> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://handbook.helendelovely.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Team Meetings and Communication Norms

> The meeting load, which channel for what, and how we talk to each other.

## The meeting load

For clinicians, one meeting: a short weekly clinical touchpoint. That's it. The practice is deliberately light on meetings, and we'd like to keep it that way.

The front office and practice manager have a daily huddle. Clinicians are welcome but not expected.

## Which channel for what

| Need                                   | Channel                                               |
| -------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| Anything about a specific client       | PracticeOS (record, task, or internal note)           |
| Quick coordination that isn't clinical | Internal chat, initials only                          |
| Something that needs a paper trail     | Practice email                                        |
| Something urgent                       | Call                                                  |
| A clinical question for Helen          | Queue it for the touchpoint, or call if it can't wait |
| A systems problem                      | Zack, immediately                                     |

Client-facing communication always goes through PracticeOS. See [Devices, mobile, and texting](/privacy-and-security/devices-mobile-and-texting).

## How we talk to each other

These rules bind everyone, including Helen and Zack.

* **Questions are the job.** Asking what a process is or where a gap is isn't doubting the plan.
* **Route before you ask.** SOP library first, then the person who owns it. See [Who to contact](/reference/who-to-contact).
* **Batch the non-urgent.** Hold anything that isn't blocking for the touchpoint or the huddle. Real-time interruptions are for things that are actually stopping you.
* **Inside your lane, you decide.** Clinical decisions are the clinician's, within supervision. Nobody defends every choice.
* **Every ask carries a date.** "Soon" isn't a timeline.
* **Say the anxiety out loud.** "This is me needing certainty, not me blocking you" ends more arguments than facts do.
* **Deadlocks go to Helen.** Nobody wins by being more persistent.

## Protecting Helen's attention

Helen is a full-time clinician and the owner. Before a question goes to her, check whether the manual, an SOP, the client record, the front office, or the practice manager can answer it. Save her for clinical questions and owner decisions, and batch them.

## Don't interrupt sessions

Nobody's session gets interrupted for anything short of an emergency. Not Helen's, not yours. Emergencies are defined in the [Crisis and safety protocol](/clinical-practice/crisis-and-safety-protocol).

## Response expectations

Internal messages during working hours: same day. Outside your working days: no expectation. See [Emergency and after-hours coverage](/clinical-practice/emergency-and-after-hours-coverage).