ForwardSteps – Project Preview

A full custom web platform for an established psychology and wellness practice — designed, built, and refined by ASR Web Services from the ground up.

ForwardSteps represents the most comprehensive example yet of ASR’s modular build philosophy. It brings together public engagement, client booking, invoicing, and administrative workflows within one unified environment.

About the project

ForwardSteps is a psychology and wellbeing service based in Ireland. The project began with a single vision: to replace scattered spreadsheets, forms, and emails with a single, purpose-built platform that could grow with the practice.

Every component — from appointment scheduling to invoice exports — was built natively within the system. It was not a rebuild of existing tools, but a complete custom development tailored to the practice’s workflow and confidentiality standards.

Core features

  • Public booking flow: Client-facing booking and enquiry forms with intelligent validation.
  • Admin Triangle: Interlinked management between Bookings, Patients and Invoices.
  • Smart rate-limiting: Dual-mode middleware allowing secure test bypasses without compromising production safety.
  • Secure messaging and testimonial intake: With optional anonymity and verification checks.
  • CSV and PDF export modules: Built-in export/print support for data, logs, and audits.
  • Comprehensive smoke testing: Continuous internal validation of all core flows.
  • Mail architecture: Configurable for both local testing (MailDev) and live deployment with Titan SMTP or relay integration.

Technical overview

The ForwardSteps platform runs on a modern Node.js + Express stack with modular EJS templating and a unified CSS design system. Every route, controller, and middleware layer was purpose-built for performance, privacy, and maintainability.

  • Node.js / Express backend with EJS templating
  • Structured modular controllers and validation layers
  • Unified rate-limit, bypass and smoke-test support
  • Custom data models for Patients, Bookings, and Invoices
  • Automatic environment-based mail configuration
  • Deployment-ready for services like Render or Fly.io

Design philosophy

The visual tone mirrors the ForwardSteps brand: calm, structured and quietly confident. The admin environment uses clarity-first layouts, while public pages focus on ease of booking and reassurance for visitors seeking therapy.

Project status

The ForwardSteps build is currently in its final testing and stabilization phase. The upcoming case study will detail the entire lifecycle — from planning and internal smoke automation to admin cross-linking, import/export unification, and deployment.

Full case study publication expected post-launch.

Interested in a similar build?

If you run a private practice, small business, or specialist service that could benefit from a purpose-built management system, ASR Web Services can design a modular framework tailored to your exact needs.

Start a project enquiry