At a glance:
- Immediate, human-led support: Sonder’s Care Specialists provide a ‘human-first’ approach, offering empathetic triage and response times of 30 seconds or less.
- The power of stepped care: Sonder’s evidence-based, clinically-backed stepped care model ensures members receive the right level of support without unnecessary escalation.
- Expert triage and resolution: Specialists, trained in Psychological First Aid (PFA) and the Manchester Triage System (MTS), resolve over 70% of cases directly.
- Seamless, confidential care journeys: Sonder’s integrated approach allows member information to be shared securely between specialists and clinicians for more efficient care.
Providing the right care at the right time is at the core of the Sonder mission. Our goal is to ensure that every member is directed to the exact support they need, whether medical, mental health or safety, within a timeframe that fits their specific situation.
This is why our members aren’t met by a bot, a receptionist or a booking agent when they reach out. Instead, they’re connected to a real person, a Sonder Care Specialist. Their primary purpose is to immediately assess the nature, severity and complexity of a member’s concerns to find the most effective path forward.
Because in the same way you don’t need a surgeon to diagnose a headache, you don’t always need a psychologist appointment to navigate a stressful day.
Nor should you have to navigate a complex corporate directory just to find the right specialist that can help.
Who are Sonder’s Care Specialists?
Our care specialists are fundamental in the triage process. They are highly trained in quickly and efficiently capturing the information needed to provide the right care.
Sonder’s Care Specialists are the frontline staff of the SSC team. They speak to our members to unpack what’s going on with them, and understand them as a whole person. From there, they can determine what support is most appropriate at that time. Whether that’s connecting them with our nurses, community resources, psychologists, social workers, work injury management, or other emergency services and mental health teams.
Care Specialist Manager
Key features of Sonder Care Specialists include:
- Rapid response: Whether they are dealing with a sick child, a mental health challenge or a safety concern, we understand that when your people need help, they need it fast. That’s why when they come to the Sonder app, day or night, one of our highly trained Care Specialists will respond in 30 seconds or less.
- Real people responding to individual needs: There is no cookie-cutter approach to care. Everybody reacts differently to certain events. Where one person requires self-care resources, another may require a counsellor or psychologist. All interactions are considered and personalised based on individual needs.
- Confidential: Services are provided with high standards of privacy. Sonder members can confide in our Care Specialists safe in the knowledge that details won’t be passed on to their employer.
- Accessible: With support available over the phone, or via instant message, and in over 300 languages, we can cater to a range of member needs.
- Psychological first aid (PFA): Our Care Specialists are qualified in PFA and take the time to understand a member’s concerns before determining if a clinical assessment is required or if support can be provided directly.
Empathy, compassion and active listening are some of the most important characteristics of our Care Specialists. They’re able to connect with our members quickly, making them feel seen and heard. This helps them assess what our members need at an individual level so they can find the best path forward.
Care Specialist Manager
What is stepped care?
To triage effectively, Sonder’s Care Specialists use a stepped care model. Stepped care is an evidence-based, staged system of care. It comprises a hierarchy of interventions to help match an individual’s needs to the most appropriate level of care.
Each type and level of stepped care is not mutually exclusive. In Sonder’s holistic wellbeing model, we recognise that an individual’s needs are often complex, and most members are contending with multiple, intertwined challenges.
This means they might be connected to any combination of care types and levels at the same or different times for each of their unique concerns, to achieve their best overall outcome.
Importantly, Sonder’s Care Specialists are able to, with permission, pass on the relevant information they have shared to a clinician. This saves the member having to repeat themselves unnecessarily and facilitates faster, frictionless care.
One of the misconceptions about Care Specialists is that they just pass cases on, but they resolve over 70% of cases that come in by providing people with the right pathways and the right resources.
Oftentimes, Care Specialists will be able to provide support to a member themselves, without directing them elsewhere. Whether that’s by lending a listening ear, implementing support strategies, or sharing advice from Sonder’s rich wellbeing library.
The person I spoke to was amazing at listening and only speaking when it was needed, they got me the right support I needed. Thank you for your help in my time of crisis.
What different pathways are available to Sonder members via triage?
- Self help
When the holistic triage reveals symptoms that do not impact on an individual’s daily functions or activities, they may receive self help advice or publicly available support pathways. This support is focused on ensuring the individual has an outlet for their concerns, and access to resources that can address those concerns.
2. Tailored employer support
In addition to the bespoke resources we provide, whenever possible, we’ll also provide members with access to tailored support from their employer or education organisation. This tailored support can include; an employee benefits program, whistleblower hotline or education provider student services.
3. Nurse
For a clinical assessment, our Triage Nurse will step in and assign a clinical priority to your case from low risk to urgent. This assignment is based on the Manchester triage system, an evidence-based approach that seeks to identify unique needs and provides tailored solutions.
4. Counsellor or Psychologist
When a holistic triage reveals behaviours and symptoms that are impacting that person’s daily functioning (ie. they are suffering from a clinical mental health condition) the case is referred to a booked therapy session. Our network of therapists specialise in a wide range of mental health concerns.
(Sonder’s Care Specialists) were each very friendly and knew exactly the right person to refer me to. They also made it so that I didn't have to repeat the sensitive information over again. They validated my feelings and didn't make me feel self conscious about anything.
What is the Manchester Triage System?
The Manchester Triage System (MTS) is a tool used worldwide to help healthcare teams quickly assess urgency and prioritise patients. Think of it as a way to make sure the most critical cases get immediate attention, while others are seen in the right order.
As an MTS accredited organisation, Sonder understands the critical role this system plays in effective healthcare delivery. While we’re not a hospital, our clinical specialists, like our 24/7 nurses, regularly use triage principles to assess and assist members reaching out to us. Understanding these systems helps us provide effective support, guiding people towards the right level of care, whether that’s immediate medical attention or practical advice.
You can read more on how the MTS works in our blog: Understanding the Manchester Triage System as part of Sonder’s commitment to quality care.
The benefits of stepped care for Sonder members and customers
At Sonder we believe that our clinically-backed stepped care triage model provides better and more comprehensive care than simply connecting an individual to a doctor or a councillor without question.
Benefit for the member: We know that avoiding a trip to the emergency room, doctor or even pharmacist can help give a member some valuable time back in their day. In providing Care Specialist support instantly, support cases that don’t need to be escalated can be solved quickly. For cases that do need to be triaged to a specialist, a member’s information can be passed on for seamless care.
Benefit for the business: A structured and consistent patient assessment minimises risk and facilitates efficient care delivery. This not only reduces potential downtime or absenteeism, but satisfies an employer’s responsibility to provide care to their people.
To find out more about how Sonder’s holistic approach to health and safety could help your people, book a demo.
