🖥️ For providers using the Oasys web app. For adding an individual adult client, start with Adding and inviting clients.
This article covers the client and session types beyond one-to-one adults: minors with guardians, couples, families, and therapy groups. It shows how to set each one up, who can see what in a minor's portal, and where billing and access work differently.
In this article
1. The client types and how they differ
In Oasys, a client is always an individual person. "Couple" and "family" aren't a field on that person: they're containers that group individuals together, and "minor" is a setting on the person's account. A group is separate again: it's a therapy-group roster you build in My Groups, not something you pick when adding a client.
When you click Add new client in My clients, the account type options are Adult and Minor, plus Couple and Family if your practice has couples and families turned on.
Type | What it is | How to turn it on |
Adult | A standard individual client. | Always available. |
Minor | A child or dependent whose portal is reached by a guardian, by the minor's own login, or both. | Always available. |
Couple | Two partners seen together (a container linking two individuals). | Oasys turns it on for your practice. There's no self-serve switch (see below). |
Family | A family unit (a container of 1 to 10 individuals). | Same as couples: Oasys turns it on. |
Group | A roster-based therapy group with its own recurring sessions, created from My Groups → Create group, not from Add new client. | Turned on for your account first, then each provider switches on Group Therapy Sessions (see Group therapy). |
If Couple or Family doesn't appear
The options only show when couples and families are turned on for your practice.
Practice owners and Practice HQ users can contact Oasys support to ask for them. Everyone else should ask their practice owner.
Couples and families are created only from a provider's My clients. The Practice HQ Add Patient dialog doesn't offer them.
There is no "change client type" field
Because couples and families are containers, you don't convert a person's type on their profile. To see two existing clients as a couple, create a couple that links them (see Couples). To run a group, build a group roster (see Group therapy). The exception is minor, which can be switched in two specific situations (see Minors and guardians and When a minor turns 18).
Finding them in your list
Use the filter button at the top of your client list: All, Adults, Minors, or Couples & families.
2. Minors and guardians
A minor's account can be reached by one or more guardians, by the minor's own login, or both.
Creating a minor
Go to My clients → Add new client and choose Minor.
Enter the minor's first and last name.
Choose who signs in under Portal access: Guardian (a parent or guardian signs in for the minor), Minor (the minor signs in with their own email), or Both (each gets their own sign-in). You must pick one.
Fill in the email for each person who will sign in. For a guardian, also enter their name and Relationship (Mother, Father, Legal Guardian, Grandparent, or Other).
Set the portal areas (see Portal access for minors), then click Add client.
Each person who signs in gets their own portal setup email. You can add a second guardian anytime from the minor's profile.
Converting an existing client to a minor
You can convert a client to a minor only before a portal invite has been sent, and only for a client who was imported from another system or added as chart-only (Don't send a portal invite), whose date of birth is under 18 or not on file.
Click Send Invite Email on the client's profile. The Send Client Account Invite dialog shows a warning and a Convert to Minor button.
Click Convert to Minor and set up the guardian and portal areas.
Click Convert, set permissions, and send invites to finish in one step.
⚠️ Important: Once any invite has gone out, you can't convert the client to a minor yourself. Converting an already-invited client, or converting many clients to minors at once, is done by Oasys support. Contact support with each child's full guardian details ready, and send one list if several clients need converting.
Guardians: one or more, one primary
A minor can have one or more guardians, with exactly one primary: the main guardian on file, who gets the minor's account-setup emails. Other emails about the minor (messages, appointments, billing) go to whoever holds that portal area. Manage guardians from the minor's profile → Access tab:
Add guardian: enter name, relationship, email, and phone, and choose that guardian's portal access and areas.
Set primary: appears on a non-primary guardian when there's more than one.
Remove: revokes that guardian's login access to the account, including their access to documents and files shared with them. You can't remove the only way into the account. You'll see "This is the only way into the account. Add another guardian or give the minor their own login before removing this one."
Add self login: gives the minor their own portal login on the same account.
