- Years answering calls
- 30+
- Live agents, every call
- 24/7/365
- English & Spanish agents
- EN · ES
- Plans start at
- $33
Mental health answering service
A calm, live voice for every client who calls
Reaching out is hard. When a client finally calls your practice, they shouldn’t hit a voicemail box or a phone menu. Our mental health answering service puts a trained, live agent on every call, in your practice’s name, day or night. Agents speak with patience and respect, take complete messages, handle appointment requests and follow your instructions for urgent calls.
Southern Voices was founded by a physician in 1995 and is still physician-owned. We answer for group practices, community clinics and solo clinicians 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, in English and Spanish.
Who we answer for
A therapist answering service, and more
Solo therapists, group practices and behavioral health organizations.
Therapists & counselors
A therapist answering service that books or requests sessions while you’re with clients.
Psychiatry practices
Medication questions and urgent calls routed to the provider on call.
Group practices
Each clinician’s messages sorted and sent to the right person.
Clinics & organizations
After-hours and overflow coverage across locations and programs.
Urgent and crisis calls
Your crisis protocol, followed every time
Our agents are not counselors, and they never counsel. When a caller is in distress, the agent follows the crisis protocol your practice gives us: reaching your on-call clinician by live phone patch or a call to their cell, and directing callers to 911 or the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline exactly as you instruct.
You write the protocol and approve the script before go-live. Routine calls, like appointment requests, cancellations and billing questions, are logged and delivered so your team can follow up.
Confidentiality
How we protect client information
- We sign a business associate agreement (BAA) with healthcare clients.
- Our agents are HIPAA-trained before they take patient calls.
- Messages go through secure channels: secure texting and the client portal, not plain SMS.
- Calls are not recorded. Messages hold only what your team needs.
Learn more: HIPAA telephone answering rules.
How calls are handled
What happens when a client calls
A live agent answers in your practice’s name, listens, and follows your instructions to the letter.
- Urgent Your on-call clinician, reached now By your crisis protocol, including directing callers to 911 or 988 as you instruct
- Booking Appointment booked Booked in your scheduling system when you give us access, or sent as a request
- New client New client inquiry captured Contact details, insurance and preferred times, sent to your intake team
Spanish-speaking clients can talk with a bilingual agent live, not through a “press 2” menu. See bilingual answering.
Pricing
What a mental health answering service costs
Pricing follows your call volume and how much each call involves. Plans start at $33, and larger practices and organizations get volume discounts.
See answering service pricing for what goes into a quote, or ask us for one.
Plans start at
$33
Your plan is built around your call volume, and larger organizations get volume discounts.
Questions
Mental health answering service FAQs
Don’t see your question? Call and ask a live agent, any time.
How do your agents handle a caller in crisis?
They follow your practice’s crisis protocol. That can mean connecting the caller to your on-call clinician and directing them to 911 or the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, as you instruct. Agents never counsel or give clinical advice.
Is there a therapist answering service for solo practices?
Yes. Solo therapists get the same live agents, custom greeting and secure message delivery as large practices. Plans start at $33.
Do you sign a BAA?
Yes. We sign a business associate agreement with behavioral health practices, and our agents are HIPAA-trained before they take client calls.
Can clients book appointments through you?
Yes. When you give us access, agents book in your scheduling system. Otherwise they take complete requests and send them to your team.
Keep reading
Guides and related services
What is a HIPAA compliant answering service?
What to ask any service that handles patient calls.
Why callers still prefer a human
Why a live voice matters on sensitive calls.
What happens when a patient calls after hours
The after-hours call from the caller’s side.
Also serving: medical practices, hospitals and healthcare networks and home care and hospice agencies (our home care answering service).