Harborview Counseling · Health & Wellness
The hardest call to make, made harder
Reaching out for therapy is already the hard part. Harborview Counseling's site added friction on top of it — no way to see who a therapist actually was, no way to book without an unreturned voicemail, and copy so vague it could have described almost any practice.
The problem
For someone reaching out to a therapist for the first time, uncertainty is often the barrier itself: which kind of session is right, whether insurance is accepted, what happens between filling out a form and sitting across from someone. Harborview's site answered none of it — a mission statement about “understanding society” and a single Learn More button.
There was no way to request a specific kind of session — individual, family, couples — or express a therapist preference, so every enquiry arrived as a blank slate the front desk had to sort out by phone, which for many prospective clients was itself too big an ask to make.
Insurance coverage, one of the first practical questions anyone has before booking therapy, wasn't addressed anywhere on the site, leaving people to call and ask, or more often, not call at all.
The approach
Three moves, in order.
01
Say plainly what the practice offers
Individual Therapy, Family Counseling and Couples Therapy replaced an abstract mission statement, so a visitor recognizes their own situation immediately.
02
Let a first request happen quietly, in writing
A booking form with therapist and session-type preference gives someone a way to reach out without a phone call, which for many people is the difference between reaching out and not.
03
Answer the practical questions up front
An insurance and FAQ page addresses coverage, session length and what a first appointment involves — the concrete questions that sit underneath the emotional ones.
The work
What we built.
The new homepage
Also delivered
A clearly marked crisis resources line at the top of every page, separate from the booking flow, since the previous site had no distinction between someone browsing and someone in immediate need.
Results
First two quarters on the new site.
+59%
Session requests submitted online rather than by phone
44%
Of new clients cite the FAQ as reducing hesitation
−24%
Front-desk calls asking about insurance coverage
1
Site that finally says what the practice actually does
“Some people can make a phone call to book therapy and some genuinely can't, not that day. Giving them a form instead of a phone number meant we started hearing from people who'd been putting it off for months.”
Dr. Yusuf KarimClinical Director, Harborview Counseling
Figures are illustrative of the outcomes this engagement was designed to produce and are shown here for portfolio purposes.