Your client portal, explained

To-Do tab — once an order reaches the lab, the Lab work section lists each test, any preparation instructions, and how to schedule with Quest Diagnostics online or by phone.

To-Do tab → Check-in section — share how the week went before your visit. About two days before each session (or as soon as it is booked, if that's closer) a 'Check in before your session' card leads Home and To-Do, and a one-time pop-up offers 'Check in now'. Your answers are saved as you go.

No — screenings under Assessments, the Check-in under To-Do, records-release and form requests under Documents & forms, and worksheets under Library all save as you type; a line under the form reads 'Your answers are saved as you go.' Come back later on any device and pick up where you left off; pressing Submit sends the answers and clears the draft. A message is sent or it isn't, and a signature is always typed fresh at the moment you sign.

Anything your provider gave a due date has passed that date and is not finished yet. To-Do and the Worksheets section of Library show the same wording, so they always agree. Nothing is closed or withdrawn when it goes overdue — open it and finish it whenever you can, or send a message if the timing does not work.

Appointments tab — pick from your provider's real openings. Every request is reviewed by your care team, and you get an email and a portal notification when it is decided; if the practice confirms, moves or cancels a visit, you are told the same way. When you ask to cancel, you can add a reason if you like — your care team reads it with your request, and it isn't included in any email. Video visits are joined from the appointment itself at visit time.

Press 'Join session' — on Home, or on the Appointments tab — from about 30 minutes before the start. It is the only way in, and it appears only when your visit is close. On every device — computer, phone or tablet, in a browser or in the Northwest Psychiatry app — the visit opens right here in the portal, never in a separate browser tab, and a shared game appears beside it. You can keep using the portal during the visit: the video moves to a small window and stays connected, and 'Back to your visit' brings it back. On a phone or tablet you can also fill the screen with it: tap 'Expand video', and 'Back to portal' at the top to shrink it again; from any page, 'Return to visit' at the bottom of the small window fills the screen again. A computer keeps the small window and the game beside the video instead. Moving around the portal never hangs up — 'Leave visit' does. Signing out or leaving the portal ends the call, so the portal asks first. Allow camera and microphone when asked, then wait until your provider admits you. If you moved a visit, or asked for one, and the practice hasn't confirmed the new time yet, the Telehealth screen says so instead: 'Join session' appears once it's confirmed, and if it's already time, 'Message the practice' lets them know.

It appears on the Appointments tab, Telehealth section, while your visit is open. On a computer, or a tablet turned sideways, it sits beside the video with nothing to click. On a phone, or a tablet held upright, tap 'Join game' at the bottom of the screen, on any page: the game fills the screen with your provider in a small video in a corner (drag it to any corner); 'Show video' and 'Back to game' switch between the two, and 'Back to portal' closes the game's screen. None of them hang up, and the call keeps running either way. "Open full screen" opens it in its own browser tab. A few activities cannot run inside the portal; those say so and open in their own tab too — your video stays in the portal's tab, so keep that tab open. If your provider shares Minecraft, a card appears instead of a game — where to join and the Minecraft name to look for — because you play from your own copy; add your Minecraft name under Settings → Profile & contact so they can invite the right player. When your provider ends a game, it leaves your screen. A game they start when your visit is not open waits at the top of your portal instead, with a Join game button.

Your visit runs on Doxy.me, which picks its own microphone and speakers — usually your device's default — so choose them inside the video. While you wait to be admitted, hover over your own video and click the three dots (⋮); on a phone or tablet, tap the gear at the top left of your video. Once the visit has started, click or tap the video to show its buttons, then the gear or the three dots on the bar at the bottom, and pick your microphone and speakers there. During a visit, 'Sound not right?' on the Appointments tab's Telehealth section shows these steps. Sounding muffled, like talking underwater, is usually a Bluetooth headset: when its own microphone is used it switches to a low-quality hands-free mode, so pick your computer's built-in microphone and keep the headset for listening, or use wired earphones. Close other apps that use your microphone, such as another video call, and press 'Reconnect' if it is still not right. Before a visit, 'Check camera & microphone' lets you pick and test your microphone and speakers.

