The discharge conversation is too often a calendar event. The session ends, the goals are loosely met, the clinician schedules a 'last appointment' three weeks out, and the family gets a perfunctory document at the end. The relationship deserves better — and so does the practice's reputation.
Start the discharge conversation early
Six to eight sessions before you anticipate discharge, name it. 'I think we have one or two terms of work left together' lets the family adjust. The conversation has space to surface concerns, plan transitions, and decide what review or follow-up looks like. Late discharge conversations feel like dismissals.
Define the off-ramp explicitly
Some discharges go to nothing. Most should not. Decide explicitly: maintenance fortnightly visits for a term, or a six-month check-in, or an open-door re-admit policy if regression appears. Put it in writing and on the client record. The family knows exactly what comes next.
Document the wins
A short discharge summary that names what changed — concretely — is gold. It is the document the family takes to the next clinician, the school, or the GP. It is also the artefact that protects you clinically. Two pages, plain language, specific examples.
Hand off cleanly when you can
If the client is moving to another provider, ask permission and offer to do a 15-minute handover call with the new clinician. Ten of those calls a year build a referral network worth more than any marketing spend.
Discharge is reversible
Tell families directly: 'if anything changes, come back'. Practices that frame discharge as a final goodbye get fewer warm re-referrals. Practices that frame it as 'see you when you need us' build a community that grows by trust.