In the portal, a guardian can see all guardians but edit only their own entry (not their email, which is tied to their login). A minor with their own login sees the guardian list read-only.
Guardian vs emergency contact
These are separate. A guardian belongs to the minor's account and can be given a portal login with specific areas. An emergency contact is contact information on the Contacts tab, with no portal access. Adding one doesn't create the other.
3. Portal access for minors
Access to a minor's portal is split into four areas, set for each person who signs in:
Clinical info: treatment plan, AI insights, mood, diary and worksheets, health data, and sharing settings.
Messaging: provider message threads and practice messaging.
Scheduling: view, book, cancel, and reschedule appointments, and join telehealth.
Billing & insurance: invoices, payment methods, insurance, payer details, superbills, and good-faith estimates.
Only you (the provider) or Practice HQ set these; guardians can't change them. What the portal shows each person follows their areas, and Oasys enforces the same rule on its servers, so a person can't reach an area they weren't given.
How the areas are set when you add a minor
Only one person signs in (guardian or minor): they automatically get all four areas. You can adjust this later from the minor's profile.
Both sign in: a grid appears with a checkbox for the minor and for the guardian on each area. Every area must be checked for at least one person, and each person needs at least one area.
Why the Add client button is greyed out for a minor
The button stays disabled until the portal areas are complete. The message tells you what's missing, for example "2 portal areas not visible to anyone yet — check a box for each row" or "The guardian has no portal areas selected — check at least one box in their column."
Changing access later, and accounts waiting for setup
Change each login's areas on the Access tab and click Save permissions.
If a minor account was created but its permissions were never saved, it's waiting for setup. The tab shows "Select what each login can access, then save to activate this account and send the portal invites," and the button reads Save & send invites.
Until you save, nobody can sign in and no invites go out.
Messaging and appointments for a minor
You can message a minor when messaging is turned on for them and they have portal access.
A minor has one message thread, titled with the minor's name. Every login that holds Messaging reads it, usually the guardian.
The chat header names the people who read the thread: "Messages go to:" followed by each person, marked (guardian) or (own login). If no login has messaging access, the header says so.
The "hasn't signed up yet" notice in messaging clears once a login that can read the thread has signed up.
Appointment invites for a minor go to the people who hold Scheduling.
💡 Tip: Access is set per area, not per piece of content, and nothing changes automatically with age. If a guardian has Clinical info, they see everything in that area. To give a teen a private clinical space, give Clinical info only to the minor's own login.
4. The account switcher
When one login is tied to more than one account, for example a guardian who manages two children, or a guardian who is also a client, a Switch account control appears in the portal's top bar and menu.
Each account carries a badge: Self or Minor, plus Setup needed if onboarding isn't finished.
A login with only one account (for example, a guardian of one child who isn't a client) never sees the switcher. They're always in that child's account.
⚠️ Important: Everything a guardian does (adding a card, completing documents, paying invoices) applies to whichever account is active. To manage the child's billing, a guardian with more than one account must Switch account into the minor's account first. If they do it from their own account, it changes their own settings instead, with no warning. If a guardian sees "Your provider needs to finish setting up payments" but your payment setup is active, they're almost always in the wrong account, so check the Self or Minor badge.
If a guardian expects to see the child but doesn't:
The minor's permissions may never have been saved. The account stays hidden until you click Save & send invites (see Portal access for minors).
The guardian may not have portal access, or may not hold the area they're looking for.
The guardian's login may not be linked to the minor yet. Contact Oasys support if the above look right.
5. When a minor turns 18
You can turn a minor into a standard adult account with their own login, keeping the same chart so the clinical history stays intact. Nothing happens automatically at 18; it's your call.
Who can do it: the client's provider, from the minor's profile → Access tab → Convert to adult, or a Practice HQ admin or manager with permission to manage the caseload, from the Practice HQ patient drawer.
Click Convert to adult.
Enter the client's own email address.
Confirm with Convert and revoke guardian access (or Convert if there are no guardians).
