Route every distress message to the right resource, instantly.
When someone reaches your practice website in distress, they need a resource – not a voicemail. Chatref detects distress signals and immediately routes to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or your on-call contact. No clinical advice, no delay.
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Why it matters
The problem this solves.
The challenge
Practice websites receive messages from people in distress at any hour, and there is rarely a staff member available to respond
What it costs
Without a routing mechanism, those messages sit unseen until a coordinator checks the inbox – a delay that is never acceptable.
The Chatref way
Chatref recognizes distress signals and immediately surfaces the 988 Lifeline number or connects to your on-call staff – so the
The Chatref solution
How Chatref routes distress contacts.
A visitor types a message signaling distress. Chatref's custom action fires immediately, surfacing the 988 Lifeline number and directing the person to call or text it, while simultaneously notifying your on-call contact.
Real questions
What Chatref answers here.
I'm feeling overwhelmed and need to talk to someone right now
I don't know who to call
I'm having a really hard time tonight
I need help urgently
I feel like I can't cope
Is there someone I can speak to immediately?
Loved by support teams
Therapy practices, routing distress contacts without delay.
How practices use Chatref to ensure every distress message reaches the right resource instantly.
Before Chatref, distress messages sent through our contact form sat in an inbox until Monday morning. Now every one is immediately routed to 988 or our on-call staff, no matter when it arrives.
Setup took minutes. We configured the distress routing action once, and it has worked reliably every time since.
Our clinical director wanted a clear policy: the widget routes, it never advises. Chatref delivered exactly that.
of distress messages routed to 988 or on-call staff with no delay
We handle clients across several states. Having consistent, immediate routing on every page of our site gives our whole team confidence.
Does the chatbot ever provide support to someone in distress?
No. Chatref is designed to route, not advise. When it detects a distress signal, it immediately surfaces the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline number and directs the person to call or text it, or to
What crisis resources does Chatref surface automatically?
You configure the resources in your custom action. Most practices set it to surface the 988 Lifeline and their own on-call contact number. You control exactly what appears.
How does it know a message signals distress?
You define the trigger phrases and keywords in your custom action configuration. Chatref fires the action the moment a match is detected, with no delay.
Does my team get notified when a distress message comes in?
Yes. The conversation is flagged in your shared inbox immediately, and you can configure a notification to alert your on-call staff directly.
How long does crisis routing setup take?
The routing action takes about ten minutes to configure. Most practices are live the same day.
Can I use this alongside the rest of my practice FAQ chatbot?
Yes. The distress routing action runs on the same widget that handles your FAQ and lead-capture conversations. One widget, all use cases.
Make sure every distress message reaches the right resource.
Configure Chatref's crisis routing action once and know that no message goes unrouted – free to start.
Part of Chatref for Mental Health Services · Healthcare hub · pricing.