3 Considerations for More Trauma-Informed Client Onboarding

Quick question. If you owned a physical studio space to facilitate yoga, breathwork, somatic healing, or mental health care — how would you decorate it?

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the intersection of trauma-informed care and client onboarding for online businesses.

Because the truth is: TIC doesn’t begin when you hit “play” on the ambient music or guide someone to drop into a meditation. It begins the moment a person walks through the front door.

If you are versed in trauma-informed care, you may have been taught to consider not only the invitations you’re providing during a healing practice, but also the environment in which it is taking place—perhaps you’re gauging the temperature of the room, eliminating scents that might activate a person’s nervous system, selecting music of a lower BPM, thinking about access to exits in the event someone wants to leave halfway through, passing out consent tokens for folks to opt in or out of physical touch, etc.

Yet when we’re building an online business, we often don’t give the same energy and intention.

So perhaps it is helpful to imagine your online business as a physical studio.

What posters would you hang in the lobby? What colors would you choose for the walls? What would be displayed on the decorative little shelves by the door? What would you put in the window to encourage folks to come in?

You likely wouldn’t select bright red wallpaper or blast Tool from the receptionist's desk computer.

You would consider all of these environmental elements to help your clients or customers feel included and at-ease from the moment they spied your storefront across the street.

So why not put that consideration into the virtual experience you’re curating?

Here are a few pieces you might think about:

❀ The welcome email. Often, the first touchpoint after a client buys something, signs up for a class, signs their contract, etc. is an email. Let’s equate this to someone walking into your fictional studio space for the first time. How might you make them feel welcome? What questions might you anticipate? What are the most important instructions they need to set up for class? What equipment do they need—do they know what a bolster is, if you tell them to grab one? When can they expect the session to actually start? These are the types of questions that should be answered by the “welcome” email. We don't want to overwhelm them with information, but we do want to lay out what to expect and what action is needed from them.

❀ The onboarding questionnaire. In 2022, I worked with an amazing anti-racism organization called Justice Outside. One of their many incredible programs awards grants to BIPOC organizations and individuals that work at the intersection of racial equity and outdoor recreation/the environmental movement. Their approach was different than the grant application processes I’d encountered in my non-profit life: applicants can submit a written proposal, but they also have the option to apply via a video or phone interview with a staff member.

Their commitment to making the grant application process more accessible and resisting White Supremacy Culture’s worship of the written word has stuck with me years later. Particularly when I see businesses with long and in-depth onboarding questionnaires. Consider: Is there any way you can be more flexible with how you accept your client onboarding questionnaire? Can you accept a video or audio file? Can you provide the option to forego the questionnaire and instead answer your onboarding questions in a kick-off call? These options aren’t always possible, but if you have the resources to honor alternative modes of communication, perhaps it’s an avenue to explore.

❀ The back-end system for you and your team. Trauma-informed care is not about over-accommodating your client without any regard for your own capacity and work style. In a physical studio, you wouldn’t leave the front doors unlocked 24/7 just because you want to ensure your client can walk in right before their session. In the world of online business, you might ask yourself: How much of my and my team’s time can we reasonably dedicate to onboarding new clients? How might we communicate our scope of work? When might we accept feedback? What might be our standard turn-around time for email customer service? What pieces require manual work, and what aspects could be automated? These questions can help you build the foundation for a sustainable client onboarding process, brick by brick.

What are your thoughts on creating a client onboarding process that is easy on the nervous system? I’d love to hear what resonates!