A text that appears on a shared lock screen
Your booking system sends a text the day before: 'Reminder: your counselling session with [therapist] at [practice name] tomorrow at 6pm.' For most clients that is fine. For one, it appeared on a phone their partner picked up. For another, it landed in a work inbox their manager can see.
Some clients tell you at the start not to send reminders at all, which means more missed sessions. Others do not think to mention it until something has already happened.
Why reminder tools get this wrong
Most booking systems are built for salons, gyms and clinics, where saying exactly what the appointment is for is helpful. Therapy is one of the few settings where the content of a reminder can itself cause harm.
- Fixed templates that include service name, practitioner and business name.
- Sender names that show the practice's name on every notification.
- Calendar invites titled with the service, which sync to shared or work calendars.
- One setting for every client, when clients' needs differ.
- No record of each client's preference, so associates cannot follow it.
What a careless reminder can cost
| Situation | Effect |
|---|---|
| Reminder seen by someone else | A breach of the client's privacy and possibly their safety |
| Clients opting out entirely | More forgotten sessions and more late cancellations |
| Preferences not recorded | An associate sends a reminder the client asked not to get |
| Revealing calendar invites | Session details in a shared or employer calendar |
| Loss of trust | A client who feels exposed may not come back |
This is rare, and it is serious when it happens. The fix is not to stop reminders, which clients mostly find useful, but to let each client decide what theirs look like.
Reminders built around client choice
- At onboarding, each client chooses: no reminders, email, text or both, and the wording level: full, neutral ('Appointment tomorrow at 6pm') or minimal (a time only).
- Neutral sender names. Texts can come from a short, bland sender ID and emails from a plain address, if the client prefers.
- Calendar entries with a neutral title, or none at all, and no description unless the client chooses it.
- The preference is stored on the client record and applied to every message automatically, whichever therapist the client sees.
- Clients can change their preference any time from a link, without having to raise it in a session.
- Messages are sent through a provider such as Twilio for texts and your practice email for the rest, with a log of what was sent.
The online session link or room address can be included or left out according to the same preference, so an online client choosing minimal wording still gets a way to join.
Where your current system allows per-client templates, we configure that first. We only build a separate reminder service when it cannot.
What it feels like for clients
Clients who want full detail get it. Clients who need discretion get a message that tells them what they need and nothing more. Nobody has to explain their home situation to get a reminder that is safe for them.
For the practice, fewer clients opt out of reminders, preferences are followed by every associate, and there is a log if a question ever arises about what was sent.
Is this a concern in your practice?
- Your reminders include the practice name or the word therapy or counselling.
- Some clients ask you not to send reminders at all.
- Calendar invites show session details.
- Client preferences about contact are noted in session but not in the system.
- Associates use the same reminder settings for everyone.