CounSol.com vs SimplePractice: Which is a better fit?

Jennifer: Hi, my name is Jennifer. I'm a licensed mental health counselor and private practice owner. I give council.com a five out of five. For more reviews like this, please click below. So before council.com in private practice, I researched a lot of different electronic health records and didn't use a different one in private practice in community mental health. I used a program called Avatar, which was a really large electronic health record system that wasn't really super user friendly. It was more designed for a really, really large agency and had much more kind of capacity and functionality than I needed in a small private practice setting. So in doing different research and kind of looking at simple practice, I looked at therapy notes, did a lot of things to kind of figure out which one had the most amount of functional applications that I was looking for. And so I kind of settled on Council was the best fit for my needs. So I chose council.com because it seemed to be the most user friendly. It had a lot of features that really worked for a private practice. I started as a group or as a solo practice and now I switched to a group practice and it's kind of implementation and utilization in both the solo and group practice really worked. I really liked the calendar integration as well as the scheduling and reminders for clients, making sure that they wouldn't miss sessions. And then recently, I've integrated all of my intake paperwork into their electronic format, so that clients can just fill out everything electronically. When it comes to documentation and billing and kind of accounting, it's really easy to stay on top of. It also has pretty handy kind of graphs and charts when it comes to finances, number of sessions, it kind of keeps track of a lot of things for you so that you can get a really good snapshot of kind of how your business and practice is doing. Not only in the moment, but over the course of the year, over the course of the last three years. So I really like that. I also can use it on my phone or my tablet or computer. And then recently, I've switched to becoming a group practice and I've been able to really easily train the staff that I work with now. So it's been really easy to teach, very easy to learn and it kind of... It's just really quite functional. So it's worked out pretty well. So in getting started with Council, it really was just a matter of kind of learning the system, which was pretty easy to do. It was just a matter of putting in clients, putting in some data. It works when you're really kind of small practice and small business and it's been easy to integrate into a larger practice where I have much more clients, I have staff now. It even has the option of having administrative staff to be able to utilize the system. So it was really just a matter of learning how the system works. They also have a really great customer service kind of aspect. I have someone who's kind of designed or who's assigned to working with me directly and so anytime I have a question of, "How do I fix this setting or can it work this way? Or how do I put in this form?" They have answered immediately, really within the same day, if not within the same hour. So having really an accessible kind of customer service person that I can directly reach out to, which I've done a bunch of times throughout the years has been really helpful. So that was a big part of the process and kind of just learning about the system and now it's just really quite easy to use. So it was a quick learning process. So and anyone considering using council.com, my first recommendation would be to do the trial period. You can try it out, I believe it's for 30 days for free, and you can really get an idea of what it's like to use the system and whether or not it's applications really match kind of your needs. So that I think would be the best kind of first step in really just figuring out whether or not that system kind of would work for your practice. So that would be my recommendation.

Laurie R.: Hi, I'm Lori, nurse practitioner and business owner, and I give SimplePractice a rating of five. For more reviews like this, be sure to click below. Before I found SimplePractice, I had tried several other software platforms, Kareo as well as Charm, and I just really love the simplicity and ease of use of SimplePractice. As a single practitioner and business owner, I don't have a full staff, so this really enabled me to be able to do everything, bill my clients as well as collect payments and document all their care, all in one simple, easy format. I really, after reviewing several other options, I've chose SimplePractice because I can use it on my mobile device, so I'm not locked to a desk. And we're all mobile these days, so I can use it on any mobile device and I can help them create appointments. I can see my clients. I can document. I can do it all from the app. And it makes my life so much easier, both business-wise, professionally and then, also, personally, because I'm not spending all my time locked away to a desk and in an office somewhere trying to keep up with everything. So it really, really did simplify my practice and my business. It was so easy to integrate this into my business, really basically just downloading the app and documenting, putting in all of my business practice information, and that was it. One of the simplest setups ever, and I don't have to worry about anything else because it's all right there. And so I'm not having to tell my clients, "Oh, wait. Let me get back to the office," because the office is always there with me on my phone, or my laptop, or my iPad. Super simple. If you're looking for a really efficient and easy to utilize software for your practice, I highly recommend taking a look at SimplePractice. Pop into the app store, look at it. You can download the free trial if even necessary to get a feel for it, take it for a test drive, so to speak. And I think you'll really be pleased with what they have to offer, the support services, but most importantly, the ease of use and the efficiency that it allows you to have to take back your life and your day.