Important Update: Text Forwarding Changes

Dear Colleague,

We’re writing to inform you about an important change to the text forwarding feature within your CounselMore account.

CounselMore has been proud to offer a unique service: text forwarding.

This feature allowed you to send messages directly from your native phone app to your students’ regular texting phone apps while masking your personal cell phone number with a generic 888-number—something no other provider has attempted.

Unlike other platforms, where texting services are typically paid add-ons—and even then require students to use a separate messaging app—we provided this advanced functionality at no additional cost. However, due to an unforeseen change with our third-party provider, the text forwarding portion of the service was interrupted (regular text notifications is unaffected and is not experiencing any issues, this issue is limited to text forwarding).

Solution Minded Thinking:

After extensive efforts throughout the holiday weekend, to find a replacement provider that could maintain this level of service, we were unable to find a solution that met the security standards we value nor the functionality you desire, at no cost to our customers.

As a result, we will no longer be able to offer the text forwarding portion of our text function. Moving forward, we will provide the same core texting functionality as other platforms, allowing you to send messages directly from the CounselMore app to your students’ usual phone-app.

With this change CounselMore continues to offer greater value than our competitors. Please read to the end of this email for important details.

The tools, data, support, and transparent decision-making you rely on in our partnership continue to surpass industry norms, empowering you to focus on your students while we handle the technology to provide you with the highest level of streamlined workflow.

Next Steps:

Sending Messages:
Continue sending messages to your student clients as you normally would, using the Messages tab in the Text sub-tab within the CounselMore app.
Student's Experience:
Your student will receive the message on their phone through their regular texting app, maintaining the convenience and familiarity that encourages deeper student engagement.
Counselor's Notifications:
When your student replies, you will receive THREE notifications:
- In-App Notification: A red bell icon in the top right-hand corner of the screen will notify you. By clicking the notification, you’ll be taken directly to the student’s message.
- Email Notification: You’ll also receive an email from notifications@counselmore.com, which will include the student's name and the contents of the message.
- Text Notification: You'll receive a text notification which will include the student's name and the contents of the message.

We appreciate your understanding and continued trust. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.