Fees, insurance and availability
Session fees, any lower-cost places, which insurers or employee assistance programmes you work with, receipts for claims, and the days and times you see clients, all from information you approve.
AI chatbots for therapists and counsellors.
A chatbot on your practice's website that answers questions about fees and availability, books first calls and keeps your waiting list in order. It never answers a clinical question.
Discuss your chatbot
What people ask before a first session.
Do you have evening appointments, how much is a session, do you take my insurance, how long is the wait, do you see couples and have you worked with anxiety before. People often write late at night, after putting it off, and you are in sessions when the message arrives. The chatbot answers the practical part from information you approve and leaves the rest for you.
What new clients ask a therapist, in their own words.
Most are about fit, money and time. The last group waits for you, and a message like the final one gets crisis numbers at once.
Finding the right therapist
- Do you see couples or just individuals?
- Have you worked with people after a bereavement?
- Are you LGBTQ+ affirming?
- Do you do EMDR?
- Is there anyone who speaks Polish?
- Is it OK if I don't really know what I want to talk about?
Fees and insurance
- How much is a session?
- Do you have a sliding scale?
- Are you in network with Aetna?
- Can you give me a superbill so I can claim it back?
- Can my work's EAP pay for it?
Times and the waiting list
- How long is your waiting list?
- Do you have anything after 6pm?
- Can we do sessions online?
- Is it weekly, or can I come every two weeks?
- I'm moving to another state soon, can I keep seeing you online?
Questions for the therapist
- Do you think I have ADHD?
- Is it normal to still feel this bad a year after my dad died?
- Should I stop my antidepressants once I start therapy?
- Will you have to tell anyone what I say?
- I'm not coping at all, can someone talk to me tonight?
What the chatbot handles.
What it may say is written down before we build.
Waiting lists
When you are full, it says so plainly and adds the person to your waiting list with the times they can do, online or in person, and how they want to be contacted.
First calls and first sessions
It books an introductory call or a first session where your scheduling tool allows it, or takes a request for you to confirm, then sends your intake forms and practical details.
Crisis messages
If someone writes that they are in danger or thinking of ending their life, it drops the booking questions and shows the local emergency number and a crisis line first. Then it marks the conversation for you to see.
Matching people to the right therapist
In a group practice, it asks in a few words what help someone wants, whether sessions are for one person, a couple or a family, and any preference, such as a therapist's gender or language. It shows who on your team fits, and your intake lead confirms.
Changes for current clients
Requests to move a session, your late cancellation rule, the dates you are away and how to get a receipt for an insurer or employer. It cannot see anyone's diary or notes, so each request goes to the client's therapist or your practice manager.
Employee assistance and referred clients
Clients sent by an employee assistance programme, an insurer or a charity are asked for the referrer's name and any authorisation or referral number, so you can check how many sessions are covered before the first appointment.
An example conversation.
Thursday, 10.40pm. Someone who has put off finding a therapist for a long time finally writes, with questions about evenings and money.
What your team gets. The practice manager sees a new waiting list entry: evenings only, online, asking about a lower-cost place, with the question about whether counselling helps saved for the first call. Nothing clinical was answered in the chat.
- Visitor: Hi. I think I need to talk to someone about anxiety. Do you have anything in the evenings?
- Chatbot: Yes, two of our counsellors work evenings. Those slots are full at the moment, so new clients join a waiting list for them. Daytime sessions are available sooner. Would daytime work at all?
- Visitor: Not really, I work 9 to 6. How long is the wait?
- Chatbot: I cannot give you a date, because it depends on when current clients finish. When an evening slot opens, the practice offers it to the next person on the list who can do that time.
- Visitor: OK. How much is it? Money's a bit tight right now.
- Chatbot: Session fees are on our fees page, and we keep some lower-cost places for people on low incomes. You can ask about one on the first call. Nobody has to explain their finances in this chat.
- Visitor: Thanks. Honestly I'm not sure counselling even works for anxiety like mine. Does it?
- Chatbot: I'm not the right one to answer that, and the counsellor is. The first call is free, and it is there so you can ask how they work and whether it sounds right for you.
- Visitor: Fair enough. Put me on the evening list then.
- Chatbot: Of course. Please add your first name, email and phone number below. Would you prefer online sessions or in person?