My treatment tab — your diagnoses and goals are listed there, and when your provider has a treatment plan ready for you, a 'Review & sign your treatment plan' panel appears on the tab. What you sign is saved and visible to your provider.

Medications tab → find the medication → "Request refill". Status shows in the same tab. Allow 1–3 business days.

Medications tab → 'Download signed order (PDF)' on a current medication. Each press makes a fresh signed copy with its own serial number, on the practice's letterhead. For most medications it is a prescription a pharmacy can use as a backup to the electronic one; for a controlled medication it is marked as a record copy that a pharmacy cannot fill from — those prescriptions must reach the pharmacy electronically or hand-signed — so it is for your own records. Stopped medications have none.

My record tab — pick the section at the top.

Assessments tab → Food, if your care team has set up a food tracker for you. Add what you ate to each meal, pick small, your usual or large, and say how the day felt. If your tracker uses colors, each food shows green, yellow or red for how much nutrition it gives for its calories — there is no calorie counting, and no food is off-limits. Your care team can read what you save, and may share a suggestion or two, which appear at the top; tell them whether you'll try each one. If you have a meal plan in Food for Mood, From your meal plan adds a planned meal's foods in one tap, and a meal you log shows on your plan as In your food journal. No Food button there means your care team hasn't set one up; you can ask them in Messages.

Assessments tab — anything assigned shows there with a Start button.

Assessments tab — press Start on the AQ-50. Complete the AQ questionnaire from the Autism Research Centre (the screen links it), then choose the box you marked for each numbered statement; all 50 are needed before you can submit. No score appears afterwards: your provider scores it and goes over the result with you.

Assessments tab — Daily log or Cycle at the top.

Journal tab, just below Assessments. Choose what kind of entry: 'Write freely', 'Guided prompt', 'Mood check-in' or 'Three good things'. Entries are private to you unless you choose to share one with your provider. An entry is about today unless you say otherwise: under 'This entry is about', tap 'Yesterday' or pick any day up to 90 days back, and you can change an entry's day when you edit it. What you're writing is saved as a draft as you go, so you can finish it later on any device.

Journal tab. Tick 'Share with my provider' before you save, or press 'Share' on any entry later — and 'Unshare' to make it private again. A shared entry can be read in your chart by Nicholas and the clinical staff on your care team; everything else stays private and never appears in your chart. If an entry you share mentions wanting to harm yourself or someone else, your care team is alerted — and the crisis numbers appear on screen as you write, whether or not you share.

Journal tab, then 'Dot journal' at the top. Log short bullets — a task, an event or a note, marked as a priority or an inspiration if you like — under 'Today', 'This month' or 'Future'. 'Collections' holds your own lists and a habit or mood tracker. At the start of a month, tasks still open from before are offered: 'Move to this month', 'Schedule' or 'Let go'. Everything is private unless you share a bullet, or a whole collection.

Journal tab, then 'Insights' at the top: your mood over time, what went with better days, and words you come back to — worked out on your device and seen only by you. 'Journal settings' turns on gentle streaks (off unless you choose them), hides your entries until you press 'Show entries', and turns on caregiver mode for a grown-up helping a younger writer. 'Download (PDF)' or 'Download (text)' saves a copy of your entries to your device.

Routines tab, under How I'm doing in the menu (on a phone, tap More). Start from a ready-made routine — mornings, bedtime, homework or study, leaving the house, starting work — or from blank, and make it your own. Press Start and it shows one step at a time with a picture and a clock that runs down — silent unless you press Sound. You can also set one up as a checklist to tick off in any order, or run just its essential steps on a hard day. The routines set for today also wait on Home, each with 'Start', 'Mark done' (for a routine you did without the portal) and 'Not today'; nothing there counts against you, and a missed day is not a failure. If your care team suggests a routine, it waits at the top of Routines: add it, change it first, or tell them it's not for you. Routines send no texts or emails — today's wait for you on Home — and your care team can see how they are going, to help you shape them. A routine can also have a reminder, set under 'Reminder' when you make or change it: 'At a time' (repeating until it's done, if you like) or 'Every few hours'. It comes as a notification from this app or your browser and doesn't say which routine.

