Learn the desk before you take a sit.

What this work is

Hello. I Am Here. is a human listening and encouragement service. A sit is a few quiet minutes with a kind person. It is not a clinic, a crisis line, or a place to practice therapy. You may have clinical background and/or education; on Hello you still sit only in a non-clinical or peer role.

This packet is the full map: The Couch, Stripe, your own insurance, Slack, the public site, a live room, and when to hand someone to 988 or 911. Finish it before you accept a sit.

One login: The Couch

The Couch is your desk. Listeners do not get a Hello mailbox and do not need email for this job. Sign in, set hours, finish Stripe, accept a sit, and file the record.

• The Couch: hello-i-am-here.com/login, then /desktop/your-name. Hours, Stripe, Accept, File Cabinet.
• Use the Couch email-or-alias and Couch password Josh or Chrissy gave you. That is a login, not a mailbox you have to check.
• If login fails, stop guessing. Josh or Chrissy can set your login email-or-alias and password from Set up a listener.

Stripe payouts

Paid sits go through Stripe Connect. There is no paper check for an ordinary sit. Contracted listeners receive ninety percent of a paid sit. Sessions Chrissy Bellers serves keep the full fee on the platform account.

On The Couch, open Stripe Connect. Click Finish onboarding and complete identity, tax, and bank. If Stripe asks for an EIN, finish that first, then come back. You are done only when payouts show as ready.

Do not accept paid sits until payouts are ready, unless Josh or Chrissy has told you the sit is training or a Welcome to the Couch seat. If Stripe is confusing, they can wire the account and send you the link.

• Couch menu → Stripe Connect → Finish onboarding.
• Complete every Stripe screen, including tax and bank.
• Confirm the row says payouts are ready before you take a paid sit.

Independent contractor insurance requirement

Hello. I am Here., LLC — Listener Onboarding. Each listener engaged as an independent contractor must maintain their own professional liability (errors and omissions) insurance at all times while accepting sits through Hello. I am Here., LLC.

Minimum coverage is $1,000,000 per occurrence / $2,000,000 aggregate. The policy must cover the listener's actual work: non-clinical human listening and peer-support-style sessions. Hello. I am Here., LLC provides no diagnosis, treatment, or clinical care, and your policy should be classified accordingly (for example, life coach / peer support / non-clinical listening), not as therapist malpractice.

Before your first sit, provide a certificate of insurance (COI) naming Hello. I am Here., LLC as certificate holder. Provide an updated COI at each renewal. Notify Josh or Chrissy within 5 business days if your policy is cancelled, lapses, or is materially changed. You may not accept sits while uninsured. Premiums are the contractor's responsibility and are not reimbursed.

Any licensed provider offering equivalent coverage satisfies this requirement — you are free to shop anywhere. Three options that fit our scope are listed below. Hello. I am Here., LLC may earn a referral fee if you purchase through Hiscox or NEXT once those affiliate links go live. That does not affect your premium, and you are under no obligation to use either one.

• Hiscox Small Business Insurance — affiliate link will be added when this goes live.
• NEXT Insurance — affiliate link will be added when this goes live.
• Insurance Canopy — https://www.insurancecanopy.com (no affiliate).

How to move around the public website

The public site is what a person sees before they book. You should be able to explain it if they get lost.

• The Couch: book a sit and read who we are and are not. Comfort & Care holds vibes, the grounds, and local help. Those are extra.
• Prices: $15 for 15 minutes, $30 for 30 minutes. Membership is $100 a month or $1,000 a year with the same listener (weekly 15 plus one monthly 30).
• Last Sunday of the month can be Welcome to the Couch: one free 15-minute sit, 11a–4p Central. The paid buttons stay visible.
• Bios sit next to the scheduler. Before you pay explains confidentiality and that this is not clinical advice.
• Accessibility is in the header. Privacy Exit (Just in case someone is coming)! is the red button at the bottom.
• Vibes and the coop live in Comfort & Care and both collapse. If you are not into them, hide them. A sit does not need either one. Mid-sit they can change the vibe from a name dropdown.
• Legal pages are in the footnotes. In danger they use Privacy Exit, then 911 or 988. You are not their dispatcher.

How to move around The Couch

The Couch is the signed-in desk. It is not public. Keep the login to yourself.

• Couch menu jumps to each tool your role can use.
• Availability: days and time brackets become 15- and 30-minute seats.
• Stripe Connect: finish payouts until the row says ready.
• Password: change the Couch password here. The boxes are visible, and Show password reveals what you typed.
• TLBP Slack: opens tlbp.slack.com. Slack will not load inside this site.
• A paid or scheduled sit rings a doorbell and can show a lock-screen alert. Allow notifications once. If it is silent, tap Allow sit alerts.
• A room does not open until you tap Accept. Your link must keep ?seat=listener.
• File Cabinet: real chat, date, subject. Do not invent a transcript.
• Josh and Chrissy can set Stripe, an extra Couch login email-or-alias, and password for you from Set up a listener.

How you know a sit is waiting

When a client pays, or a scheduled sit is in its window, every open Hello or Couch app should ring a doorbell and can show a lock-screen alert. That includes the computer icon, the phone app, and a regular browser tab if it is open.

• The first time you log into The Couch, allow notifications if the browser asks.
• If you hear nothing, look for Allow sit alerts and tap it once so sound can play.
• A room does not open until you tap Accept. Do not ignore a live alert.

How a session works

A sit starts only after checkout (or a free Welcome seat) and your Accept. If you are driving, in a loud room, or not ready to be kind, do not tap Accept.

