Naturopath in the Val-d'Oise: setting up and filling your calendar

Are you a naturopath in the Val-d'Oise, or getting ready to set up between Cergy, Argenteuil and Enghien-les-Bains? Before choosing your hours, look at how your future clients live. According to Insee, 83.2% of employed people living in the department work in a town other than their own (2023 census). To get to work, 52.8% drive and 36.6% take public transport. A calendar open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays therefore leaves out a large share of the people who could book an assessment.

Naturopath in the Val-d'Oise: a typical Tuesday for a practitioner in Ermont

Let's take a case made up for this example, but true to the job. A naturopath sees clients in a shared practice in Ermont, a few minutes from the station. She has decided not to work more, but differently: two days a week, she keeps her mornings for assessments, takes the afternoon off and finishes at 8 p.m.

In the morning, she schedules vitality assessments, which require concentration. Clients who are free during the day, including many retirees, book them easily. In the afternoon, she doesn't see clients: she writes up the advice promised during assessments. In the evening, she sees working people, at the practice and then by video.

To keep up this rhythm, three settings are enough:

• Hours specific to each service. The practice is open until 8 p.m. on Tuesdays, but the vitality assessment can only be booked in the morning. A new account starts with 9 a.m.–6 p.m., Monday to Friday: change it on day one.
• A break between two appointments. From 0 to 60 minutes, added before and after each session and never offered for booking (paid plans and trial). It gives you time to air the room, reread your notes and absorb a delay.
• A minimum booking notice. Set in hours for each service, it stops a client from booking a 6 p.m. session at 5:50 p.m.

Practice, home visits or video: where to see clients in the Val-d'Oise?

Whether you work in a town centre near a station or in a village, the choice of location depends as much on your clients as on your travel.

For home visits, access details (door code, floor, parking) stay on the client's record and are carried over to the next appointment. If your Google or Outlook calendar is connected, its events also block your slots: a school pick-up or a personal appointment won't be booked by a client.

Why these hours: your future clients in figures

This Tuesday is no accident. The Val-d'Oise had 1,281,653 inhabitants in 2023, and several figures from the same census have a direct bearing on how you organize your work.

These figures describe the department as a whole. They don't tell you how many naturopaths already practise near you: look at your direct competition before setting your prices and slots.

Which consultations to offer, and under what name?

Someone discovering naturopathy doesn't know what a “follow-up” covers. Give each consultation a clear name, a duration and a price. A common setup in the profession:

• Vitality assessment: the first, long consultation, devoted to an in-depth conversation about your general health and lifestyle habits;
• Follow-up session at the practice, shorter, a few weeks later;
• Video follow-up, for clients who get home late or live far away.

In Calendrio, each service has its own duration, payment method and cancellation rules. Slots are calculated using the service's duration: a 90-minute assessment will never be offered at 5 p.m. if you close at 6 p.m.

One setting to know before you start: a service takes place in a single location (practice, video, phone, home visit, other address) or “client's choice”, which then offers every location at once. To offer follow-ups at the practice and by video, but not at home, create two services. That makes three services in our example. The free plan allows two: beyond that, you need the Pro plan (€39 excl. VAT per month) or the one-month trial.

Will my clients really book online?

Not all of them, and that's not a problem. Working people often book in the evening, from their phone; some of your older clients will keep calling. When a client phones, you add the appointment yourself to the same calendar: the slot disappears from the online page and, if you've noted their email address, the reminder the day before is still sent.

The email reminder the day before is included from the free plan. With a paid plan or during the trial, you can add a text message reminder and choose when it goes out. For a long assessment, many practitioners ask for a deposit online when booking: this is possible from the free plan, by card, with your cancellation rules displayed.

Let's be clear about the limits. Calendrio won't bring you clients on its own: you need to share your link, on your Google Business Profile, your social media, or with a QR code at the practice. You can also appear in Calendrio's “Find a pro” directory, if you choose to. And Calendrio does not offer a health questionnaire before the consultation: personal questions are asked during the assessment.

What you can write on your page, and what to avoid

Naturopathy is not a regulated health profession in France. It is still subject to consumer law. Between October 2020 and September 2021, the DGCCRF (the French consumer protection authority) inspected 381 businesses offering non-conventional care practices, including naturopathy, and found an anomaly rate of 66% (189 warnings, 55 compliance orders, 17 official reports). Misleading commercial practices accounted for about two-thirds of the offences recorded in official reports.

For your booking page, four simple rules:

• describe how the consultation goes, never a health outcome: falsely claiming that a service can cure an illness is a misleading commercial practice;
• avoid medical terms, confusing titles and logos resembling the caduceus;
• display the list of your services and their prices at the practice reception; online, the client must know the price before booking (service-public.fr);
• remind clients that naturopathy does not replace medical care.

If you're unsure about a wording, your professional federation, your chamber of commerce or a lawyer can give you an answer suited to your situation.

Organizing your consultations with Calendrio

Calendrio gives you a booking page open 24/7, a duration and hours specific to each consultation, video, home visits with a service area, online deposits and an email reminder the day before, all from the free plan. Text message reminders, the break between two appointments and session packages come with the paid plans and the trial. You'll find the details on the online calendar for naturopaths page and on the wellness practitioners page.

In person near Enghien-les-Bains or by video, the Calendrio team sets up the booking page for the first 10 founding businesses and practitioners, with 3 months free. Prefer to start on your own? Try Calendrio free for a month, no credit card needed.