Location: Adelaide, South Australia
Industry: Play Therapy
Team size: 12
The practice
2018 marked the dawn of a new era for play therapy. Back then, the concept of play therapy barely featured in conversations among parents seeking a specialist therapy approach for their children's well-being. However, driven by her passion for the field and armed with a Master's in Play Therapy, Renae Plueckhahn, a seasoned Kindergarten Director, embarked on a bold mission to establish Play Therapy SA.
Little did she anticipate the profound impact her initiative would have on the play therapy landscape. Fast forward to today, the seeds she planted six years ago have blossomed into a thriving enterprise, positively impacting clients right across Australia.
I started because there were few play therapists that I could find and nowhere to work. Play therapy was so new to South Australia, I decided to just jump into starting a private practice.
The challenge
Amidst their accomplishments over the years, Play Therapy SA encountered significant challenges until recently. Renae candidly shares the ongoing struggle faced by practitioners: grappling with the labyrinth of administrative tasks that often overshadow the essence of their work. From managing a full caseload to navigating the intricacies of invoicing and debt collection, the burden of administrative overhead loomed large.
Renae found herself resorting to her third practice management software in hopes of alleviating this burden, only to encounter missing functions each time. Play Therapy SA's journey mirrored this struggle, with Renae recounting the tedious days spent manually generating and tracking invoices. Such inefficiencies not only consumed valuable time, but also hindered the potential for growth and innovation.
It got to the point where I had to engage an admin assistant to create, send and follow up invoices manually, all of which took hours out of each day – and that was for invoicing alone.
The process of creating and collecting service agreements in Play Therapy SA's previous practice management software involved significant double handling. Additionally, utilising online intake forms proved to be time-consuming, as it called for manual data entry and preparation, highlighting the need for automation.
The solution
Taking note of the rapidly evolving features of splose over the years, Renae embarked on her journey to find what she hoped was her last practice management software. One that was truly all-in-one.
Tired of being bogged down in admin, I went on a journey again to start all the free trials of different practice management software. After exploring them all, splose came out on top and ticked all the boxes.
When asked about the most impactful features of splose, batch invoicing emerged as the clear frontrunner. Renae's team generates and sends over 150 invoices weekly, a task that once consumed hours (if not days) but is now achieved within minutes.
The implementation
Having navigated through the challenges of migrating between three different practice management software options in the past, Renae understands the hurdles of training her team and transferring data to a new system all too well. Recognising the need for assistance, the team opted to enlist the support of a virtual assistant company to handle the initial setup of splose, allowing Renae to concentrate on introducing her team to all of splose's exciting features.
For any new practice joining, you’ll need to set aside a week for setup, but once it’s set up, you’ll never have to worry about it again!
The results
Service agreements have undergone a remarkable transformation, now fully automated with digital creation. They include flexible signature options and automated communication logging.
Online intake forms have also been significantly enhanced, and are conveniently sent to clients online. Forms are pre-filled and client records are seamlessly populated.
Managing multiple practice locations has historically been a challenge. The customisable filters in splose for user groups and location filters simplify calendar management, while appointment colours and tags enable hands-off management.
splose progress notes streamline the creation of reports which were previously created with a mixture of different softwares. splose has transformed operations for Play Therapy SA, allowing them to focus on client care while maintaining administrative efficiency across locations.
For six years, Renae wanted to bring her vision to life, through a new initiative, Play Therapy Foundation, with a mission to provide accessible and effective play therapy services for children who have experienced trauma and support for their families, caregivers, and communities.
Without splose, I wouldn't have started Play Therapy Foundation – simply because I never had the time.
The future
Looking ahead, integrating AI voice-to-text technology into splose holds immense potential, enabling tasks such as completing session notes and transcribing conversations for intake notes with ease.
Renae’s use of AI in other products has already been invaluable and she envisions the benefits of using splose AI, underscoring the importance of leveraging AI to enhance client support. Plus, the ability to access and summarise previous client notes for comprehensive progress tracking, including generating end-of-year and NDIS-requested reports, presents endless possibilities for improving efficiency and, importantly, client outcomes.
Automation is going to be the key to everything a practice needs. Set and forget is what enables us to grow.
The final note
The vibrant and supportive community surrounding splose has enhanced Play Therapy SA's utilisation of the platform and provided valuable resources and connections.
There’s always chatter online about what software to use, and I tell every practice to switch to splose. The splose team are so approachable which shows that they truly care about their customers.
