Using Group Chats and Shared Chats

Overview

Practice Better allows you to set up group chats for clients enrolled in programs, classes, or as a general support forum for clients with similar health concerns and goals. This article will cover the following topics:

• Creating a Group Chat
• Sharing Chats with Team Members
• Default Direct Chat Sharing
• Group Chats vs. Shared Chats
• Adding & Removing Participants
• Group Chats for Programs
• Pinning Posts
• Editing Posts
• Mentions
• Locking Groups

Creating a Group Chat

1. On your Messages page, click the Fast Action Button in the bottom-right corner and select New group chat:
   
   
   
2. Enter a name for your group and an optional avatar from the options provided:
   
   
   
3. Select the style of your group chat. You can adjust the style of your group chat at any time.
   • Feed: will display new messages at the top with replies displayed under each post. This is similar to a feed you'll see on Facebook and other social networks.
   • Direct chat: will display messages similar to the traditional one-on-one chats you've used in Practice Better and other chat apps. Most recent messages will be displayed at the bottom.
     
     
4. Select the naming convention for your clients' names. You can allow clients to see other participants' full names, first names, and initial or first names only.
   
   
5. You can also restrict clients from seeing other participants' names and profile photos.
   The naming convention and profile photo settings only apply to clients. You will always see clients' full names and profile photos when viewing group chats in your portal.
   
   
6. Select the list of participants to add to your chat. You can skip this step to create an empty group to start:
   

Once you've created your group, you can make future modifications (e.g. changing the name, chat style, and privacy settings) by clicking the 3 dots and selecting Edit group:

Sharing Chats with Team Members

Practitioners and admins in Plus and Team plans can share client chats with one another. This doesn’t convert the chat to a Group Chat.

Only the team member who initiated (owns) the 1-on-1 chat with the client can Share the chat with other team members.

Sharing a chat with a team member won’t add that team member to the client’s Contacts.

Being explicitly invited to share a chat with a client overrides a team member’s client tag restriction. A team member will always have access to shared chats they are invited by the chat owner, until they are removed.

Share a chat with team members

1. Go to your Secure Messenger in Practice Better and select an active 1-1 client chat.
   
   
2. Click the icon at the top of the chat to Add participants.
   
3. Click Add team members to share the chat. 
   Clicking Add team members and clients will convert it to a Group Chat. 
   
   
   
4. Click the checkbox beside the team member you want to share the chat with and click Select.
   

Default Direct Chat Sharing

You can share all new 1-1 chats with specific team members by default. 

This setting can be useful in a team practice where all of the practitioners need to be able to answer all client's messages.

1. Go to your Settings > Telehealth & Messaging. 
2. Under the Direct Chat Sharing section, select one or more team members from the pick list. 
3. Click Save Changes near the top-right.

If you are the team owner or a team member with appropriate access, you can use the team member switcher in the bottom-left corner to update the Direct Chat Sharing settings on behalf of other team members. 

Differences Between Group Chats and Shared Chats

Q: What’s the difference between a group chat and a shared chat?

A: Refer to the comparison table below.

Q: When would I use a group chat or a shared chat?

A: You will want to use a group chat any time you want to involve two or more clients. Group chats are great resources for communication in a Program. See Group Chats for Programs

Shared chats are useful in a team practice where team members need to be able to respond to a other team member’s client messages.

Q: How can I tell if I’m in a group chat or a shared chat?

A: Some visual clues:

• A group chat won’t display a client’s profile image. The chat owner can update the group chat with a custom image.
• When a client chat is converted to a group chat, the name of the chat will have the word (Group) in parentheses by default. The chat owner can customize the group chat name.
• A shared chat will display the client’s profile image if they have one set.
• A shared chat will have the client’s name and “+1 more” or another number to indicate the number of team members the chat is shared with.

Adding & Removing Participants

Participants can be added to a group or shared chat by clicking the Add participants button:

You can remove participants from the Participants list on the right by clicking the three dots for more options beside a member and selecting Remove participant.

When removing participants, you can optionally delete or keep the messages they have sent in the chat:

If you choose to keep messages, they will appear in the chat without an associated name and profile photo:

Participants also have the option to remove themselves from a group chat. In this case, all messages and threads started by the participant will be deleted.

Pinning Posts in a Feed

You can pin posts to the top of a feed by clicking the 3 dots next to the message, then select Pin to top of page from the options provided:

Editing Posts

For feed-style chats, you can also edit the content of previously posted entries. This may be useful if you've created an announcements/bulletin board post providing periodic updates to your clients.

1. Click the More options menu (3 dots) next to your message and select Edit message from the options provided.
   
   
2. Edit your message and attachment then click Save to update your post:
   

Mentions

Mentions allow you to directly notify specific participants in a group that a message needs their attention. In the message text box, type the "@" sign and then select the participant's name from the list:

Preventing New Posts

Group chats can be locked to prevent other participants from posting new messages. This may be useful, for example, if the support group/program has ended but you still want clients to be able to refer to existing messages. When a group chat is locked, you will still be able to post new messages as the owner of the chat.

1. To lock a group chat, click the More options menu (3 dots) in the chat header:
   
2. Select Lock group from the options provided.

Similarly, you can unlock the group to allow new messages by selecting Unlock group from the More options menu.