Callitor · Stella for speech & language therapy practices — the 8:20 referral answered, weekly sessions kept, school days respected

The problem

Phone hour: 8:30 to 9:00. Parents call at 8:20, 12:40 and 7:15.

01A mother calls with a referral at 8:20. Everyone's already in session; voicemail. She calls the practice across town.
02A sick child at a quarter to eight, an empty 3:15. Nobody has time to text the short-notice list.
03Marloes is at the school on Wednesdays, Femke at the second clinic. “Sooner at the other clinic” lives in someone's head.

This isn't a software problem. Someone has to pick up — warmly, without an interrogation — know every therapist's day at every place, and fill the 3:15 before it's a hole.

A call, while your hands are busy

Tuesday, 8:20. Everyone is in session. A mother calls with a referral.

Before the phone hour, so normally the machine. Stella answers, asks one yes/no about place, hears the real answer, and books the intake where it's soonest.

Incoming call · unknown number

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Stella · Clearwater Speech & Language

ringing

0:00

Illustrative conversation. She adapts to what people actually say.

ThursdayRiverside clinic · Femke

What she does, all day

Everything a good front desk does — plus she knows your clinics and your schools.

The universal six, and two that matter when your team is spread across clinics and schools and the referral comes outside the phone hour.

01

Answers every call, like a person would

No menus, no “press one”, no hold music, no disclaimer wall. Place, first name, how can I help — in one breath. Then she listens instead of interrogating. And she's there at 7:40 in the morning and 9 at night — when the parent thinks of it, not when you open.

“Good morning, this is Stella — how can I help?”

02

Books into the real book

She searches actual availability — who is where, doing what, for how long, in which chair or room — and never double-books. If she offers 2:20, 2:20 is free.

03

Reminds, and takes the reschedule call

Reminders go out ahead of time. When someone can't make it, she handles the flustered call with warmth and finds the next time without drama.

04

Fills the late cancellation

A cancelled four o'clock is the one slot you can't sell tomorrow. The moment it frees, she offers it — by text — to the people who've said they'd take short notice, who wanted earlier, or who owe a make-up. First yes takes it; nobody else hears about it.

“A 4:00 with Mr. Ellis just opened — want it?”

05

Tightens your day

A four o'clock cancels? She asks the five o'clock if they'd like to come earlier. Nobody is obliged, and it cascades — you finish at five, not six.

“The four's opened up — would you rather come at four?”

06

Learns each client, gently

Someone turns down a 9am; she stops leading with mornings for them. Preferences, never rules — and when she checks, she uses very few words.

“Mornings tough? I'll avoid them.”

07

Referrals taken any time — including 8:20

The referral is the most important call of the week, and it almost never lands between 8:30 and 9:00. Stella answers, asks whether there's a GP referral or it's direct, books the intake at the nearest place — or puts the child on the waitlist and texts the parent the moment there's room.

“Are you near Main Street, or closer to Riverside?”

08

Clinics and schools

Therapists work at the clinic and at schools. Availability is per therapist, per place, per half-day — so when Marloes is at the school on Wednesdays, Stella doesn't offer clinic slots there, and vice versa. Sooner at the other clinic? She says so, with the place.

Last-minute cancellations

A sick child at breakfast is not a no-show. It's a slot she starts filling the moment your day opens.

She takes the 7:38 text the moment it comes — the mother doesn't have to wait until nine and forget. Runway is money: the earlier she knows, the more people she can offer the slot to once your outbound hours open, and the likelier it fills. Your policy — 24 hours' notice, a make-up credit, a fee — is yours; she states it plainly, applies it the same way every time, and never guilt-trips a parent.

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Stella · Clearwater Speech & Language

text messages

7:38

Illustrative. Your policy, her words.

7:38Freed — Noor cancels by text
7:39Policy applied, make-up offered — kindly
8:30Outbound hours open — offered to 3 people who asked for short notice
8:41Filled — Sem's dad said yes; the rest hear “taken”
·Make-up · Thu 3:15 · confirmed 7:52

The freed slot goes to the people most likely to say yes: the short-notice list, the waitlist, make-ups owed, anyone who said “earlier if you can”.
First yes takes it. The others hear “taken” — never who, never why.
The make-up lands in a slot that would otherwise have gone empty; the freed slot earns today.
Your policy is applied the same way every time; the tone stays warm — especially to a parent with a sick child.
Outbound only inside your hours: she'll take a 7:40 text the instant it arrives and start offering the slot when your day opens — never before.
You see it on the panel — freed, offered, filled. Nothing to do.