⚠️ Important: Converting can't be undone from the profile. Every guardian loses access to the account, and the guardians are removed from the chart, along with their access to documents and files shared with them. A guardian login with nothing else linked to it (not a client, no other children) is deleted.
What else changes
A former guardian can stay on as the client's alternative payer, but they can't view any past history.
The client gets a portal invite at the email you entered. If they already had their own login with that email, they keep it.
When converting is blocked
Chart-only minors can't be converted. The button is disabled with "This chart-only client has no portal access to convert. Send a portal invite instead."
If the email already belongs to another login, you'll be asked for a different one.
Some imported accounts share login details with a guardian, or the client's login is linked to other accounts. You'll see a message asking you to contact Oasys support.
6. Couples
A couple links exactly two individual clients. It doesn't merge their accounts; each partner keeps their own profile.
Creating a couple
Go to My clients → Add new client → Couple.
Choose Existing client (search your list) or New person (first name, last name, email) for each partner.
Set a Display name if you want one. It defaults to the partners' names.
Pick the Account lead.
Click Add couple. Any partner without an account receives an email with login details.
Each existing partner must be your active client. If not, you'll see "Not authorized to attach this patient to a treatment unit."
A partner can be in more than one couple or family. You'll see a note like "Already in … You can still add them to a new couple."
You can't create the same couple twice. If an active couple with the same two partners already exists, you'll see "A couple with these partners already exists". Open the existing one instead. Archived couples don't block this.
Scheduling a couples session
Open the service's settings and check Couple under Can Be Scheduled For. Changes affect future bookings only.
Book from the couple. When choosing who an appointment is for, couples appear under their own Couples heading.
A couples-only service doesn't show in the normal one-client booking flow.
AI note-taking in couples sessions: transcription starts automatically only if every current member has AI Session Notes turned on in their Preferences. If any member has it off, it won't auto-start.
Who's billed
One partner is the Account lead and receives all of the couple's invoices.
Change the Account lead from the couple's Billing section. The change saves as soon as you pick a different person, and it moves invoicing, claims, diagnosis, and pricing to them.
A chart-only member, or a member who isn't active with you, can't be the Account lead.
The Billing enabled switch lets you pause invoices and claims for the couple.
Archiving a couple
Archiving hides the couple from your active list. Past sessions, notes, and invoices stay attached to it and are available from the archive, and each member keeps their own client chart. To restore, the Account lead must still be active with you.
7. Families
A family works like a couple but holds 1 to 10 members.
Go to Add new client → Family.
Name the family and set its first member as the Account lead.
Add other members afterwards from the family's profile with Add Family Member: an existing client, or someone who isn't a client yet, with their login access choice.
Billing works the same as couples: the Account lead receives invoices, with a Billing enabled switch.
You can't remove the Account lead until you've chosen another one, and a family must keep at least one member.
A family can't go over 10 members.
As with couples, you can't create a second active family with exactly the same members. A family with only its Account lead isn't checked, so one person can lead two families.
Adding an existing client to a couple or family is only allowed if that client is actively connected to you. If they're not on your caseload, you'll see "Not authorized to attach this patient to a treatment unit."
8. Group therapy
A group is a roster of clients you see together in recurring sessions.
Turn on groups and create a group service
Go to Settings → Clinical → Feature settings → Therapist features and switch on Group Therapy Sessions. This adds My Groups to your sidebar, a group appointment option to your calendar, and group services to your services.
Go to Settings → Scheduling → Default services, click Add Service → Add Group Service, and save it. Group services show a Group Session badge, and only group services can be used for a group.
If the switch is unavailable, you'll see why: "Group sessions are not currently available for your account" (contact Oasys support), or "Group sessions are not available while you are under supervision." Supervised providers can't turn on group sessions.
A service can't be switched between group and individual after it's created. To change it, create another service.
Creating the group
Click Create group in My Groups.
Set a Group Name, an optional Purpose, and a group Service Type. If none are listed, you'll see "No group service types — create one in Default Services first."
Add between 2 and 10 Members. Members must be clients you're the primary or treating provider for.
