Software for systemic therapists: families, couples and siblings in one schedule

Tuesday, 6 pm. Laura and Andrés, who split up a year ago, come in with their children: Leo, who is 12, and Vera, who is 9. It is their fourth family session; the last one was three weeks ago and the next one is three weeks away. Before sitting down, Andrés asks whether the invoice can be split, Laura wants to know if he has to sign the children’s consent form too, and you make a note that on Thursday you are seeing Laura and Andrés on their own, without the kids. That is an ordinary week in systemic work, and software for systemic therapists has to be built for it: for couples, families and siblings, not for a patient who always walks in alone.

This guide goes through what systemic practice asks of a practice management tool, with examples of how My Psico Agenda handles each point and the labels you will see on screen. At the end we also tell you what it does not do, so you can decide with the full picture.

What changes when the patient is a system

The American Psychological Association’s dictionary defines family systems theory as an approach that focuses on the relationships between family members who interact with one another. In Spain, the Spanish Federation of Family Therapy Associations (FEATF) has brought together fifteen regional associations that train in systemic and family therapy since 1991. If you want a refresher on the model, its techniques and when it is indicated, read our guide to systemic family therapy.

When it comes to running the practice, the difference shows up in very specific places:

• There are two, three or four people in the room, and each may play a different role: the one who books, the one who pays, the one who signs.
• With minors, consent comes from their legal representatives, and if the parents are separated it is wise to have both on board.
• The invoice does not always go to the person sitting in front of you. Sometimes they split it.
• Many systemic frameworks space sessions two, three or four weeks apart, and a session is not always an hour long.
• It is common to switch formats with the same family: one session with everyone, another with just the couple, another with the siblings.
• Centres often work in co-therapy, with two clinicians who need to see the same information.

A tool designed around the individual patient leaves you to sort all of this out by hand. One designed around the system has it covered from the start.

What software for systemic therapists should include

Before comparing tools, it helps to have a checklist in front of you. Good software for systemic therapists should let you:

1. Keep a couple in a single record, with both people’s details.
2. Open a minor’s record with the mother’s and father’s details, and include several siblings at once.
3. Collect informed consent from everyone who needs to give it, each person from their own phone.
4. Invoice whoever pays: one person, the other, or both, split down the middle.
5. Schedule sessions that repeat every week, every two, three or four weeks, or every month, with whatever length you use.
6. Send reminders and see straight away who confirms and who cancels.
7. Keep the clinical record and attach documents such as the genogram.
8. If you work in a centre, share a family’s details with your co-therapist without copying them by hand.

Let’s go through them one by one, with what you will find in My Psico Agenda.

Records that reflect the system: couples, minors and siblings

The patient record is where you notice most whether systemic therapy software understands how you work. My Psico Agenda has three ways of opening a record that go beyond the individual patient.

Couples therapy: two people, one record

When you tick “Couples therapy?”, the record asks for both people’s details: first name, surname and ID number (at least one of the two), plus a photo for each if you like. In the contact list and in the calendar the couple shows up as “Laura & Andrés”, with the 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 icon on their appointments, so you can tell at a glance that the slot is a couples session. It is one appointment, and it sits in both people’s record.

Minors: mother, father and who signs

With “Minor patient?” the record belongs to the child, and it stores the mother’s and father’s names, with their ID numbers if you have them. Right there you choose who the invoices are addressed to: the mother, the father, or split 50/50. The phone number and email on the record are the family’s, since they are the ones who receive the notifications. And if you see the mother and the child separately, each can have their own record even if they share a mobile: the app creates it and tells you who else shares that phone number.

Sibling therapy in software for systemic therapists

Inside “Minor patient?” you will find “Sibling therapy?”. Tick it, choose whether there are two or three of them and fill in each child’s details, with their photo. In the calendar the appointment reads “Leo & Vera” or “Martina, Jan & Noe”, with everyone’s photos stacked, and it is a single record with the mother’s and father’s details shared. This is where software for systemic therapists earns its keep: siblings who come in together no longer mean opening three records and typing the parents’ details three times.

A calendar built for spaced-out sessions

A systemic therapist’s calendar looks nothing like that of someone who sees each patient every Tuesday at the same time. So when you create the appointment you can tick “Recurring therapy” and choose how often: every week, every two, three or four weeks, or every month. You decide whether it runs for a set number of sessions or stays open-ended, in which case the app keeps the next five months of sessions booked.

