Support for those on the frontline

Protect your frontline

• How do real-time alerts and proactive safety notifications work?

  Our open-source intelligence technology and human-led analysis anticipate potential risks, notifying members of safety incidents before they escalate:

  1. General safety notices: Broad alerts provide guidance on public safety concerns in affected areas
  2. ‘Response required’ safety notices: Urgent messages to members in immediate danger, prompting them to confirm safety. If no response is received, escalation protocols ensure every member is accounted for.

• What happens when a critical incident occurs?

  When a critical incident occurs, the Sonder team will assess, support, and manage those who are affected in order to ensure that they will receive the right type of care. Sonder’s dedicated Incident Manager will ensure that the response is appropriately resourced and aligned with our clinical governance. This may include in-person or digital support options within the Sonder app.

  If in-person support is deemed appropriate following a critical incident, a Sonder Responder will attend the site to provide immediate psychological first aid, as well as identify others affected by the incident and explain to them how they can receive individual support.

  Following the critical incident, the Sonder Responder will then work with the Incident Manager to identify and enrol those impacted by the event into a ‘Critical Incident Workflow’, which is a 5-week in-app nurture stream of messages to reinforce the support available to them that was developed in line with clinical best practice for early response to psychological trauma.

  Learn more about Critical Incidents on our YouTube channel.

• What is ‘Track my Journey’ and how does it work?

  ‘Track my Journey’ is a real-time safety scanning feature that allows you and your people to share your location to the Sonder team so they can keep an eye on you when you’re travelling from A to B. The real-time scanning is performed by real people and is completely confidential. To use ‘Track my Journey’:

  1. Make sure location services are turned on for the app – This ensures accurate monitoring.
  2. Tap the ‘Safety’ tab at the bottom of the home screen.
  3. Tap ‘Track my Journey’
  4. Enter your destination and select your mode of travel (walking, cycling or driving).
  5. Continue your trip; the Sonder team will be monitoring you.
  6. If you go behind schedule or off track, the Sonder team will contact you through the app, by phone or by SMS.
  7. Once you reach your destination, the Sonder team will send you a message asking you to confirm you’re okay.

  If you go off-track, face an unexpected delay, forget or are unable to check in, the Sonder team will do everything they can to ensure your safety. This may include sending assistance to your location if there is cause for concern.

  Learn more about how ‘Track my Journey’ works on our YouTube channel.

• What is ‘Check on Me’ and how does it work?

  ‘Check on Me’ is a safety scanning feature within the app that you and your people can use to have a Sonder team member discreetly check-up on you whenever you’re in an uncertain situation or at a time that suits. To use ‘Check on Me’:

  1. Tap the ‘Safety’ tab at the bottom of the home screen.
  2. Tap ‘Check on me’
  3. Select the length of time you think you’ll need, or the time at which you want a Sonder team member to check on you.
  4. Add in any additional details about the person you’re meeting or where you’re going – this is optional.
  5. When the time is up, we will check in and ask you to confirm you’re okay. If you need more time, you can use the “snooze” button to extend the session.

  Learn more about how ‘Check on Me’ works on our YouTube channel.

• Can minors access Sonder’s services?

  Minors with parental consent can access Sonder’s services. For mental health support, those aged 15 and over can connect with therapists, while younger members may receive guardian-supported guidance.

• How does Sonder support minors?

  Generally, a minor is capable of independently consenting to or refusing their medical treatment when they achieve a sufficient level of understanding and intelligence to enable them to fully understand what is proposed. This means that there is no set age at which a child or young person is capable of giving consent. Sonder’s clinicians will decide on a case-by-case basis whether a minor has the appropriate legal capacity to consent.

  Where appropriate, a parent or legal guardian may provide consent on behalf of the minor. Sonder will seek to contact the parent or guardian on the minor’s behalf when appropriate.

  It’s a preferred practice that you and your people supply up-to-date next of kin or emergency contact details for minors – their parents, guardians, or equivalent. Sonder’s terms and conditions require parental consent for minors to download and use the Sonder offering, which can be accessed at the login screen when registering.

  Specific to mental health support, Sonder and its network of providers does not provide psychological therapy and counselling to those under the age of 15. Sonder will assess the needs of the minor and their parent/legal guardian and aim to provide direct support to the parent/guardian to facilitate positive outcomes for the minor.

  In Australia, you must have the legal capacity to be able to provide consent to treatment. Your legal capacity is assessed by Sonder during a support interaction. Legal capacity is considered in line with the proposed treatment. You need to be able to understand the nature and effect of the decision to consent, and demonstrate their understanding by communicating this in some way.