Thanks for your interest in Practicepicnic! This is the help center where you'll find answers to the most common technical support questions we receive. We're constantly working on improving our documentation so if you can't find what you need below, please contact support@practicepicnic.com. We respond within a few hours.

Getting started

Follow these steps to sign up for a Practicepicnic account and get your practice up and running.

Create an account

The first step to getting started with Practicepicnic is to create an account. You can do this from our free trial registration page:

https://app.practicepicnic.com/register.

You'll be asked to fill in a few details about yourself and your practice. You'll also create a password for your account. Note that creating an account will automatically make you the practice owner.

Click the "Start free trial" button to create your account. You won't be asked to enter any payment information until you decide Practicepicnic is a good fit for you.

After you create your account, you'll be greeted with a message from our founder and a video tour of our product. While we recommend new users at least skim through the video, a lot of the information offered there is also avaiable on this page. If you pick things up better from reading, feel free to skip the video.

Sidebar, search and profile

First, let's give you a quick overview of the main parts of the product.

• Sidebar: On the left, you'll see the sidebar. This is how you can navigate between different pages on Practicepicnic. You'll see where each of the menu items take you in a second.
  • In the middle of the sidebar, you'll see two quick links to create new clients and appointments.
  • At the bottom of the sidebar, you'll see a list of your most recently accessed clients. This way you can quickly jump back to a client you were working on.
• Search bar: On the top left, you'll see the search bar. You can use this to quickly search for clients in your practice.
• Profile dropdown: On the top right, you'll see your name. Clicking on this dropdown will let you edit your profile and log out of the system.

Configure clinical details

Now that you're familiar with the navigation, let's get started setting up your practice. The first thing you'll want to do is update your clinical information.

From the profile dropdown in the top right, click on "Profile".

This will take you to your edit profile page. Here you can update your name, email, password and clinical information.

At the bottom of the page, you'll see a section with three fields:

• License #: The license number assigned to you by your state. For eg: LPC010203.
• License State: The state in which you are licensed to practice. For eg: GA.
• NPI #: The National Provider Identifier assigned to you by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Fill in these fields with your details and click on "Save" at the very bottom of the page. Your license number is displayed on your signed treatment plans, progress notes and other documents. Your NPI number is displayed in your invoices and insurance superbills.

Configure practice information

Now that your clinical details are set, let's configure a few your practice's details.

Let's start by confirming your practice's name and updating your Tax ID or EIN. Navigate to the Settings > Practice.

This will take you to the edit practice page.

Here you can update your practice's name and Tax ID or EIN. Your Tax ID is displayed on your billing documents.

Click on "Save" at the very bottom of the page to save your changes.

Configure practice locations

Next, let's configure your practice's locations.

Navigate to Settings > Locations.

This will take you to a page with a list of your practice's currently configured locations. Since you just created your account, you'll just see the Main Office location. We're going to update this with your primary office's details. Click on the "Edit" button next to the Main Office location.

In the edit location page, fill in your address details and click on "Save". This address will be displayed on your billing documents.

If you also see clients virtually, you'll want to add another location for your video sessions with the "02 - Telehealth" place of service code. Click on the "+ New Location" button from the locations page.

On the New Location page, fill in the locations details. Name your location "Telehealth" or "Virtual Office" and use the "02 - Telehealth" place of service code. This place of service code will be used in your billing documents.

If you've got more than one physical location, add them in the same way with the appropriate place of service codes.

Personalize intake forms

Now that your practice details are set, let's personalize your intake forms.

Navigate to Templates from the sidebar.

In this page, you'll see all the templates that are built into Practicepicnic. This includes templates for treatment plans, progress notes, assessments, and intake forms.

By default, we have the following forms in your intake packet.

• Practice pollicies: This is our standard form outlining practice policies, including appointment and cancellation guidelines, communication protocols, telemedicine considerations, confidentiality, social media boundaries, minor client policies, and procedures for termination of the therapeutic relationship.
• Notice of privacy practices: This is our standard form outlining the Notice of Privacy Practices, which explains how protected health information (PHI) may be used or disclosed, your rights regarding your PHI, and the practice's obligations to maintain the privacy of your health information in compliance with HIPAA regulations.
• Informed consent: This is our standard form outlining informed consent for psychotherapy, covering the therapeutic process, confidentiality policies, and limits of confidentiality, along with general information about the therapist and the framework for the therapeutic relationship.
• Telehealth consent: This is our standard form for consent to participate in telemental health, outlining the use of technology-assisted media for psychotherapy, associated risks and benefits, confidentiality protections, emergency protocols, and the necessity of providing your location and emergency contact during sessions.

If you click on Informed consent, you'll be shown a preview of the form. Notice that there are several placeholders for information that you'll need to fill in.

