We are gathering insight into understanding what clinicians need to make it easier for clients to access them instead of ChatGPT for therapy.
Built for UK private practice therapists
Under 10 minutes
Research-led and privacy-conscious
Aggregate reporting only
The tools that were meant to free practitioners up have mostly added to the load. Compliance, scheduling, invoicing, clinical notes: each one necessary, none of them why you trained. Meanwhile, the space between sessions has quietly filled with something else. Clients are turning to AI chatbots to process what they cannot yet bring to the room. Not because those tools are better, but because they are there. This study exists to understand what it would take to change that.
Running a practice means carrying a second job nobody described in your training. Compliance obligations, record keeping, invoicing, chasing payments: the administrative weight of private practice falls entirely on you. We want to understand how much of your week that actually takes, and what it costs you clinically when your attention is divided before the session even begins.
Most practitioners have assembled their own patchwork of tools, none of which talk to each other. Scheduling here, notes there, payments somewhere else. We want to understand what you are actually using, what you are paying for it, and where it falls short of what you need to run a practice with confidence and focus.
Between appointments, clients are not waiting. They are processing, struggling, and increasingly turning to AI tools to fill the silence. Not because those tools offer therapeutic value, but because they are instant and available. We want to understand how practitioners currently think about continuity of care, and what it would mean to have a way to stay meaningfully connected to a client’s experience without adding to your workload.
How much time practitioners lose each week to scheduling, notes, follow-ups, and the operational work surrounding care.
What software therapists use, what they pay for it, and where current systems still fall short in practice.
Whether the time between appointments is clinically significant, and how practitioners currently manage continuity beyond the session itself.
What would make practitioners consider switching, and what a genuinely useful platform would need to offer.
An AI-native practice management and EHR platform built exclusively for mental health professionals in private practice. One system that handles the operational side of running a practice, while keeping the focus where it belongs: the human connection.
Because no one has asked. There is no published data on how UK therapists in private practice experience their tools, their admin burden, or what happens to clients between sessions. This study will change that, and the findings will shape what Naustec builds.
Every existing platform was built for the appointment. Naustec is built for what happens around it. That includes the space between sessions, where continuity often breaks down, emotional struggle can go unseen, and current tools offer nothing beyond silence. We believe that space is clinically significant. This research will help us prove it.
This study is being conducted to better understand how private mental health practitioners in the UK manage administration, current software, and the space between sessions. The aim is to contribute to credible, publishable insight.
Findings are intended to be reported in aggregate, with no respondent-identifying information included in public outputs. The research is designed to be useful, credible, and respectful of participant trust.
A short survey, a clear privacy framework, and a research process designed to keep participation relevant, focused, and responsibly handled.
This study is intended for UK-based therapists in private practice, including solo practitioners and small group practices. It is most relevant to professionals registered with BACP, UKCP, or BABCP, as well as those working toward registration.
The study explores administrative burden, current software use, technology gaps, the between-session period, and what would make practitioners consider a better solution.
No respondent-identifying information is intended to appear in published findings. The study is meant to be handled in a way that is credible, citable, and respectful of participant trust.
The survey is designed to take under 10 minutes to complete, with a structure intended to stay focused and manageable.
Findings are intended to contribute to a UK-focused report on private mental health practice and may also support Naustec’s wider research and evidence-building efforts. Results are designed to be reported in aggregate.
Naustec is building an AI-native practice management and EHR platform for mental health professionals in private practice, and this study is being conducted to better understand the operational and clinical realities practitioners face today.
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