Messages (the page title is Team Messaging) is secure chat for people in your organization. Use it to coordinate care, ask questions, and send announcements — without putting every conversation into a profile’s clinical record.
Messages stay inside your company. You cannot message someone at another organization.
Who can use Messages
Messages is available on School, Therapeutic, and Residential plans (not Family / Family +MAR), and it has to be turned on for your organization. If either is missing, the Messages icon stays hidden and messaging pages are unavailable.
Managers and Billing users
- Message any active team member (managers, staff, guests) in the company
- Message self-reporters when that profile has Send/Receive Messages on — either of you can start the DM
- Create and manage channels (including announcement channels)
- Search message text across the company
- Open conversations they are not in as View only (read-only oversight)
- When something in a conversation should be part of the care record, copy that message into Daily Tracking on a profile — in the thread, click Document on the message you want to save
Staff and guests
- Message people who share care for the same profiles (plus company managers/billing)
- Message self-reporters they have access to, when Send/Receive Messages is on — either person can start the DM
- Join group channels they are added to and take part in the conversation — not announcement channels, where only the creator can post (see Announcement channels)
- Mute notifications on conversations they are in
Self-reporters
Self-reporters only see Messages when a manager turns on Send/Receive Messages on their profile. They and their care team can DM each other (either person can start). They can join a regular channel when they are the only self-reporter in it, and read announcement channels they belong to (many self-reporters allowed). See Messaging with self-reporters.
Where to open Messages
On the web
- Sign in to BEHCA.
- Click the Messages icon in the top navigation (speech-bubble style icon). When you have unread messages anywhere, a badge on that icon shows your total unread count.
- On the Messages page, the left side lists Channels and Direct Messages — individual chats with new activity show an unread marker in the list. The right side shows the selected conversation.
On mobile
When Messages is enabled for your organization (and for self-reporters, when their profile allows it), the mobile app shows Messages and syncs the same conversations. Push notifications can alert you to new messages and @mentions.
Who to contact
Managers maintain Team Contacts in Organization Settings. Each entry is a topic, a contact (team member), and an optional note.
With no conversation open on Messages, use Who to contact on the page or Contacts next to New message. While composing New message, use the address-book icon in that header. Choosing an entry starts a direct message when you are allowed to message that person. If you are not, the row still shows the topic, name, and note, and it does not open a chat. Staff and guests see that when the contact does not share a profile with them. The mobile app shows the same list. Self-reporters do not see this list.
Managers and Billing users edit it under Organization Settings → Team Contacts. See Organization Settings.
Messages vs Daily Tracking notes
| Messages | Daily Tracking notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Team chat | Clinical / care documentation on a profile |
| Saved on the profile record? | No — chat stays in Messages unless a manager copies a message into Daily Tracking | Yes |
| Who can see it | Conversation members (managers can also review) | People with access to that profile’s tracking |
When you open Messages with no conversation selected, a notice on the page says chat is for team communication — to document care, add a note on Daily Tracking.
Conversation types
- Direct messages — one-to-one chats. See Starting a direct message.
- Channels — named group chats with multiple members. See Creating and managing channels.
- Announcement channels — one-way posts from the creator; members read only. See Announcement channels.
Privacy and oversight
A notice in Messages states that managers may review messages, including DMs. Managers and Billing users can search company message text and open threads as View only without joining them. Plan your communication accordingly — Messages is not a private off-the-record channel.
Common questions
- I don’t see Messages. — Family plans do not include Messages. On School, Therapeutic, and Residential, Messages can also be turned off for the whole organization. The icon stays hidden either way.
- Is chat the same as @mentions in Daily Tracking? — They use similar @ shortcuts, but they notify different people. In Messages,
@here,@managers, and similar only notify people already in that channel. Daily Tracking mentions notify the care team / company roles for a profile note. See Mentions, search, and manager review. - Do messages leave my company? — No. Everything is company-scoped.