The System I Wish I'd Set Up Before My First Client, Not Further Into Practice

A closer look at Spruce Health, the secure messaging system I use to run client communication, and why I'm sharing it now.

When I began seeing clients after graduation, I did not have a real system for how they would reach me between appointments. For the most part I started with email, then for convenience I would allow texting, particularly for acutes, so I could respond in a timely manner. I don't think I really put much thought into how I wanted my practice to run in the beginning. I just knew I wanted to be a "helpful" homeopath. A client would message me on WhatsApp, someone else would text my personal number. Another person would email me, and every so often something would land in my Instagram DMs. Because I was building a practice and wanted to be reachable and supportive, I answered wherever people found me, and for a while that worked well enough.

But as my practice got busier, I began to feel overwhelmed by it. I was managing clients across different time zones, which meant messages arrived at different hours, spread across multiple communication avenues I had to remember to check. I would recall that a client had told me something important and then lose several minutes scrolling back through my texts, a WhatsApp message, or an email, trying to find it. The communication itself had become a piece of information I had to track, on top of the case, and I found myself having more and more difficulty keeping everything straight. I would try to guide clients to use email for symptom updates and reserve text for logistics, like scheduling follow-ups, but it was easy for the lines to get blurred and for me to lose track.

When I started to receive photos from my clients, of their skin complaints, I realized that I didn't want sensitive health information on my personal texts. I knew the setup itself was the problem, not any particular conversation. My clients were not doing anything wrong, I just hadn't set everything up to serve them and myself in the best way.

After doing a bit of research into different platforms, a few came to mind, but I didn't need all the features that came with some of the systems, since I already had a system I was happy with for scheduling and invoicing. I just needed a better way to communicate.

I have been using Spruce Health for my client communication for a while now. I was initially hesitant to take on another subscription, but the decision was worth it and it solved two problems. The obvious one is privacy. Spruce is HIPAA compliant, and privacy is important when it comes to the transmission of sensitive health information. The less obvious problem was boundaries. Handing clients my personal number made it almost impossible to separate being available from being unavailable. I felt like I was always responding. If a message came through, I read it, and once I had read it, I was thinking about it, whether or not it was actually urgent. Long and short of it was, if I was awake and received a message, I was likely responding. Partly it was a "me" issue (boundaries) and partly I was worried I'd forget to go back later and respond.

I now have a dedicated business number with Spruce Health, without requiring a second device, that allows clients to text or message me directly and keep it all in one place within the app. No matter whether they contact me via text or via the app directly, everything comes together instead of scattered across the four or five channels I used to check. Clients can send photos securely when something visual matters to the case, and best of all I can leave internal notes for myself on a thread outlining the decisions I made or the steps I need to take. I use the internal notes feature to remind myself the remedy I gave and the aspects of the case that I am looking to see improvement with, so that I never forget in between follow ups. I can also schedule messages ahead of time for myself internally or for my clients.

Spruce costs nothing for the client. They access it by downloading the free app (USA), and once it is enabled, they can simply text my Spruce business number the ordinary way, and it syncs into the same thread, or they can message within the app. It's been so simple and effective.

The part that made the biggest difference for me is how Spruce handles family cases. Before Spruce, when I was working with a mother and her children, typically all of the communication came in via one text thread or email chain with mom. In some cases that meant the mom's own symptom updates, her daughter's, her son's, whatever came up about each of them, all sitting in the same conversation, in whatever order it arrived. I had to hold in my head, or dig back through the thread, which update belonged to which case. That gets harder, not easier, the more family members you are treating at once, and if you're like me, you see a lot of family cases. Spruce Health splits this out. Each family member gets their own thread, connected under the parent or guardian as the single contact, so the mother is still the one person I am coordinating with, but her case, her daughter's case, and her son's case each have a clean, separate conversation. And if the conversations do get mixed up, the information can be linked to the correct thread. I am no longer reconstructing three people's histories out of one mixed chat and that change alone was worth the subscription.

Why I'm sharing this now

Spruce is running a limited referral offer through September 13, 2026. Sign up for a paid plan through my affiliate link before then and you get a $48 credit. Getting client communication into one place in a HIPAA-compliant system helped me so much and the current referral offer is the best I've seen since I have been using the app.

If you're reading this after September 13 and the higher offer is gone, Spruce's still gives you $24 credit for signing up.

Try Spruce here (referral credit for you)

If your own setup currently looks like mine used to, spread across whatever channel a client happens to reach for, it is worth deciding how you want that communication to work before your practice gets busier. Fixing it with five clients is a lot easier than fixing it after your practice is busy.

I created Rubric Wise to talk about rubrics, repertory work, case taking, and building clinical confidence. In my WISE Pathway, I offer resources for those who are brand new to homeopathy all the way through to the practitioner level. I always wanted to talk about tools and resources too, no matter what stage you are at. I know that there is a lot of behind-the-scenes thinking that goes into becoming a practitioner that rarely gets mentioned. The systems that let you actually run the thing you trained for are just as real as the clinical work. Moving to Spruce was a big win for me. I just learned it a little later than I would have liked.

What does your own client communication setup look like right now?

Leah Bugg, LHP, CHP is a Licensed Homeopathic Practitioner and Board Certified Homeopath behind Rubric Wise, a repertory education hub for homeopathy students, home prescribers and practitioners.

Explore the WISE Pathway HERE

Explore Spruce Health HERE