Open Progress and choose Wellness snapshot, then 'Create my snapshot'. It reads your own record and writes a plain-language summary — trends, things to talk about, an overall wellness score. Every snapshot says which kind it is: ones your care team shared with you have been reviewed by them, and ones you create yourself have not been read by anyone, though your care team can see them. There is a limit on how many you can create in a day. It is for your own understanding, not a diagnosis — bring anything that worries you to Nicholas directly.

Games & tools tab. The practice's own games and activities need no sign-in, show no advertising and stay silent unless you press a game's Sound button, and a shared board is kept for a day, then gone. Open one right in the portal or full screen. In Sand Tray and Sand Art, 'Keep a picture' makes a picture of what you built on your own device, to download there — nothing is sent to the practice; if the download does not start inside the portal, open the activity full screen. In Blockcraft, the ? button in the world shows its controls for your mouse and keyboard or your touchscreen, and lets you change them. Two-player games have a Play together button: it gives you a six-character code, and whoever opens the game with that code (or the copied link) shares your board; on the Games & tools page, "Have a game code?" opens one. Life Chess, Life Checkers, Connect Four: Actions & Consequences and Feelings Battleship can also be played against the computer, at easy, medium or hard. The computer stays on your screen and is not shared; those games can also add check-ins and coaching between rounds, which are never saved. Key Cruiser, the typing game (it used to be called Typing Road Trip), has letters, words and sentences for every age, a road trip, a one-minute sprint or an untimed zen drive, and a vehicle you choose. Key Cruiser keeps your recent drives and best scores on the device you play on, so you can watch your progress and practice the keys you miss most — they are never sent to the practice, and 'Clear my scores' removes them. If your provider shares a game during a video visit, it appears on the Appointments tab's Telehealth screen on its own. A game your provider starts for you is pinned at the top of this page, and offered at the top of every other page, with a Join game button — one tap, on a phone or a computer; when your provider ends it, the portal says so. When a game asks you to write a thought or a sentence of your own, like a more balanced way to see a thought, what you type stays on your screen: it is never sent to anyone or saved. The tools that keep what you enter are different: what you enter in them is saved to your record, where your care team can read it. Nobody watches it around the clock — if you need help right now, call or text 988. Routines used to be here too; it has its own Routines tab now, and its card on this page opens it. The Sensory Toolkit is another: the practice's Sensory, Everyday workbook — twelve short pages, by age pathway, to notice what helps, choose one support and review what changed, with cards marked [Review] to discuss with your care team first — a short check-in — the practice's own questions, not a test — and, once your care team has approved it, your plan as a daily checklist where you tick what you did and say how much it helped. If your care team shares a school support plan, it opens from the Sensory Toolkit too: your child's school day with the supports in each part, the communication cards, the shared response the school follows, a log for what you see or what the school tells you, and a school copy to print — only the parts your care team chose to share. Apps your provider recommends from other companies open outside the portal, on the company's own site, with its own account and privacy rules; nothing from your record goes with them.

Library tab → Food for Mood. Under My preferences, choose what you'd like food to help with, which meals to plan, and how you cook; then press Plan my week for a week of recipes, a shopping list that names each food once, and a plan to download and print. Change, move or lock any meal, or make your own under Build a meal. Tap Not for me on a food, recipe or meal and pick a reason — it stays out of your plans until you press Bring it back, and the reason shapes the next plan. If you keep the food journal, I ate this adds a meal's foods to it. Allergies and medications in your chart are always taken into account, and your care team can see your plan — and can set what it focuses on, listed under My preferences beside your own choices. Food supports mood — it doesn't replace treatment.