- Visitor: Done. Online is easier for me.
- Chatbot: You are on the evening waiting list for online sessions. The practice will email you to arrange the first call, and you can reply to that email if anything changes.
Where it stops.
It does not assess, diagnose or counsel, and it does not say whether therapy, or a particular approach, will help someone. Those questions wait for you, with the conversation attached. Its crisis wording is agreed with you and tested before launch, and every conversation stays open for you to read.
What it will not do
- It never suggests a diagnosis, a label or a type of therapy for what someone describes.
- It never offers coping techniques, breathing exercises or reassurance about symptoms.
- It never comments on medication, including whether to start, change or stop it.
- It never confirms to anyone that a person is, or was, your client.
- It never promises a start date or a particular therapist before you have agreed it.
- It never writes as one of your therapists or lets anyone think a therapist is typing.
When a person takes over
- Someone writes about ending their life, self-harm or being in danger: the chatbot shows the local emergency number, such as 911, 999 or 112, and a crisis line before anything else, and flags the conversation for you.
- A current client writing between sessions about how they feel gets your between-session contact rules and the crisis numbers, and their own therapist gets the message.
- A parent asking about sessions for a child or teenager goes to the therapist who works with young people, with only the child's age noted.
- A solicitor, employer, insurer or the police asking about a client gets no answer, and the message goes to the practice owner.
- A former client who wants to come back goes to their previous therapist first, if that therapist still works with you.
After the conversation.
Each enquiry reaches you with the practical questions already answered.
Into your practice software
Requests and waiting list entries are written into your practice software if its API allows. If not, they arrive in a secure inbox. We find out which before the build.
Follow-ups
First calls get a reminder, and a regular slot that opens is offered down the waiting list in order.
Automation that pairs with it.
The admin around sessions and the waiting list. It works like our booking automation, within what your practice software allows.
Matching a free slot to the waiting list
When a regular slot opens, the next person on the list who can do that day and time, online or in person, gets an email offer with a reply-by date. If they decline or the date passes, the offer moves to the next person, and you approve every new client.
Reminders that say very little
Session reminders give the day, the time and the video link or address, and nothing that mentions therapy in the message preview, unless the client asks for more. Phones show previews on lock screens and on tablets the whole family uses.
Paperwork before the first session
After the first call, the client gets your intake form, agreement and privacy notice to sign, with one reminder. The forms stay in your practice software or form tool, so nothing personal sits in the chat.
Good Faith Estimates in the US
Uninsured and self-pay clients in the US have a right to a Good Faith Estimate of what their care will cost. When one books, your practice gets a task to send it, with the booking details already filled in.
Endings, without review requests
When a client finishes, they get a short closing message you write, with how to come back if they need to. Review requests stay off: the APA's ethics code, for example, says psychologists do not solicit testimonials from current therapy clients.
What we need from you.
Your client agreement and website already hold most of this. The crisis wording needs your clinical sign-off.
Fees and payment options
Session fees, lower-cost places if you offer them, your cancellation charge and how insured or EAP clients pay. Your fees page will usually do, or a few lines typed out.
Your team and how each person works
Each therapist's approach, the clients they see, such as couples or young people, their days and whether they work online, in person or both.
Waiting list rules
How you order the list, what you ask people for, how long an offer stays open and when someone comes off the list, written down once.
Crisis wording, signed off
What the chatbot says to someone in crisis, the emergency number and crisis lines for the places your clients live, and who sees the flag. Your clinical lead approves it word for word.
Practice software
Which practice software you use, such as SimplePractice, TherapyNotes or WriteUpp, and who looks after it. Its API decides whether requests can go straight into your diary, and we test that before promising it.
Where you can see clients
The states or countries where you can see clients online and in person, so questions about moving away or sessions from abroad get an answer from your list, not a guess.
Enquiries you have already answered
Real enquiry emails and messages with names and details taken out, including the hesitant ones. Before launch the chatbot is tried on how people really write to you.
If the website needs work too.
People choosing a therapist read your site closely before they write. The chatbot draws its answers from those pages too, so they need to be right. If yours need work, see websites.
A page about how you work
Your approach in plain words, who you see and what a first session is like. Someone nervous about writing at all wants to know what will happen before they press send.