The session length is whatever you use: 50 minutes, or 75 or 90 for a family session. If a date in the series clashes with another appointment, the app skips it and tells you which one it skipped, instead of booking two things at the same time. And when you change one session in the series, you choose whether the change applies to that one only or to that one and all the ones after it.

Every appointment has its “Therapy type”, and the list includes “Systemic Therapy”, “Family Therapy”, “Couples Therapy”, “Child Therapy” and “Adolescent Therapy”. That way the statistics later show how many sessions you have spent on each format. If you already use Google Calendar, the schedule syncs with your Google calendar.

Informed consent when several people are in the room

In systemic therapy, consent rarely comes from just one person. Spain’s Law 41/2002 on patient autonomy states that from the age of 16 there is no consent by representation, except for procedures that carry a serious risk; below that age it is given by the minor’s legal representatives, after hearing the minor. With separated parents, it is best for both to sign.

My Psico Agenda comes with templates for each case: one for couples, one for minors and one for siblings, which adapts on its own to two or three children. At the “Who signs?” step you choose whether the mother, the father or both sign, and each person gets their own link to sign from their phone. While someone is missing, the consent shows as pending with “Still waiting for…”, and once the last person signs, a PDF with every signature is generated and saved to the record. You can customise the clauses in Spanish, Catalan and English. There is more on how it works on the digital informed consent page.

Split invoices, addressed to whoever pays

When the session is for a couple or a minor, you decide in the record who gets invoiced: one person, the other, or split 50/50. “Split 50/50” creates two invoices, one for each person, for half the amount. In Spain, invoices are issued with VeriFactu, with the healthcare VAT exemption and the IRPF withholding where they apply, straight from the session. If a family prefers to pay in advance, you have session packs, and each person can see in their own area how many sessions they have left.

Co-therapy and teamwork in a centre

In many family therapy centres two clinicians see the same family, or one works with the couple and another with the children. On a centre plan, each therapist has their own calendar and the centre sees all of them. From the record, the centre can “Duplicate” the family into a colleague’s calendar: each of them gets their own record, but the two are linked, and personal details, billing details, the mother’s and father’s details, the couple’s details, the photo and the consents stay identical in both. The clinical record, the reason for consultation and the files are not copied, because they belong to each clinician.

Rooms count too: each appointment books its room, and the app warns you if that room is already taken at that time, which helps when the big room is the only one where a whole family fits. If you run a centre, the software for psychology centres page explains the plans and what the management side sees.

Clinical record, genogram and documents

Each record has its own free-text clinical history, and each appointment has a “Details / Notes” field for what happened in that session. You can attach the genogram to the record as an image or a PDF, along with reports and other documents. Files stay hidden from the family until you choose to share them, and then they appear in the patient area, which the family opens with a code and a PIN. From there they can also request a slot in your free hours, cancel a session and check their session packs.

What this software for systemic therapists does not do

• It does not draw genograms. Whatever you draw on paper or in another program gets attached to the record.
• It has no built-in video calls. If you work online, keep using the platform you already have.
• It does not record sessions and has no tools for observation teams.
• In a couple’s record, automatic reminders go to the first person’s phone.
• A record can hold a couple, or up to three siblings with their parents. For a bigger family, the practical route is the minor’s record with the parents, or one record per person.

How much software for systemic therapists costs

My Psico Agenda is paid monthly, with no lock-in. VAT is added to these prices:

• Semilla, €4.99/month: to get started, with up to 15 patients.
• Junior, €19.99/month: unlimited patients, plus more invoices and automatic reminders.
• Senior, €29.99/month: unlimited invoices and more reminders a month.
• Centre Mini, €99.99/month for up to 5 therapists, and Centre Super, €129.99/month for up to 15.

If you work on your own, the first month of the Junior plan is free with no card required, so you can try the software for systemic therapists with your real families before you decide.

How to get started without pausing your practice

1. Create your account and claim the free month from the welcome window.
2. Bring your patients over from an Excel or CSV file in Settings, or from Google Contacts.
3. Mark couples, minors and siblings in their records as they come in.
4. Set up each family’s series with “Recurring therapy” and the frequency you use.
5. Review the consent templates and send the signing links before the next session.