Click on the "Edit" button to replace these placeholders with your practice's information. It's very important that you fill these in with your details before using them with clients.

In the edit template page, you'll notice that each form is made up of several sections called "blocks". Each block corresponds to a form element (eg: single line text box, dropdown, heading, paragraph, etc). Click on the arrow next to each block to expand it and edit its contents.

In this particular case, I'm going to replace the content in this paragraph block with my personal and practice information. Click "Save" at the bottom of the page to save your changes.

We believe the default Practicepicnic intake forms are a good starting point for most practices. Just be sure to click edit on each of the forms above that you plan to use and replace the placeholders with real values.

If you've already got your own forms that you use with clients, you can simply create a new form template by clicking on the "+ New Template" button on the templates page. You'll have to import your existing form into Practicepicnic by manually creating it using the form builder.

If you'd like us to import your existing forms for you, just send us an email at support@practicepicnic.com with the PDF or DOCX file of your form and we'll do the rest!

Configure online booking page

Next, let's set up your online booking page so that clients can book initial appointments themselves. Online appointment booking is currently only available for the initial consultation service type.

Navigate to Settings > Initial Consultation.

There you'll be able to enable your initial consultation booking page by clicking on the "Yes" selection button.

Before moving forward, click the "Save" button at the bottom of the page to save your changes. Your initial consultation booking page will only be enabled once you click "Save".

On this page, you can also update your initial booking availability. This will control when clients can book appointments with you. You can also update the duration of your initial consultation. By default, this is set to 15 minutes. And you can update the minimum notice you require before an appointment is booked.

Once the booking page is enabled, potential clients will be able to book initial consultations with you online. To see a preview of your booking page, click on the "Open" button next to the link of your page.

Add this link to your website or share it directly with clients wot allow them to book consultations.

When a client books an appointment, you'll receive an email that looks like this. If you'd like to accept the booking, just click on the link in the email. If you'd like to reject or coordinate another time, you can contact them using the information in the email.

Appointments only get added to your calendar once you accept them.

Update your service types

Now, let's update your service types. These service types are linked to your appointments and are used in your billing documents.

Navigate to Settings > Services.

Here, you'll see a list of our default services. You'll notice that each service by default has a billing rate of $0.00. Update these rates with your practice's rates by clicking on the Edit button next to each service. If the service type that you're looking for is not listed, click on the "+ New Service" button to add it.

Configure online payments

Practicepicnic partners with Stripe, the industry leader in payment processing, to provide a secure way for you to collect payments from your clients online. After set up, you'll be able to accept payments from all major credit, debit, HSA, and FSA cards.

Follow these steps if you'd like to use Practicepicnic to charge client credit cards. If you only accept payments in cash, check or via another payment processor, you can skip these steps. Note that you can still track those payments in Practicepicnic to keep everything organized.

First, navigate to Settings > Online Payments.

Then, click on the "Set Up Online Payments" button.

You'll need a Stripe account to collect payments from your clients using PracticePicnic. If you already have a Stripe account, you can simply connect it to your PracticePicnic account. If you do not, you will have to create one.

Click on the "Continue to Stripe" button to connect to Stripe.

You'll be taken to the Stripe website to complete the rest of the setup.

Enter your email address and click "Submit".

If the email you entered is associated with an existing Stripe account, you'll be asked to log in to your Stripe account and connect it.

We're going to assume that you don't have an existing Stripe account for this set up. In this case, you'll be asked to create a password for your new Stripe account. This password does not have to be the same as your Practicepicnic password.

Enter a password for your account and click "Submit".

You'll have to enable two factor authentication for your account before continuing. The easiest way to do this will be using your phone number.

If you know what you're doing here, feel free to use an alternative method. But for most people, using your phone number is the easiest way to set this up.

In the following screen, you'll have to enter your phone number. You'll receive a text with a code. Enter that code back into the text box they provide.

Once you've verified your phone number, you'll be asked to save your emergency backup code. This code can be used to regain access to your Stripe account if you ever forget your password or lose your phone. We recommend saving this code in a secure location.

Click "Next" when you've saved the code.

Next, you'll provide some information about your business. First, enter your business location and business type.

The location will be United States. If you have not filed paperwork to register as a business entity, then your business type is likely to be Individual. If you have, select Company from the dropdown and enter the relevant details.

Click "Continue" once you're ready.

On the next page, depending on what business type you selected, you'll be asked to provide additional details necessary for regulatory purposes. Fill those details out and click "Continue" when you're done. The exact details you'll have to provide will depend on your business type, but eventually, you'll arrive at the business details page.

On the business details page, you'll be asked to fill out a few fields.