• Read any companion journal or coop note first.
• Emergency numbers stay on both the listener screen and the client screen: 988, 911, Veterans (988 then 1), the domestic violence line, and the LGBTQIA2+ line.
• The stay / 988 / 911 scripts stay on your listener screen above the chat. The client does not see those scripts. Use them.
• Greet them in complete sentences. Ask how they want to use the minutes. Listen more than you speak.
• When time is up, tap End sit. They can rate, review, and tip. Then file the real chat.

TLBP Slack

Staff chat lives in the TLBP Slack workspace, not inside The Couch. Use the TLBP Slack tile on your desk. It opens tlbp.slack.com so you can sign in.

• Ask Josh or Chrissy for an invite if you cannot sign in.
• Use Slack for staff questions. Use The Couch for sits.

What to say and do

Your job is presence. These lines stay inside the listener lane.

• I can sit with this. You do not have to make it neat.
• I am here, and I am listening.
• That sounds heavy. Would you like to say more, or sit quietly for a minute?
• You do not need a reason to be here.
• If they ask for advice, help them hear their own next small step. Do not hand them a treatment plan.
• If they are in danger, say so clearly and send them to 911 or 988. Stay kind. Do not investigate.

What not to say or do

These moves take you out of the listener lane. Do not use them on this platform, even if you know how to do them somewhere else.

• Do not diagnose, treat, or say you are doing therapy, counseling, or a clinical assessment.
• Do not give medical, legal, or financial advice, or tell them what a doctor, lawyer, or court would do.
• Do not promise that they will feel better, get cured, or be safe after the sit.
• Do not handle crisis response yourself, do a safety plan as a clinician, or call yourself a hotline.
• Do not ask them to become your private client, move the sit off the platform, or pay you outside Stripe.
• Do not record, screenshot, or share the sit except as needed for emergency help or as required by law.
• Do not invent notes in the File Cabinet.

Stay in your lane as a new listener

You were asked here because you can sit with another person. That is enough, and that is the whole job.

Listen, encourage, and stay human. If you do not know what to say, say that you are still here. Silence is allowed.

When something is bigger than a sit, use the escalation playbook. You are not failing when you send someone to 988 or 911. You are staying in your lane.

Stay in your lane if you are a behavioral-health professional

If you are a counselor, therapist, social worker, psychologist, psychiatrist, peer specialist, or hold another behavioral-health license or certification, you still sit here only as a listener, in a non-clinical or peer role.

Your credential does not enlarge what Hello. I Am Here. is. A sit on this platform is not a clinical session, a peer-support encounter billed as treatment, or an extension of a private practice. Do not open a chart. Do not diagnose. Do not treat. Do not build a treatment plan. Do not bill insurance. Do not use clinical interventions you would use in a licensed setting.

You may absolutely NOT refer, recruit, or steer a client toward your own practice, your employer's practice, or any practice you work for, own, or have a financial interest in. That is a dual role and a conflict of interest, and it violates literally all of the codes of conduct you are bound by — social workers (NASW), counselors (ACA), and peer specialists alike. Turning a listener sit into a pipeline for your own caseload is a serious ethics violation and grounds for immediate removal here.

If the person needs ongoing or clinical care, stay in the listening role, say that this sit cannot take the place of that work, and point them only to neutral, independent options — 988, 911, or a general referral resource. Never point them to yourself, your workplace, or a colleague you benefit from.

People come here to be heard, not to be your client. Keeping the lane clear protects them, you, and the service.

• Do not tell a client where you work, hand out your practice's contact information, or invite them to book with you.
• Do not use a sit to build a caseload, collect referrals, or move someone into paid services you or your employer benefit from.
• If asked where to get therapy, give general, independent options — never your own practice or the practice that employs you.
• A referral into a setting you profit from is a dual relationship. Treat it as strictly off-limits, even if the client asks for it.

Listener Code of Conduct

This code is adapted from the professional codes used by social workers (NASW), counselors (ACA), and certified peer specialists, then tailored to the Listener role and its very limited scope of practice. Every listener follows it, whether or not you hold any license or certification.

A Listener offers presence, encouragement, and a kind ear for a few minutes. A Listener does not assess, diagnose, treat, advise, or provide any professional service. When a need is bigger than a sit, the Listener's job is to stay kind and hand off to real help.

• Scope and honesty: Sit only as a Listener. Never present a sit as therapy, counseling, coaching, case management, clinical peer support, medical, legal, or financial advice, and never imply that it is.
• Do no harm and safety first: If someone may be in danger, say so plainly and direct them to 911 or 988. Stay present and kind; do not run a clinical safety plan or act as a crisis hotline.
• Respect and non-discrimination: Treat every person with dignity regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, immigration status, religion, disability, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other characteristic.
• Confidentiality and privacy: Keep what is shared private. Do not record, screenshot, or share a sit except as needed for emergency help or as required by law. Store only honest records in the File Cabinet.
• Boundaries and no dual relationships: Do not move a sit off the platform, become someone's private client or provider, accept payment outside Stripe, pursue personal or romantic relationships, or refer a client to your own or your employer's practice.
• No exploitation: Never use a person's trust, hardship, or the sit for financial, emotional, sexual, religious, political, or personal gain.
• Competence and referral: Know the limit of this role. When someone needs care you cannot give, say so honestly and point them to neutral, independent, licensed resources or the crisis lines.
• Integrity: Be honest about who you are and what this service is. Do not overstate your role, credentials, or what a sit can do. Do not invent notes or transcripts.
• Fitness to sit: Do not accept a sit when you are impaired, distracted, unsafe to focus, or unable to be kind. It is okay to not tap Accept.
• Accountability: If you cross a line or one is crossed with you, stop, use the escalation playbook, and tell Josh or Chrissy. Following this code protects the person, you, and Hello. I Am Here.