**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](https://support.behca.com/hc/behca-support/articles/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](https://support.behca.com/hc/behca-support/articles/messaging-with-self-reporters).

## Where to open Messages

### On the web

1. Sign in to BEHCA.
2. 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.
3. 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](https://support.behca.com/hc/behca-support/articles/behca-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](https://support.behca.com/hc/behca-support/articles/starting-a-direct-message).
- **Channels** — named group chats with multiple members. See [Creating and managing channels](https://support.behca.com/hc/behca-support/articles/creating-and-managing-channels).
- **Announcement channels** — one-way posts from the creator; members read only. See [Announcement channels](https://support.behca.com/hc/behca-support/articles/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](https://support.behca.com/hc/behca-support/articles/mentions-search-and-manager-review).
- **Do messages leave my company?** — No. Everything is company-scoped.

## Related articles

- [Starting a direct message](https://support.behca.com/hc/behca-support/articles/starting-a-direct-message)
- [Creating and managing channels](https://support.behca.com/hc/behca-support/articles/creating-and-managing-channels)
- [Mentions, search, and manager review](https://support.behca.com/hc/behca-support/articles/mentions-search-and-manager-review)
- [Discussing notes and documenting messages](https://support.behca.com/hc/behca-support/articles/discussing-notes-and-documenting-messages)
- [Organization Settings](https://support.behca.com/hc/behca-support/articles/behca-organization-settings)