Elena Carbone's path into private practice wasn't a conventional one. After a career in the federal government, she made a deliberate pivot, driven by a genuine desire to support people living with autism, ADHD, and chronic health conditions.

Guidance Occupational Therapy Services is built around that purpose: providing thoughtful, accessible OT support for people who have often spent years navigating complex systems with little help. Starting a private practice from scratch meant Elena had to wear every hat at once, clinician, administrator, bookkeeper, and everything in between.

The challenge

Coming from a government background, Elena was no stranger to systems and processes. But the world of private practice invoicing, NDIS billing, and client administration was a different beast entirely.

"I had difficulty understanding invoicing and how to streamline admin."

Without a practice management system built for allied health, these tasks were time-consuming and often unclear. Getting on top of the administrative side of running a practice felt like a constant uphill climb, before a single client had even been seen.

Choosing splose

When Elena started exploring her options, splose stood out for a simple but important reason: it looked like it would actually be easy to use.

"The layout and system looked easy to use."

For someone building a new practice without a background in Allied Health software, that first impression mattered. Elena didn't want to spend weeks learning a clunky system, she wanted something that made sense from the start.

The "aha" moment

Once inside the system, it didn't take long for Elena to find something that genuinely changed how she worked.

"I liked the ability to customise almost everything."

But it was one specific feature that really clicked: the ability to send templated emails directly from within splose.

"The ability to send emails via splose that you can template."

For a solo practitioner managing client communication on top of everything else, having professional, consistent emails ready to go, without switching between platforms or rewriting the same message repeatedly, was a quiet but significant win.

The outcome

The ripple effect of getting set up properly in splose has been tangible. What once felt like a source of confusion has become one of the smoother parts of Elena's day.

"I can invoice quickly and easily. Once things are set up, workflow happens easily."

That shift, from uncertainty and friction to speed and ease, is exactly what Elena was looking for when she made the move to private practice.

Advice for others getting started

Elena's advice to anyone considering splose is clear and practical: "Set up everything before onboarding clients."

It's a simple tip, but an important one. Taking the time to build out your templates, invoicing, and workflows before your calendar fills up means you're not scrambling to figure things out on the fly. Getting the foundations right makes everything that follows smoother.

What's next

With the administrative load now under control, Elena has her sights set on the bigger goal: doing more of the work she set out to do.

For Elena, that means less time buried in admin and more time focused on the clients who need her, people with autism, ADHD, and chronic health conditions who benefit most from having an OT in their corner.