Several Therapists practicing in same field wanted shared number
Challenge: A woman called me and told me that she lived in New York city and there were a few therapists (PHds) who practiced in a specific field. They worked with suicide victims and depression for those who suffered greatly from 9-11. She wanted to maintain anonymity for her patients, keep her therapists phone numbers private, but give her patients a general number to call so that they could always get through or leave messages for their therapists. Almost all of the therapists had their own offices but they wanted to present a united front with this issue. They wanted the patients to be able to reach them by name but they didn’t want to list the names on the main greeting.
Solution: I provided them with a local 212 New York phone number and an auto attendant phone system greeting that enabled the patients to call and get a dial by name directory. The patients could press the first three letters of the therapists’ first or last name and it would ring to their phones. If the therapists didn’t answer, they were immediately notified of the voice message via email, and also sent a text page. This enabled a general number for all patients to call and for the doctors to present a united front, even though they actually worked in different offices and had other patients with other issues.
Results: The therapists were very pleased that the clients with these similar issues had a specific number to call and reach them. The feel like they are working on the problems together, and they host meetings and also change their greetings to say where the meetings are hosted so that all of the patients can participate if they’d like. The patients are always able to contact their therapists for emergencies. The therapists love the cohesiveness as well as the privacy the receive using our auto attendant phone system.
