24/7 Helpline & Intake

Help is available.
Any time. Any day.

The Sobriety Journey helpline operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. When someone reaches out — for themselves or for someone they love — Grace is there to listen, assess, and connect them to the right support.

From first contact to
the right support —
in one conversation.

1

Someone Reaches Out

A person in crisis — or their family member — sends a message via the helpline. Grace responds immediately, any time of day or night.

2

Structured Intake

Grace guides the caller through a structured conversation — who they are calling for, what they are struggling with, previous treatment, and current health notes.

3

Intake Context

Grace gathers the practical details a team needs for follow-up — who the call is for, what the person is facing, previous treatment, medical aid or payment context, location, and urgency.

4

Urgency Assessment

Based on the conversation, Grace assigns an urgency level. Urgent cases trigger an immediate WhatsApp alert to the intake team — day or night.

5

Referral Routing

The caller is matched to the most appropriate available centre based on their city, province, funding type, and bed availability. The referral is tracked from first contact to admission.

Meet Grace — the 24/7
intake assistant.

Grace is a conversational intake assistant built specifically for South African substance use treatment. She is warm, non-judgmental, and available at any hour. She never identifies herself as a bot.

🌙

Always Available

Grace operates 24/7 — including weekends and public holidays. No hold times. No voicemail. No waiting until Monday morning.

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Conversational Intake

Grace guides callers through a structured 7-step intake conversation — capturing everything a counsellor needs to follow up effectively, without making the caller feel like they are filling in a form.

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Structured Intake Context

Grace keeps the first conversation focused and human while collecting the core context a counsellor needs before calling back. AUDIT-C remains a therapist-side assessment tool inside the authenticated platform.

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Urgent Escalation

When a caller's responses indicate urgency, Grace triggers an immediate WhatsApp alert to the intake team. Urgent cases never wait in a queue.

👶

Minor-Aware Intake

Grace identifies when a call concerns someone under 18 and captures caller type context. The platform then applies a full minor-safeguarding workflow: consent pathway selection, guardian contact capture, safeguarding flags, and optional guardian view access.

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Smart Routing

Grace captures the caller's city and province. The system matches them to the nearest available centre with appropriate bed availability and funding type — not just a generic referral list.

Built to meet the Department
of Social Development's
helpline requirements.

The Sobriety Journey helpline capability was designed with the DSD SP4.4 service specification for a national anti-substance abuse helpline in mind. Current reporting focuses on the referral and aftercare data already captured by the platform, with fuller reporting continuing to mature over time.

🗺️

Provincial Coverage

Caller city and province captured at intake. National coverage reporting by province available in the quarterly DSD report.

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Minor Safeguarding & Objective 2

Grace flags calls concerning minors. The platform implements a full safeguarding workflow (consent, guardian contact, flags, audit trail) and tracks prevention-related outreach through the Objective 2 module.

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30/60/90-Day Follow-Up

Post-referral follow-up at 30, 60, and 90 days — required under DSD SP4.4 — is automated in the counsellor platform. Completion rates appear in the quarterly report.

Embed Grace on your website.
Receive leads directly.

Treatment centres in the Sobriety Journey network can embed Grace directly on their own website. Every completed conversation creates a structured lead record — with intake context and urgency level — delivered to your intake team immediately.

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Website Embed

Grace can be embedded on any website with a single line of code. Visitors who click 'Get Help' are greeted by Grace immediately — no redirect, no new tab.

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Structured Lead Records

Every completed Grace conversation creates a lead record with practical intake context: name, phone, city, substance concern, previous treatment, health notes, urgency level, and medical aid or payment context.

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Instant Notifications

Your intake team receives an email notification for every completed conversation. Urgent leads also trigger a WhatsApp alert — so no urgent caller waits.

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Admission Integration

When a counsellor confirms admission from the lead record, a patient file is created in Sobriety Journey automatically — referral source pre-populated, Grace lead linked. First contact to aftercare, closed loop.

Grace is the beginning
of the journey —
not the end of it.

The helpline is one layer of a complete recovery ecosystem. From the moment Grace answers, through admission, treatment, discharge, and long-term aftercare — every step is connected.

📞
First Contact
(Grace)

24/7 intake, structured context capture, urgency assessment, smart routing to the nearest available centre.

→ /helpline
🏥
Admission & Treatment

Counsellor platform, referral tracking, bed management, clinical assessments, and DSD reporting.

→ /for-treatment-providers
💚
Aftercare

Check-ins, milestones, risk alerts, 30/60/90-day follow-up, and long-term recovery support.

→ /for-recovery

Ready to extend your helpline capability?

Whether you are a treatment centre looking to embed Grace, or an organisation evaluating a national helpline solution — we would like to hear from you.