A more human way to book care.

Client: Talkspace
Industry: Mental health / Telehealth
Our role: Voice experience / Engineering
Scope: Web + telephone / Booking

The project

Nester built Sarah, a voice intake coordinator that turns the first conversation into a booked therapy appointment. The challenge: make the process clear, responsive and reassuring, while keeping care boundaries intact.

01 / A visible path

One conversation. A clear next step.

Four visible steps turn an open conversation into progress: personal details, therapy preferences, scheduling and insurance. A live transcript lets people follow along.

Original voice intake, therapist matching and scheduling concept

02 / Emotionally aware voice

Listen to the person, not just the words.

Sarah adapts tone and pacing to the caller. Natural-language scheduling makes “next week” a useful request, while turn detection leaves room for people to finish speaking.

Voice concept showing a revised scheduling request and a listening waveform — Voice concept / Turn-taking and intent in context.

03 / Guardrails

Care begins with knowing when to stop.

Crisis detection takes priority over booking. Safety resources and escalation paths keep the coordinator within its role, with a clear next step when a person needs support.

Crisis detection and protected escalation in the voice intake experience

04 / Bounded decisions

A useful match. Clear boundaries.

Insurance and age eligibility stay fixed. Preferences broaden only when needed, with the trade-off explained. If a time is unavailable, Sarah offers nearby alternatives.

Therapist matching across insurance, care specialty, preferences and location

05 / Agent coordination

Different specialists. One conversation.

Sarah handles booking, Charles handles pricing, and an information agent answers service questions. Shared context keeps a question from becoming a restart.

Concept of booking, pricing and information agents retaining conversation context — Agent concept / Specialised roles, shared context.

06 / Clarity and recovery

Progress people can see. And return to.

Four visible steps show what is complete and what comes next. Details save as they are shared, so reconnecting can resume the session without starting over.

Saved intake progress with two completed steps and an option to resume scheduling — Intake concept / Visible steps, saved details and a way to resume.

07 / Telephone intake

The same care, a phone call away.

Twilio brings Sarah to the telephone. Callers can share their needs, check therapist availability and book an appointment through a natural voice conversation—without opening a browser.

Telephone intake concept showing a connected call with Sarah and appointment availability — Telephone concept / Voice intake and booking through Twilio.

08 / In practice

More access to care. Less waiting to book.

A shorter route from asking for help to arranging care, with human teams free to focus on more complex needs.

Around-the-clock appointments, no callback scheduling and a consistent voice experience

Results & impact

What changed.

<4 min: Average booking time, down from 15+ minutes
78%: Reduction in cost per booking
24/7: Appointment booking availability