Everyone on the short-notice list asked to be on it. Nobody is nagged; nobody hears another client's business.

And when it's your side

One sentence into the mic. She does the phoning.

Rain, a burst pipe, a birth, the autoclave, the hall double-booked — the whole block moves, and it's your call, not the client's. You say it once; she works out who's affected, offers each person the right alternative in their own words, waives the fee, logs the reason, and reports back. When it's an overrun rather than a closure she works by who can still act: the people who haven't left home yet get the call and the choice; the people already in the room get the honest ETA and a coffee; nobody further out is touched until the delay is still growing. Nobody hears why; nobody rings the desk.

The school's shut for a burst pipe — move Wednesday's sessions to the clinic or next week, parents' choice.

Stella, twenty minutes later8 sessions touched · 5 to the clinic · 2 to next week · 1 waiting · plans untouched

Plan → rhythm → sessions

A sick Tuesday doesn't change the plan.

Most calendars think in appointments. Stella thinks in three layers, and the top one is the therapist's: the treatment plan, how it normally sits in the week, and the actual sessions on the actual days.

The plan is the agreement — how often, how long, until when. Never quietly downgraded by a bad week.
The rhythm is the preferred slot: Tuesdays 3:15 with Marloes at Main Street, from September 3rd. It can start in the future, pause, or end.
When a week goes wrong, one session moves — the plan stays; next week is normal by itself.
Half-terms and school closures are seen at booking and settled then — skip or make up. Nothing is invented on the day.

For your team

The therapy room stays the therapy room.

A panel at each clinic's desk: who's next, with whom, what changed. One button to say “move Noor to four.” Suppliers and scam calls never make it into the practice.

Now2:52Main Street

Noor — 3:15, session (Marloes)then Daan at 3:45

New referral at 8:20 — intake booked Thu 4:00 at Riverside; direct, no GP letter
Yara moved to Thursday — plan unchanged
A supplier and two robocalls handled. Nothing for you.

“Block my Wednesday morning — I'm at the school.”

A panel, not an appan always-on screen at the desk that answers one question in five seconds: who's next, for whom, and has anything changed? Everyone sees their own day; the owner sees the floor. Something to read, not operate.
One button, your voicepress it and say “move Ana to four, and call Peter back for me.” That's the whole interface. She does the machinery behind the glass.
The shieldsales calls, scam calls, realtors — they never reach you and never appear anywhere. Real callers can ask to be put through; you still choose whether to pick up.
Only what can't waitat the desk, things land quietly on the panel. Out of the building, your phone only buzzes for the next hour or two.
Your whole inbound“tell Peter I'll be home at seven” in the same breath as the schedule. The cost of a personal call is the context switch, not the two minutes.
You are the bossyour team's hours guide what she offers on her own. A direct instruction — from you or from the stylist whose chair it is — is simply carried out, silently, and teaches her nothing about “normal”.

Whoever's at the school sees their own day on their phone — only what can't wait buzzes. At the desk, everything lands quietly on the panel.

What she will never do

Warm is not the same as loose.

No menus

Not a phone tree

No “press one”. No “your call is important to us”. No recorded disclaimers before a human word. Warm, short, present — and honest if you ask what she is.

No inventing

Never makes things up

She offers what's in your catalogue and staff profiles. She won't crown a “best” anyone or promise an outcome. A time she offers is a time that's free.

No gossip

One client never hears about another

A moved client hears “we need to move your Tuesday — let me find you another time.” Never who, never why. And once moved kindly, they're not yo-yo'd back.

No pretending

Honest about what she is

She doesn't lead with it and doesn't apologise for it. Ask, and she'll tell you plainly: she's the assistant. She helps; that's what people remember.

Early access

Give Stella your practice.

Your therapists and where they are on which day — clinics and schools —, your intake and session lengths, your cancellation policy, your words. She's configured by hand for the first practices — a few at a time.

Stella is in early access with a small number of practices and salons. Tell us about your phone and we'll tell you plainly whether she fits — and when.