Your first session

A Rivet video session has four moments: getting your client to your URL, the pre-join screen on both sides, the session itself, and ending. Once you’ve done one, the muscle memory holds.

​

Before the session: share your URL with the client

Your URL — getrivet.ca/your-name — is also your session link. Same address, every session, every client. You don’t generate a new link each time. The most common ways to share it:

• In the confirmation email or text you send a few days before the appointment. Include the URL where you’d usually write a meeting location.
• In your calendar invite as the “Meeting location” field. Most clients tap the link straight from the calendar app on the day.
• In a text an hour before the session — “Ready when you are. Here’s the link: getrivet.ca/sarah-chen”. This works well for new clients who haven’t saved your URL yet.

You can also send the link via the Rivet conversation thread for that client. Type your URL into the reply input, send, done.

​

Ten minutes before: open Rivet on your laptop

Open next.getrivet.ca (or the installed app), sign in if you’re not already, and click into the Video tab. You’ll see a “Start session” or “Open waiting room” affordance. Click it. A pre-join screen appears for you:

• A preview of your camera
• A preview of your microphone level (the bar moves when you speak)
• A device picker if you have multiple cameras or mics plugged in
• Background blur and other quality toggles

Use this minute to make sure your camera is showing the angle you want, your mic is the one you intended, and your background looks professional. Then click Join. You’re now in your session room, with the waiting room visible on the side so you can see when clients arrive.

​

When your client arrives

The client opens your URL on their device — phone, tablet, laptop, any modern browser. They don’t need an app or an account. They tap “Join your session,” grant camera and microphone permission, and they’re in the waiting room. On your side, the waiting-room panel updates to show a row for them: their name (if they typed it, which most do), the device they’re on, and a green Let in button. Click Let in to bring them into the session. Their video and audio go live; your screen rearranges into the standard side-by-side or focused view; you start the session the way you always start one.

​

During the session: the controls you’ll use most

The session room has more affordances than you’ll use on any given day. The ones that matter for a typical session: There’s a screen-share affordance too, if you want to show a document or a video. Use it sparingly — most therapy sessions read better with the whiteboard than a shared screen.

​

Ending the session

Click the red End session button in the bottom toolbar. Rivet disconnects both sides cleanly. The client’s browser shows a “Session ended” screen with a friendly note; yours returns to the inbox. The session note is right there, ready to finish. Type whatever you didn’t capture during the session, hit save, and the note is in your documentation tab. If you use Jane, Owl, or another EHR, you can copy the chart-ready paragraph to your clipboard and paste it into the client’s chart in your EHR. See Notes + documentation for the full notes workflow.

​

What goes wrong on a first session — and how to recover

A few things commonly trip up a first session:

• Client grants the wrong permissions. If they don’t grant camera or mic, the join goes one-way (you see them, they don’t see you, or vice-versa). Ask them to refresh the page; the browser will re-prompt.
• You forgot which device’s camera is selected. If you’re staring at a black square instead of yourself, open the pre-join controls and cycle the camera picker.
• Audio echoes. Almost always because both sides are on speakers without headphones. Ask your client to put on headphones and the echo vanishes.
• They can’t find the URL. Re-text it. Most clients lose the link the first time — once it’s in their texts, the next session is effortless.

​

Related articles