Setting up your clinical will in TherapyLock

At a Glance

A clinical will names a colleague, your clinical executor, who can step in and wind down your practice if you become unable to continue. You nominate them under My Account, they accept an invitation by email, and they set up two-step verification before they can do anything. They get no access to your records unless they formally request it.

Before you start

You will need your colleague's name and the email address they use for work. Ask them first. Being a clinical executor is a real responsibility, and they should say yes before an invitation arrives in their inbox.

Your executor does not need to be a TherapyLock customer. They are invited by email and set up what they need as part of accepting.

Step-by-Step: nominate your executor

1. Open My Account.
2. Choose Clinical Will.
3. Enter your colleague's details and send the invitation.
4. Tell your colleague to look out for the email, and to check their spam folder if it does not arrive.

The invitation can be used once and runs out after 14 days. If it expires before they accept, send a fresh one from the same page.

What your executor does

Your colleague opens the invitation, accepts it, and sets up two-step verification with an authenticator app on their phone. This step is required for every clinical executor, and they cannot skip it.

There are no backup codes. If they lose or replace the phone holding the authenticator, they will need to contact support to get back in.

What this costs your estate

Nothing. Your executor does not need a paid subscription to do any of this.

Winding the practice down is the first thing they should do, not the last. No further payments are taken from that point, and it takes nothing away from them. They keep their access and carry on with everything you have asked of them.

The period you have already paid for simply runs to its end. On an annual plan that may be some months away, and nothing changes in the meantime.

That is worth saying plainly, because the natural instinct is the opposite. An executor who delays winding down in order to protect their access has it backwards, and would be leaving your estate paying for a subscription it does not need.

Access does not depend on the subscription at all. An account that has been unpaid and inactive for months is still open to its executor.

What your executor can see, and when

Nominating someone does not give them access to your clients.

• No access until they ask — your executor has to make a formal request before they can see anything
• A waiting period you control — you set a period during which you can stop the request
• A record of what they do — everything they do is logged, and you can see that log under Clinical Will

What your executor can and cannot do

Their access is deliberately narrow, and the limits are built into the database rather than

just hidden in the screens. Nobody can widen them by changing the app.

They can:

• Read everything — your notes, documents, appointments and payment history
• Add a dated note to a record, for example to record that a client has been told. It appears as an amendment, alongside your original
• Cancel future appointments
• Download a copy of a client's records, which is what you need if a client asks for theirs

They cannot:

• Change or delete anything you wrote. Your record stays exactly as you left it
• Delete a client record, or the account

Writing your wishes down

TherapyLock holds the arrangement. Your clinical will document says what you want done. The templates are in Practice Documents, in the templates panel. Open it with Show templates.

You will find:

• How to set up your clinical will — a guide to completing it
• A paper version — to print, sign and keep with your other important papers
• Guidance notes — to help you decide what to include

Store your finished clinical will in Practice Documents too, under the clinical will category, so your executor and you both know where it is. Your practice documents explains how.

When records reach their deletion date

This is the part people most often ask about, because it is the end of the whole arrangement.

TherapyLock works out a deletion date for each client record from your retention settings. It

then does nothing with it. No record is ever deleted automatically, and your executor cannot

delete one either.

When a record reaches its date, your executor emails

support@counsellingtutor.com and we carry

out the deletion. Each one is recorded, with its reason and date.

Think about how your executor reaches clients

TherapyLock holds client codes rather than names. Your executor can read a record, but cannot contact the person unless you have planned for it.

Decide now whether contact details sit in the app, or whether your key list is kept elsewhere with your clinical will saying where it is and who can release it. What that means for your clinical executor sets out both routes.

Related Articles

• Where your paperwork lives — Your practice documents
• Planning for client contact — No name or date of birth fields
• Your first week — TherapyLock quick start guide

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.