Psychologists: make booking a first session easier

To make booking a first session easier, remove every step that asks the person to explain themselves before they meet you. Let them book online without calling, show the price and length of the first session up front, describe in plain words how it works and who you see, and keep the reason for consulting optional. Then take over after the booking: confirm the practical details yourself, so the first real conversation happens in the session, not on the phone.

Someone who decides to see a psychologist has often thought about it for a while. When they finally act, the next step is usually a phone call: finding the right number, reaching a voicemail, leaving a message that says, in some way, why they want help. Then waiting for a call back, perhaps at work, perhaps with someone else in the room. Each of these moments is an opportunity to put it off again.

A booking page doesn't replace your clinical judgement or the first session. It just removes the part of the process that has nothing to do with therapy.

People read a psychologist's booking page carefully, sometimes several times before booking. Give them what they need to feel they're in the right place.

On Book, each type of session is a service with its own price and optional description, shown on your page. Put the first-session information in the description of a "First session" service, and open slots for it at the length it takes.

The booking form asks for a first name, last name, email address and phone number, so you can confirm and reach the person. There is also an optional free-text note. Some people will want to use it to say a few words about why they're coming; others won't want to write anything. Say explicitly in your service description that the note is optional and that they don't need to explain anything before the first session. That sentence alone can make it easier to press "book".

Clients book without creating an account, and they receive a confirmation email. You receive an email for each new booking.

Slots of different services can overlap and one booking doesn't block another service's slot at the same time, so decide where first sessions sit in your week rather than opening them on top of your regular sessions.

The booking is the start, not the end, of the first contact. A short personal message from you, confirming the time and place, or sending the video link, shows there's a person behind the page. Keep it practical: address, access, how the session will start, how to reach you if they need to change. If the person has left a note, you don't need to respond to its content before the session.

If they need to reschedule or cancel, you do it from your bookings list, and the slot becomes available again. Book doesn't email the client when you change or cancel a booking, so let them know yourself.

For a child, a parent usually books. Make a separate service for child or adolescent sessions, and say in its description who should come to the first session (the parents alone, the child with a parent) and anything your practice requires. The note field lets the parent add the child's age.