It reads your therapist directory as structured data, not free-text bios. Each therapist post has taxonomies for modality, specialty, identity, language, insurance panel, and availability windows. A member request gets parsed for those same attributes and filtered against the directory in real time. The result is a 3 to 5 person shortlist that genuinely fits, not a name dump or a single suggestion the bot picked because it appeared first.

The bot responds immediately with the relevant national hotline, 988 in the US, Samaritans 116 123 in the UK, and a 911 or local emergency redirect if there is immediate danger. The system prompt is configured with a deny list of trigger phrases that override any other instruction, so the model cannot improvise. A high-priority log tag pings your on-call clinician via webhook so a human is notified within minutes.

Real-time eligibility runs through your existing clearinghouse or insurance API, not through the chat directly. The bot collects insurance member ID and date of birth, then triggers the eligibility check as part of booking. By the time the member sits down with the therapist, the copay and deductible status are confirmed and there are no day-of surprises about coverage. Self-pay rates show as a fallback if the check fails.

Booking hands off to your existing system, SimplePractice, Headway, Alma, Healthie, Spruce, or a custom build. The bot is the front door not the system of record. Conversation logs live in WordPress under your control and can be exported as PDF and attached to a chart if a clinician wants context from the pre-booking chat. The EHR stays single-source-of-truth on clinical content.

Run OpenAI under their HIPAA-eligible configuration with a BAA, encrypt the WordPress database at rest, restrict log access by role, and BAA every vendor in the stack including your host. Scope the chat to operations and matching questions so members are gently steered to bring clinical content into session. Crisis exceptions are documented as a clinical safety override in the privacy notice and the records retention policy.

Yes, with country-aware crisis routing. The system prompt knows that US members get 988 and 911, UK members get Samaritans 116 123 and 999, Canadian members get 988 and Talk Suicide Canada 1-833-456-4566, Australian members get Lifeline 13 11 14. Multi-country practices configure the routing list per locale, and the bot detects the right one from URL country prefix, browser language, or a member-confirmed location.

Yes. Couples and family sessions are a different visit type with different therapists in scope. The bot reads which clinicians offer couples or family work as a taxonomy on the therapist post type, books the right session length, typically 75 to 90 minutes for couples work, and captures both partner names for the intake. Insurance for couples sessions is messy because not all plans cover relationship counseling, the bot flags this and quotes the self-pay rate upfront.

Yes. New members get matched and book a first session, existing members can use the chat to reschedule, change therapists, ask billing questions, or get a brief operational answer between sessions. Existing-member features gate behind login state read from WordPress, so a logged-in member's chat experience knows who their current therapist is and skips the matching detour. Crisis routing applies regardless of member state.