Fees, insurance and lower-cost places
Session fees, how insurance or employee assistance programmes work with you and any lower-cost places. In the US, federal rules also require information about Good Faith Estimates for self-pay clients to be shown prominently on your website.
Therapist profiles
Each therapist with a real photo, their approach, who they work with, their days and their licence or registration, such as BACP or UKCP registration in the UK, or the state licence and number in the US.
Availability and the waiting list
Whether you are taking new clients, which times have a wait and how the waiting list works. Change one line when it changes, and the chatbot's answer changes with it.
Crisis information in the footer
A short line on every page saying you are not an emergency service, with the local emergency number and a crisis line. People in crisis sometimes find a therapist's website before they find a helpline.
A way in without the chatbot
A plain email address or contact form for people who do not want to type into a chatbot. Some clients never will, and they should not have to.
Confidentiality starts before the first session.
In a therapy enquiry, the sensitive part is often the enquiry itself: that someone wants help with grief, drinking or their marriage. All the chatbot asks for is a first name, contact details, availability and the kind of sessions wanted. It does not ask what is wrong, and if someone tells it anyway, it asks nothing more about it.
That is health information. The GDPR counts it as a special category of personal data, with stricter rules in Europe. In the US, HIPAA covers therapists who carry out certain transactions electronically, such as insurance claims. Before launch we settle with you where the chats live, who in the practice can open them, when they are deleted and how someone asks for theirs to go.
The summary that reaches you holds the practical details only. Whatever a person wrote about their difficulties stays in the full conversation, which only the people you name can open, and you decide whether it is kept at all once they become a client.
Questions we hear.
Will the chatbot talk to clients about their problems?
No. It sticks to fees, times and bookings. If someone starts to describe what they are going through, it says gently that this belongs in a session and goes back to the practical questions.
What happens if someone writes in crisis?
It shows the local emergency number and a crisis line at once, such as 988 in the US or Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK and Ireland, and marks the conversation for you to see. It does not try to talk them through it.
Can it manage our waiting list?
It adds people with their availability and preferences, and the automation behind it offers openings in order. Who you take on stays your decision.
Can it book into our practice software?
Yes, if your practice software or scheduling tool lets it. If not, it takes the request and you confirm the time. We check which before the build.
Who can read the conversations?
Only the people you name, such as you and your practice manager. The chatbot asks for no more than a booking needs, and where the chats are kept, and for how long, is settled with you before the build.
I don't trust AI anywhere near my clients. Why would I use this?
Because it does none of the clinical work. It answers what you already answer by email: fees, times, the waiting list and how online sessions work. You approve every answer before launch and read every conversation after it, and people who would rather email you still can.
Can it tell people how long the waiting list is?
Only what you tell it. If you keep a rough wait up to date, it gives it in your words. If you prefer not to, it says the wait depends on when current clients finish, and offers daytime slots or other therapists if you have them.
What if someone asks for online sessions from another state or country?
It checks the list of places where you can see clients. When someone lives elsewhere, it tells them your therapists cannot offer sessions there and points to the directory or referral you choose. It never says what a therapist is or is not allowed to do.
Will clients know they are talking to a chatbot?
Yes. It introduces itself as the practice's assistant, says that a person reads the conversations and never writes as one of your therapists. In therapy, trust starts with the first message, so the chatbot is plain about what it is.
Can it handle couples and family enquiries?
Yes. It asks whether sessions are for one person, a couple or a family, and who is writing. It takes contact details for the person writing only, and your therapist contacts the partner or family members, so nobody is signed up by someone else.
Can it explain the limits of confidentiality?
It links to your confidentiality policy and says your therapist will go through it at the first session. It does not explain when you would share information, because that depends on your rules and the person's situation.
More for therapists and counsellors.
Solutions
- Booking chatbotTakes booking requests on your website, even after closing time.
- Booking and calendar automationBookings and changes in your calendar, with reminders sent.
Guides
- HIPAA and AI chatbots for clinicsWhen a chat becomes health data, who must sign a BAA, and a chatbot that asks for less.
- How to run a cancellation list that fills empty slotsWho goes on it, who gets the slot, the offer text, how long to hold it, and the tools.
Similar businesses
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The services behind it.
Start with your waiting list.
Tell us where new client enquiries arrive and how you run the waiting list today. The consultation is free, over Google Meet, a voice call or text.