Library tab → ERP workbook, if your care team has added one for you. It is the practice's Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) workbook for OCD, worked through with your clinician: open a page from the contents and write as much or as little as you like — your answers save as you go, blanks are fine, and the forms are not a test. Each page has Skip for now and Talk about it with my clinician. Your ladder there is your exposure ladder, on a 0–10 scale. The practice and log pages open after your clinician completes Safety, fit, and a shared plan with you, and you can record a practice only on a step your clinician approved. Your clinician can read what you write and may leave a note on a page. A section of its own, labeled CEDAR BOOKLET [C], quotes the CEDAR booklet Exposure and Response Prevention with the booklet's page numbers: what ERP is, the five conditions (the booklet's numbers are its guidance, never a rule the portal applies), ERP Symptom Monitoring Worksheet A to fill in, Worksheet B — your exposure ladder, most difficult first — and Worksheet C — your practice log, where a record can also hold a While preparing rating — Check a plan against the five conditions, which opens after your safety plan, and the Recovery Story of Eliana, a BOOKLET EXAMPLE [C] to read, never assigned to you. Beside the pages is the ERP companion, ERP, One Practice at a Time: seven steps that each open the workbook's pages, Check fit before a new practice — each prompt shows what to do the moment you tick it — and Lessons, examples and support, where every fictional example is marked Discuss first and is never assigned to you. While a prompt that pauses new practice is ticked, or your clinician has set the under-5 pathway, the pages for planning a new practice are read-only; recording what already happened stays open. If something you write sounds like you may not be safe, the page shows the crisis lines at once, and when it saves it is marked in your chart for your clinician. The workbook is not a crisis plan — if you are in danger, call 911, or call or text 988. No ERP workbook button there means your care team hasn't added one; you can ask them in Messages.

Library tab → Worksheets. To do holds what your care team sent that you have not started, In progress what you are partway through (with how many questions are answered), and Completed what you have finished, newest first. Opening one fills the screen: 'All worksheets' takes you back, the bar at the top shows how far along you are and that your answers are saved as you go, and 'Mark complete' is at the end.

Library tab → Worksheets → Completed — open it to read your answers back, then 'Download PDF' for a copy to keep or 'Print' for paper. The download button on the row saves it without opening it. A worksheet you have not finished has the same buttons, and 'View my answers' shows it read back. Each page carries the practice's name, the page number and the crisis lines, and the file is named only by its date, so nothing on your device's Downloads list says what it is about.

Library tab → ADHD workbook, if your care team has added one for you. It is the practice's ADHD, Everyday workbook for ages 4 and up, including adults — children and teens work through it with a caregiver or lead it themselves, and adults lead their own edition: start with one real-life goal, choose one support, make brief entries over two weeks, and review together. Open a page from the contents and write as much or as little as you like — your answers save as you go, blanks are fine, and each page has Skip for now and Talk about it with my clinician. Choose a fitting support shows suggestions from your answers, each with the reason it appeared. Print my summary saves a PDF to bring to a visit. Your care team can read what you write and may leave a note on a page, but the workbook is not watched minute by minute, and it does not change medication. In the adult edition you can mark Immediate safety yourself, and if something you write sounds unsafe, or mentions alcohol, drugs or driving, the page shows the crisis lines or suggests talking with your clinician. If there is immediate danger, call 911, or call or text 988. No ADHD workbook button there means your care team hasn't added one; you can ask them in Messages.

Library tab → Food for Mood workbook, if your care team has added one for you. It is a workbook, separate from the Food for Mood guide with its meal ideas and weekly planner: notice patterns, choose one practical support, try it, and review what helps. Open a page from the contents and write as much or as little as you like — your answers save as you go, blanks are fine, and each page has Skip for now and Talk about it with my clinician. Choose one support shows suggestions from your answers, each with the reason it appeared, and the optional two-week record draws a graph of your own 0–10 ratings. Your care team can read what you write and may leave a note on a page, but the workbook is not watched minute by minute. If you tick Seek medical help before a workbook experiment or Use a supported eating-care route, or write something that sounds unsafe, the page shows the crisis lines and it is marked for your care team. If there is an emergency, call 911, or call or text 988. No Food for Mood workbook button there means your care team hasn't added one; you can ask them in Messages.

