Problem
Most parents arrive at an occupational therapy website worried, busy and short on time. They've often been bounced between professionals and they want to know quickly: can this practice help my child, and how do I take the next step?
The practice wanted a site that felt warm rather than clinical, used plain language rather than therapy jargon, and made booking an initial conversation easy.
Process
I worked closely with the lead therapist on tone and content first, design second. The key shifts were:
- Replacing therapy-speak with parent language. "Sensory integration challenges" became "your child finds noisy or busy environments overwhelming," and so on.
- Front-loading the answer to "should I book?" — a short, honest "this practice is right for you if…" panel near the top of the home page.
- A single, low-friction contact form. Not a multi-step intake. Just enough information for the therapist to reply.
Visually I leaned into warm palettes, soft shapes, calm photography of the practice space — and still kept the build small, fast and accessible.
Outcome
The site launched in under three weeks. The lead therapist reports that parents arriving from the site come in with clearer expectations and the conversation starts further along. Enquiry-form conversion is meaningfully higher than the practice's previous template-based site.