• Industry: This will likely be "Mental health services" in your case.
• Your website: If you have a website, you can enter it here. If not, you can provide the link to your Practicepicnic booking page.
• Product description: Here is a starting point for this field: "Providing psychotherapy and mental health counseling services to clients through virtual and in-person sessions. Clients book sessions in advance and are charged on a per-session basis." Customize as you see fit.

Once you'll filled in the fields, click "Continue" at the bottom.

Next you'll configure your payout and customer statement details. On each page, fill out the details requested and click "Continue" at the bottom until you arrive at the final review page. Once here, make sure everythiing looks good and then click the "Agree and submit" button.

Once everything is complete, you'll be redirected back to Practicepicnic. You should see a message saying "Online Payments Enabled". This means you've successfully set up your Stripe account and are ready to start accepting payments from your clients.

Importing data

Follow the instructions for your system below to import data into Practicepicnic.

From SimplePractice

Log into your SimplePractice account and navigate to Settings > Practice > Data Export.

Once there, click on the "Start Export" button on the top right of the page. This will bring up a dialog box where you can select which data you'd like to export. Select "All clients in the practice".

This will bring up another dialog box where you can select the type of data export you'd like to perform. Select "Complete".

Leave the password field checked and click on the "Export" button.

Generating your export will take a few minutes. You'll receive an email notification when the file is ready to download. After receiving this email, return to Settings > Practice > Data Export, where you'll see a link to download the file to your computer

Your data export's password will be displayed on this page as well. Copy it somewhere safe for now. You'll need it when you import your data to Practicepicnic.

Now, on Practicepicnic, navigate to Settings > Import Data.

Upload the ZIP file that you downloaded from SimplePractice. Make sure that SimplePractice is selected in the source dropdown.

In the additional information text box, paste the password that you copied from SimplePractice. Paste the password and nothing else in this field.

Then click the "Import" button.

Importing will take a few hours. You'll receive an email notification when the import is complete.

From other systems

If you're using a system other than SimplePractice, please contact us at support@practicepicnic.com and we'll help you get set up.

Automate notes with AI

You can (with your client's permission) use AI to generate drafts of progress notes for you. Please note that AI note generation is not perfect and you should properly review all generated notes before signing them.

The default Informed Consent template includes text that informs clients that you may record sessions for use with Practicepicnic's note generation tools. We recommend calling out this section to your clients explicitly so that they understand what you're doing.

Here is relevant section from the Informed Consent template:

Assuming you have client consent, the first step in using AI to generate notes is to go to the client's documents page.

Open up your client's record by searching their name in the search bar or by finding them from the Clients page. Once inside, click on the Documents tab.

From the Documents page, click on New Document > Create AI Document.

You will be asked to grant permission for Practicepicnic to use your microphone to record the session. The exact message you see will depend on your browser. Here is an example from Google Chrome. Allow access to your microphone.

You will be able to configure a few settings from this page:

• Microphone: The microphone that you'd like to use to record the session. By default, Practicepicnic will use the primary microphone on your device. This is usually what most people want. You can also choose to record from an audio input device if you have one.
• Setting: By default, Practicepicnic will assume you're doing an in-person session. If you're doing a telehealth session, select Telehealth from the dropdown.
  • Telehealth without headphones (recommended): If you're not using headphones for telehealth, Practicepicnic will be able to record the session audio directly from your device's speakers.
  • Telehealth with headphones: If you are using headphones, Practicepicnic will ask you to select the tab on your browser where the telehealth session is taking place. For eg: Google Meet, Doxy.me, etc. The audio will be recorded from there in that case.

Note that Telehealth with headphones is currently experimental. We recommend using the Telehealth without headphones setting.

While you can use the AI note generation tools on mobile devices, we recommend using a computer for the best experience. If you do choose to use a mobile device, make sure that the screen timeout is set to never. This will prevent the screen from turning off while you're recording.

Once you've configured the settings and you're ready to start the session, click on the "Begin Recording" button.

Once you click the "Begin Recording" button, Practicepicnic will assume the session has begun and start recording.

Make sure your device does not fall asleep while recording. The recording will stop if your device sleeps. On Windows and MacOS, you can prevent your device from falling asleep or locking from the operating system's settings. If you need help with this, please contact support@practicepicnic.com and we'll be happy to help you out. Or if you don't want to do that, you can just move your mouse every once in a while to keep the device awake during session.

Once you're done with the session, click on the "End Session" button. The recording will stop and you'll be asked to select which type of note you'd like to generate. Select the note type and click "Generate Document".

Your note will take a few minutes to generate. Check back in a bit to see the note.

In a few minutes, your AI generated note will be ready for you to review and sign.

Delete your account

If you'd like to delete your account, please contact support@practicepicnic.com and we'll delete your account. No questions asked.