Library tab → Thought Loops workbook, if your care team has added one for you. It is the practice's Thought Distortions & Thought Loops workbook: notice one difficult moment, choose a fitting response, practice, and review — you do not have to prove every thought wrong or finish every page. Open a page from the contents and write as much or as little as you like — your answers save as you go, blanks are fine, and each page has Skip for now and Talk about it with my clinician. Choose one support shows suggestions from your answers, each with the reason it appeared, and the optional two-week record draws a graph of your own 0–10 ratings. Your care team can read what you write and may leave a note on a page, but the workbook is not watched minute by minute. If you tick Get immediate support or Address what is happening around you, or write something that sounds unsafe, the page shows the crisis lines and it is marked for your care team. If there is immediate danger, call 911, or call or text 988. No Thought Loops workbook button there means your care team hasn't added one; you can ask them in Messages.

Library tab → Offline workbook. The practice's workbooks as files that work with no internet connection, one per workbook — ADHD, Everyday, Sensory, Everyday, Food for Mood and Thought Distortions & Thought Loops (the last two also as a fillable PDF), and one that is for the practice's clients, for use in their care, which downloads only while you are signed in — blank when you download them. Download one, open it in your browser, and write. What you write stays in that browser tab until you keep it: each file can save it in the browser on the device where you opened the file (Save & files → Save on this device, or Save / load → Save future changes in this browser), export your entries to a file, or print them. Nothing you write in them is sent to the practice or reaches your chart, and your care team does not see it unless you share an exported file or a printout. The workbooks in the portal are different — they save as you go, and your care team can read them. If you are in danger, call 911, or call or text 988.

Documents & forms tab → Consents section (medication-specific consents are in Medications).

Documents & forms tab → Forms section → the Request a form button. Say what it's for, attach the form if you have it (a PDF, or photos of its pages) and when it's due. If it should go straight back to someone, name them and tick the box that authorizes the practice to send it there. Each request says where it stands, and once your provider has signed it, Download completed form saves it to your phone or computer and View completed form shows it here.

Documents & forms tab → Records release section.

Documents & forms tab → Documents section → Upload a document. That is the secure way to send a filled-in form, and a PDF you typed into keeps its answers, so nobody retypes them. Please don't email a completed form — email isn't a secure way to send health information.

Billing tab, if you are set up for private pay — it shows your session fee; 'Pay for session' charges your card on file once you confirm the amount and the card (with no card saved, or with 'Use a different card', it opens Stripe's secure payment form); you can turn on automatic billing (the card you keep on file is charged after each visit, with a receipt); and 'Request a superbill' starts a message asking for one. If your visits are billed through Headway, Headway handles that billing and your receipts.

Billing tab → Outstanding. Each fee, any session charge your card couldn't take automatically, and any session fee the practice billed after your visit, has 'Pay now' ('Pay all' when there are several). Nothing is charged until you confirm: the next step names the amount and your card on file, and your bank may ask you to confirm it's you. 'Use a different card' opens Stripe's secure payment form for the same amount instead. If you think a fee shouldn't apply, send us a message before paying — your provider can waive it.

Messages tab — the secure, HIPAA-compliant channel. Never regular email for clinical questions. Each reply shows the name of the person on your care team who wrote it.

Safety plan tab — change any of the seven steps in your own words whenever you like. 'Download a copy' saves it as a file on your phone or computer, and Print is beside it; the crisis numbers are printed on every copy, so it works without signing in.