Add Co-facilitators if your practice has care-team delegation turned on. Every co-facilitator must be in your practice and have care-team view access to each member.
The group gets a persistent video room that's reused for every session.
Managing the group
As the group's primary provider, you can add or remove co-facilitators from Edit Group at any time, except while a group session is in progress or saved as a draft ("Finish or discard the in-progress draft before changing facilitators"). The same rule applies to changing members. Members are notified of the current roster.
A co-facilitator can schedule, reschedule, cancel, or delete group appointments that haven't started, view the group, and join a telehealth group session. Starting the session, taking attendance, editing group observations, finalizing, signing, and billing stay with the primary provider.
You can only delete a group that has no sessions and no booking history. Otherwise you'll see a message saying you can't delete it.
Running a group session
Group sessions are telehealth or in-person only (no phone).
You mark each member present or absent. Absent members can carry a no-show fee but get no clinical note or claim.
Notes have two levels: shared Group Notes, plus a note for each attended participant.
Generate notes creates an AI draft note for each attended participant, usually in 1 to 2 minutes. The template, Therapeutic Modalities and Additional Instructions you choose in the note settings apply to every attended member's note. If you clear the modalities or instructions, the notes are generated without them.
If you save the session as a draft, you aren't asked for note settings. You choose them when you generate notes later from My Groups.
Review and edit each note, then use Sign and Lock All Notes to sign them in bulk.
9. Billing across client types
Who gets billed depends on the client type.
Couples and families are billed to the single Account lead. Other members aren't billed directly.
Groups are billed per attendee. Each attendee's charge follows their own billing type (cash-pay or insurance), and every group charge is attributed to the group's primary provider, even if a co-facilitator was there.
Group claims use the CPT code set on the group service, such as 90853 for group psychotherapy. If the service has no CPT code, the group session shows Not set, so add one to the service before billing. Absent members with a no-show fee show up as unbilled items.
Because group billing is tracked per attendee, Waive Payment and Edit Amount & Type aren't offered on group rows in Bill sessions. If a group row was waived by a pricing rule, the Waived tab shows "Group recovery unavailable". Restore it through the attendee-level workflow instead.
Minors are billed inside the minor's account. Whoever holds Billing & insurance (usually the guardian) adds the card and pays there, using the account switcher if they have more than one account, and receives the minor's billing emails. See Setting up billing for the full minor, alternative-payer, and card-on-file flow.
Two parents or split billing
If both parents have portal access to the minor, you can send a Card on File Request to each guardian's login at the same time. Each guardian can have their own request open.
If you're collecting a card from someone outside the portal (an external payer), only one external-payer card request can be open per client at a time ("A card-on-file request is already waiting for an external payer"). Wait for the first to complete before sending the next.
A client can have several cards on file once added. The limit is only on pending external requests.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the same email rejected when adding a client?
Each adult client needs their own email; you'll see "A patient with this email already exists." An adult client's email can also be used as a guardian email for a minor, and one guardian email can cover several minors.
These are blocked:
The email of a chart-only client who hasn't been invited. Send that client a portal invite instead.
An email already used as a guardian email for a minor, when you're adding an adult.
A minor's own email, if that email already has any login.
Emails that belong to provider or practice staff accounts ("This email cannot be used for a portal login.").
Can I turn an individual into a couple or family myself?
If couples and families are turned on for your practice, yes: create a couple or family that links the existing clients (see Couples and Families). If those options don't appear at all, they aren't turned on for your practice. Practice owners and Practice HQ users can contact Oasys support; everyone else should ask their practice owner.
Why can't I pick a group service?
You need a group service first (see Group therapy). If you're a practice admin and group services you create don't show up, contact Oasys support.
What if I created a duplicate couple or family by mistake?
Oasys blocks creating a second active couple or family with the same members. If you already have a duplicate, archive the one you don't use.
Who reads my messages to a minor?
Every login on the minor's account that holds Messaging. The chat header lists them after "Messages go to:". Change who has it on the minor's Access tab.