Integration
How to connect crisis routing widget help to a chat widget
How to connect crisis routing widget help to a chat widget — answered from your own docs. How Mental Health Services teams use Chatref (website widget, knowledg
Connecting a crisis routing widget to your Chatref website widget means giving visitors a direct, instant path to a human crisis counselor and letting your knowledge base handle everything else—from office hours and accepted insurance to crisis hotline numbers. Both widgets work side by side on your Mental Health Services website, complementing each other.
What connects to what
Two separate pieces of code share your website, each serving a distinct need:
- Crisis routing widget: A script from a mental health crisis hotline or platform that opens a live chat with a trained counselor or an immediate phone/text connection for people in acute distress. It often appears as a prominent floating button or banner.
- Chatref website widget: A small embed that loads an AI chat assistant grounded in your own practice documents. It answers the routine, non‑urgent questions that otherwise clog your phone line—scheduling steps, prescription refill policy, accepted insurance plans, and even your posted crisis resources.
The connection isn’t a technical integration—it’s a deliberate placement that creates two clear, safe lanes for support.
How to set it up
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Prepare your crisis resource documents. Gather your official hotline numbers, local mobile‑crisis team contacts, warmline numbers, and any scripted safety messages you want visitors to see. Save them as plain text, a PDF, or a page on your site. These will become part of your Chatref knowledge base so the chat widget can surface them when asked.
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Add your crisis routing widget to the site. Follow your crisis‑service provider’s instructions—paste their script tag into your site’s
<head>or just before</body>. Many mental health services prefer placing the crisis button in a fixed position (e.g., bottom‑left) separate from the chat widget. -
Create a Chatref account and train your knowledge base.
- Go to app.chatref.ai and sign up—you’ll get $50 in free credit, no card required.
- Inside the app, add a source: upload your practice’s hours, the insurance plans you accept, scheduling steps, and those crisis‑resource files from step 1.
- Give the agent a name and basic behavior instructions if you like. Chatref will ground every response in the content you added.
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Embed the Chatref widget.
- From the dashboard, copy your agent’s unique embed snippet.
- Paste it into your website’s
<head>or wherever you place third‑party scripts. Most mental health services sites place the Chatref bubble on the bottom‑right, leaving the crisis widget on the bottom‑left, so there is no visual confusion. - The widget inherits your site’s origin allowlisting—it will only load on domains you approve.
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Test both widgets together. Open your site and confirm:
- The crisis routing widget is visible and leads to a live counselor or appropriate prompt.
- The Chatref bubble appears, and when you ask “What do I do if I feel suicidal right now?” it responds with the crisis hotline number and a prompt to use the crisis button.
What users see
A visitor in distress spots the prominent crisis‑routing widget first—a clear “Get immediate help” button that opens a secure line to a counselor. For everyone else—someone checking your hours, asking about a medication refill, or wondering what insurance you take—the Chatref bubble offers an answer from your own practice details. When a person types something like “I need someone to talk to right now,” the Chatref widget draws from the hotline numbers you uploaded and replies, “Please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or use the Crisis Help button on this page. You’re not alone.”
The combination means you never leave a person without a next step, whether the need is urgent or routine.
Troubleshooting
Crisis routing widget fails to load or overlaps Chatref.
Check your JavaScript console for errors. A common cause is two widgets competing for the same fixed‑position CSS (e.g., both on bottom‑right). Set the crisis widget to bottom‑left and Chatref to bottom‑right, or vice‑versa, and verify there are no z-index conflicts.
Chatref doesn’t mention the crisis hotline when asked.
Open your agent in the Chatref dashboard and inspect the knowledge base. Make sure the crisis‑resource file is listed and its content status is “Ready.” Re‑upload the file if needed. Also check that your question matches phrasing in the document—try, “What’s the crisis number?” or “I need help right now.” Finally, if you’ve added the widget but not the training content, the agent will only give a generic fallback; add the resources and re‑test.
The chat widget replaces the crisis widget’s intended role.
If you find users leaning on Chatref for crisis intervention, reinforce your site’s design: make the crisis widget more visually prominent and add clear text near the chat bubble such as “For non‑urgent questions about our practice.” Chatref remains a knowledge‑base tool—it should never be the primary channel for a mental health emergency.
Knowledge base content drifts out of date.
Set a calendar reminder to review your crisis hotline numbers and practice details quarterly. Update the documents inside Chatref (you can re‑upload or edit sources) so both widgets always point to current resources.
FAQ
What causes crisis routing widget problems for Mental Health Services?
Most issues come from simple placement conflicts or stale crisis numbers. If the widget’s script conflicts with other site scripts, it may fail to load or appear in the wrong spot. Out‑of‑date hotline numbers in your knowledge base also cause problems: when someone asks for help, the chat widget could give an old number, eroding trust. Check both the crisis widget provider’s code and the documents you’ve uploaded to Chatref to keep everything accurate.
How do I improve crisis routing widget for Mental Health Services?
Optimize your page layout so the crisis widget stands out visually from the Chatref bubble (different color, fixed separate position, clear labeling). Regularly test the flow from a visitor’s perspective—start a chat from your site and ask for crisis help; verify that the widget routes to a live counselor and that the Chatref reply mirrors the correct hotline. For Chatref, keep a dedicated, updated “Crisis Resources” document in your knowledge base, and use its insights dashboard to see if visitors are asking for help in unexpected ways—then refine your content to answer those phrases directly.
Related guides
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