Settings tab → Sign-in & security. Under Recent sign-ins, press 'This wasn't me' on that sign-in, then 'Report and end that session'. That session ends right away, any device you allowed to stay signed in will ask for a new code, and the practice is told so they can look into it. Tick 'Also sign out everywhere, including this device' to end every session at once. The sign-in you are using now is marked 'This device' — sign out to end that one. Then protect the email account your codes go to.

Settings tab — pick the matching card (Profile & contact, Care & coverage, Notifications & reminders, Text messages).

Settings tab → Notifications & reminders, under 'How should we let you know when something needs you?'. Pick 'Email', or 'Portal only' if you'd rather check the portal yourself — then nothing emails or texts you when your care team messages you, sends something to sign or orders lab work. 'Email and text messages' and 'Text messages only' appear once appointment texts are on under Text messages. Press 'Save preferences'. Until you choose, a 'Choose how we let you know' item waits on To-Do and Home. Your sign-in codes and sign-in alerts are not affected by this choice.

Settings → Notifications & reminders, then 'Reminders for your day'. For each medication, choose under 'Remind me': your care team's times, 'At my own times' or 'Off' — and, if you like, 'Remind me again 30 minutes later if I haven't checked in'. You can switch on journal and meal reminders there too and pick their times and days; meal reminders are there only while your care team has the food tracker set up for you. Each routine's reminder is set on the routine itself, in Routines. Reminders come as notifications from this app or your browser — never as texts or emails — and never say which medication or routine they're about. They go to each device where you press 'Turn on' for notifications. If you use the Northwest Psychiatry app on a Mac or a Windows computer, press 'Turn on reminders on this computer' in the same place: the app shows your reminders as that computer's own notifications, even while it is closed, and signing out clears them. The Medications, Journal and Food tracker screens have a 'Reminders' button that brings you here. In the iPhone, iPad and Android apps you can add a Northwest Psychiatry widget to your Home Screen: it shows times and counts, and shows names only if you switch on 'Show names on my widget' in Settings → Sign-in & security on that device.

Settings tab → Payment & billing card. Your card is stored with Stripe, never here — 'Add a payment method' or 'Update payment method' opens Stripe's own secure page (the Billing tab shows the same card, with 'Update card'). Invoices from Stripe's checkout are listed on the same card. To PAY a session, a fee or a balance, use the Billing tab, where every payment is listed too.

AI features (like the Wellness snapshot in Progress, or medication explanations) need your AI consent — you can turn it on when prompted or in Settings, and turn it off anytime.

Settings tab → Connected health data card (shown when the practice offers Apple Health linking). Turn on the categories you want to share — sleep, heart, activity, body measurements — then, in the Northwest Psychiatry iPhone app, tap 'Connect Apple Health' and allow them on Apple's screen. Only daily summaries are shared, never continuous readings or your location. Time asleep, resting heart rate, HRV and steps are charted under Progress and on your chart beside your treatment; the newer summaries (sleep stages, exercise, mindfulness and daylight minutes, body measurements) are stored but not yet charted. Your care team reviews what you share as part of your care, and the practice's clinical analysis — an AI tool the practice uses under its business associate agreements — may summarize trends from it for your provider. It is never used for advertising and never sold. Turn a category off any time — sharing stops with the next sync — and 'Delete synced … data' removes what was already shared.

Open the Settings tab's Video visits card and press 'Check camera & microphone' — you see yourself, pick the microphone (and, in most browsers, the speakers) to use, watch a bar move when you speak, and press 'Play a test sound' to hear your speakers. Nothing is recorded or sent, and your choice is remembered on this device. The same check is on the Appointments tab's Telehealth section before you join. If your browser is blocking the camera or microphone, the check says how to allow them, and allowing them there is the answer your visit will need. The visit picks its own microphone and speakers, so the check also shows how to choose the same ones inside the video, and warns you when your pick is a Bluetooth headset's microphone, which can make you sound underwater. Every video visit opens right here in the portal when you press 'Join session', on every device, so there is nothing to choose about where it opens.