Someone finally ready to call should reach a person.
It takes weeks to decide to call and one voicemail to stop. A mental health answering service that answers, handles the call with care, and books the intake.
Someone calling a therapist for the first time has usually been working up to it for weeks. Reaching voicemail is often enough to stop them entirely — not to call a different practice, but to not call anyone. The cost of a missed call here is measured in more than revenue, and the practice is in session all day with no one free to answer.
Therapists are with clients for fifty minutes of every hour. There is no reliable moment to answer a phone, and a practice without a front desk sends almost every new-client call to voicemail by default.
A call it takes without you.
Thanks for calling. Are you looking to start with someone for yourself, or for a family member?
For myself. I haven't done this before.
That's completely fine, and it's good that you called. Do you have insurance you'd like to use, or would you prefer self-pay?
I've got Aetna.
We work with Aetna. I have an intake opening Tuesday at 4 — would that suit?
- ✓New-client calls answered while you're in session
- ✓Insurance and availability captured
- ✓Crisis calls routed to your own protocol immediately
- ✓Intake appointments booked into your calendar
Your crisis protocol runs first, before anything else. The agent is briefed on the exact wording, the screening questions and the numbers to give, and the call is escalated immediately rather than booked. Nothing about intake happens until that is cleared.
Mental Health & Counseling answering service — questions
Will it do any clinical screening?+
Only your own crisis screening, verbatim. It does not assess, diagnose or counsel, and it is explicitly briefed not to attempt it.
Does it handle insurance questions?+
It can confirm which panels you are on and capture the carrier and member ID so verification starts before the first session.
Can it keep caller information private?+
It captures only what you ask it to and passes it to you. Treat it as you would any intake process — the questions it asks are the ones you write.
How soon can it be live?+
Two to four business days, and the crisis protocol is the first thing built, not the last.
How does an answering service work?+
Your business line is forwarded to the service, either all the time or only when you don't pick up. From the caller's side nothing changes — they dial your number and somebody answers. Ours answers, asks the questions you've set, and books the appointment into your calendar, then the details reach you.
What is an answering service?+
A service that answers your business phone when you can't. Traditionally that meant an off-site operator taking a message for you to return later. An AI answering service handles the call to a finished outcome instead — qualifying the caller and booking the job rather than passing you a message slip.
How much does an answering service cost?+
Most small businesses pay between $200 and $1,500 a month depending on volume and whether calls are handled by people or AI. Per-minute plans typically run $1.00–$2.00 a minute, per-call plans $1.50–$3.50 a call. Ours are flat: $249/mo with 500 included minutes, or $995/mo with 2,000.
What are the advantages of an answering service?+
Three that matter. Every call is answered, so enquiries stop going to voicemail. Several calls are answered at once, so nobody gets a busy signal on your busiest day. And it covers the hours you can't — nights, weekends and holidays — which is when the most urgent calls tend to arrive.
How do I choose an answering service?+
Call it before you buy it. Published pricing, no long-term contract, and a service built around your trade rather than a generic script all matter — but the only reliable test is hearing how it handles a call. Our demo line is a real number that answers at any hour.
What should I look for in a call answering service?+
Whether it books or only takes messages; what it costs when you exceed the plan; whether hold time and robocalls are billable; how quickly it goes live; and whether it can be briefed on what counts as an emergency in your trade. Ask for the overage rate specifically — it is the number most often left out of a quote.
Stop losing the calls you never hear.
Plans start at $249 a month. Live in two to four business days.