deletion date you set above takes charge instead.

Emergency contact. Who to reach in a crisis. Once saved, this sits one press away at the top of the client's record.

GP surgery details. Their doctor's practice, if you hold it. Worth recording with some care. Many therapists name the GP in their contract as the first point of contact should confidentiality ever need to be broken, because the surgery sits within a network of services and support that can be reached quickly when a client is at risk. If that is how your contract works, holding the details here means they are to hand in the moment you need them, not searched for in the middle of it.

Working notes. Practical arrangements and reasonable adjustments: the things worth knowing that are not clinical observations.

What happens next

TherapyLock saves the record and asks whether you would like to create their first appointment straight away. Choose yes and the calendar opens with this client already selected; choose not now and you land back where you can see the new record. Either way, the client now appears on your dashboard, and their appointments can be booked at any time from your calendar.

If something's not right

• "Please enter a client identifier" is the only thing that stops the form saving; everything else is optional
• Started with the wrong details? Nothing here is locked. Open the record and use Edit Client to change any of it
• Adding clients from before TherapyLock? Set their real start and end dates rather than accepting today's, or the retention clock will run from the wrong day. Bringing an existing practice into TherapyLock walks through it

Related articles

• Your dashboard

• The client record

• Bringing an existing practice into TherapyLock

Still Need Help?

If you have any other questions about TherapyLock, our support team is here to help.

Email us at support@counsellingtutor.com and we will be happy to assist.