Practice policies and consents, signed before the first session

The paperwork in a therapy practice

• Informed consentHow therapy works, its risks and benefits, and the limits of confidentiality, such as mandated reporting. See the counseling informed consent.
• Practice policiesFees, the late-cancel rule, how to reach you between sessions and what to do in a crisis.
• Telehealth consentThe platform you use, where the client should be during sessions, and the plan if the connection drops. See the telehealth consent form.
• Release of informationThe client's permission to talk to a psychiatrist, a school or a previous therapist, naming who, what and for how long.
• Couples and family agreementsEach adult signs, and your policy on secrets between partners is written down before it comes up.
• Supervision and contractor agreementsFor group practices: associate supervision terms, fee splits and the clinician's contractor or employment agreement.

Privacy first

Many practices keep clinical intake inside their EHR and use SignMaster for the agreements around the therapy: practice policies, fee agreements, telehealth terms, supervision contracts and the business side of a group practice. Whatever you send, ask only for what the form needs.

A new client packet

1. 1

   Bundle the forms

   Save your consent, policies and telehealth consent as templates and send them together as one envelope, SignMaster's word for one send: one or more documents going to one or more signers.

2. 2

   The client signs at home

   They open the email link on any phone or computer, without an account, read at their own pace and sign. An initials box beside the confidentiality limits and the cancellation fee shows they saw those parts.

3. 3

   Set a gentle deadline

   A sign-by date the day before the first session, with automatic reminders, means no one spends the first ten minutes on paperwork.

4. 4

   Countersign and file

   Add yourself as the last signer if your consent needs it. Both of you get the sealed PDF with a certificate of completion.

Couples, families and minors

Add each partner as a signer on the couples agreement and choose signing all at once, so each signs from their own email without seeing the other's link. For a minor client, the parent or guardian signs consent to treatment, and in many states an older teen can consent to some care on their own; your state's rule decides who signs. Where both parents share legal custody, you may want both signatures.

Fees and the Good Faith Estimate

Under the federal No Surprises Act rules, clients who are uninsured or paying themselves are entitled to a Good Faith Estimate of expected charges. Send it with your fee agreement in the new client packet so the client has it in writing before the first session.

Clients can read the signing page and emails in 6 languages, Spanish among them. Your consent text is your own, so keep a translated version where you need it.

Pricing for a practice

A solo therapist can use Solo at $15 a month with unlimited envelopes. A group practice fits Crew at $49 a month for 5 clinicians and staff, with roles that decide who can send and who can edit templates. New workspaces get 14 days of Crew free. See every plan.

What SignMaster doesn't do

• It isn't an EHR. It doesn't keep notes, diagnoses or treatment plans.
• It doesn't bill insurance or take payments.
• It doesn't run video sessions or scheduling.