One platform for an entire counselling practice
Shake Counselling is a youth mental health practice in Victoria with a growing team of practitioners serving hundreds of young people. They needed a single platform that could replace fragmented tooling, consolidate their data, and give the team visibility into every corner of the practice.
The opportunity
The practice was using capable off-the-shelf tools, but as the team grew, so did the need for workflows tailored to how Shake actually operates — session planning tied to Outlook calendars, invoicing wired directly into Xero, NDIS billing that matches their specific plan manager requirements, and a lead pipeline connected to their marketing sites.
The goal wasn't to replace what worked. It was to build an integrated ecosystem around the practice — where every system talks to every other system, data flows automatically, and the team spends their time on care instead of admin.
What we built
Three production applications — practice management admin, the Shake Counselling marketing site, and ShakeState breathwork platform — all feeding into a unified database with full data migration from the legacy system.
Data migration and custom database
Complete migration from the legacy system with full data integrity — client records, session histories, practitioner profiles, and financial data. A purpose-built PostgreSQL schema with 38 models designed around how the practice actually operates.
Calendar planning and session management
Bidirectional Microsoft Outlook sync every 15 minutes via Microsoft Graph. Practitioners manage their daily schedule, session notes are stored against each appointment, and calendar changes propagate across both systems automatically.
Xero invoicing and payment tracking
Sessions flow directly into invoices. Six automated workflows handle generation, approval, Xero sync, reconciliation, NDIS formatting, and email delivery — all linked back to the calendar so every session is accounted for.
Session notes and clinical records
Practitioners write session notes directly in the platform. Notes are stored securely against client records, searchable, and linked to the session timeline — giving the practice a complete clinical history without external tools.
Lead management and automated communications
Enquiries from the marketing site feed into a built-in CRM. Automated nurture sequences, session reminders, and email flows run on schedule — reducing the admin load on the team and ensuring no lead goes cold.
ShakeState breathwork platform
A standalone booking and membership system for the practice's 9D breathwork program — with its own user base, Stripe payments, six session themes, and a member portal.
The outcome
Shake now runs on a single platform purpose-built for their practice. Session planning, clinical notes, invoicing, Xero reconciliation, payroll, lead management, and automated communications all operate from one system. The practice has a foundation they can continue building on — with full visibility into bottlenecks, opportunities, and the operational health of the business.
“It was only two weeks before I started to see the difference for my business. Initially I would only get 5 emails via my website a month, now I am getting 5 emails a week for referrals.”
Jaxsyn Scholes
Founder, Shake Counselling
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