Frequently Asked Questions

Solacare is a counselling and practice management platform designed for people in Hong Kong. You can find a suitable counselling professional through AI recommendations, by browsing the professional directory yourself, or with matching support from a social worker. Once you have found the right person, you can manage appointments, make payments, and attend counselling sessions on the same platform.

Solacare was founded by a team of social workers with frontline counselling and technology system development experience in Hong Kong and internationally. The founder holds a bachelor’s degree in social work, a master’s degree in family counselling, and a master’s degree in computer science. He previously worked as a social worker at Open Up, where he provided in depth online family therapy and personally designed and built its volunteer counselling service management system. After moving to Canada, he also contributed to the development of the web system for Canada’s national 9-8-8 suicide crisis support service. This combination of counselling practice, service management, and technology experience helps Solacare respond to the needs of both clients and counselling professionals while maintaining a strong focus on user experience, privacy, and platform security.

The professionals on the platform come from a range of mental health and support disciplines, including social workers, counsellors, clinical psychologists, counselling psychologists, educational psychologists, registered expressive arts therapists, music therapists, registered psychiatric nurses, psychiatrists, and occupational therapists. We verify the professional qualifications, registration details, or professional memberships they declare. This information is also displayed on their profiles to help you understand their backgrounds and make an informed choice.

No. Counselling professionals on the platform provide services as independent partners or independent service providers. They may be private practitioners or professionals employed by other organizations. Solacare verifies their professional information and has processes in place for complaints and service quality follow up. If a professional does not meet the platform’s requirements, we may suspend them from accepting new clients and, where appropriate, end the partnership.

You can choose from three options. First, you can use AI recommendations to receive suggestions based on your needs and preferences. Second, you can browse the professional directory yourself and compare each person’s background, areas of practice, fees, and availability. Third, you can complete a short form and have a social worker from Solacare review your needs and suggest suitable matches. Whichever option you choose, the final decision remains yours.

Yes. It can take an actual session to determine whether a counselling relationship feels right. If the communication style, professional approach, or practical arrangements do not suit you, you can choose another counselling professional. You can also contact the Solacare team for support in reviewing your needs and exploring other options.

The platform supports both in person and online counselling. In person sessions take place at a location provided by the counselling professional or their organization. Online counselling can be conducted through the platform by video, audio, or text. The options available depend on the services offered by each counselling professional.

Yes. Solacare’s appointment process can be completed online. You can view a counselling professional’s availability and book directly through the platform. You can also view, reschedule, or cancel appointments without calling or exchanging emails. Changes and cancellations may be subject to the counselling professional’s cancellation policy and notice period, which will be shown before booking.

Fees vary between counselling professionals and usually depend on factors such as professional qualifications, clinical experience, service type, and session length. Some professionals offer a free initial consultation or sliding scale fees for people with financial needs. In general, a session of about 50 minutes costs between HK$300 and HK$1,500. Please refer to each professional’s profile for their actual fees.

Some counselling professionals offer free initial consultations. If you book a free service, there will be no payment process. For paid services, the system will ask you to provide a valid credit or debit card after the appointment is booked and will process payment according to the terms of that service. In most cases, the fee is charged automatically after the session is completed. Your appointment may be cancelled if valid payment details are not provided before the session begins.

Cancellation, refund, and missed appointment policies are set by each counselling professional or organization and will be clearly displayed before booking. If you cancel within the required notice period, you will usually not be charged. Late cancellations or missed appointments may result in a full or partial charge, depending on the provider’s policy.

All members of Solacare’s operations team are social workers and are required to follow strict professional standards regarding privacy and confidentiality. Solacare is a federally incorporated Canadian company, so requests for information made by the Hong Kong government do not have direct legal force over Solacare. Any compulsory disclosure request must comply with Canadian law and the relevant judicial process. We collect only the information needed to provide our services and use encryption, strict access controls, and other security measures to protect your data. We do not disclose your personal information or counselling records to third parties unless you consent, it is necessary to provide the service, there is an immediate and serious risk to personal safety, or disclosure is required by Canadian law. Please refer to our Privacy Policy for full details.

Access to information for each organization and each counselling relationship is controlled according to account roles and service relationships. Only counselling professionals who are authorized by the organization and directly involved in the service can access the relevant client information and counselling records through the platform. The Solacare team does not have routine access to browse counselling content and does not use this content for advertising, general business analytics, or training artificial intelligence models.

Solacare uses Stripe to process online payments. Your full credit or debit card details are processed through Stripe’s payment system. Solacare does not directly view or store your full card number. The platform keeps only the limited transaction information needed for payment processing, refunds, receipts, and account management.

Some counselling professionals use clinical supervision to support service quality. During supervision, they should protect your privacy according to the requirements of their profession and remove identifying information whenever possible. If a supervisor needs direct access to your case documents or identifiable information, the counselling professional should explain the arrangement and obtain appropriate consent first.

No. Solacare is a counselling search, appointment, and service management platform. It does not provide immediate emergency response or 24 hour crisis support. If you are facing an immediate and serious risk to personal safety, call 999 or contact another crisis support service such as Suicide Prevention Services or Open Up. Individual counselling professionals may also take necessary action according to their professional responsibilities and crisis response procedures.

You can contact Solacare through the platform’s contact or complaint channels. We will review the concerns raised, preserve relevant records, and contact the counselling professional when follow up is needed. Matters involving professional conduct may also need to be reported to the relevant regulatory or professional body. Depending on the circumstances, Solacare may restrict or suspend a professional from accepting new clients or end the partnership.

No. Solacare is a web platform. You can use a browser on a desktop computer, tablet, or smartphone to search for counselling professionals, manage appointments, complete documents, and attend online sessions.

Solacare aims to make it easier for professionals who want to support mental health in Hong Kong to start and manage private counselling services. The platform provides an all in one set of tools that allows prospective clients to understand your background and services while helping you manage appointments, online sessions, forms, documents, counselling records, and payments. You can complete almost all of the administrative work involved in private counselling on one platform.

Platform features include professional profiles for individuals and organizations, AI recommendations, a searchable directory, social worker assisted matching, appointment and reminder systems, video, audio, and text counselling rooms, customizable forms and documents, automated document delivery, counselling records, fees and payment management, and mental health article publishing. The team can also help you understand how to use the platform and address common practical questions about starting private practice.

No. You will use the platform as an independent service provider or partner, and the relationship does not constitute employment. Subject to your professional responsibilities and the platform partnership terms, you can set your own fees, services, client limits, availability, and whether you are accepting new clients.

One of Solacare’s goals is to help mental health professionals who want to provide private counselling establish and deliver their services more easily. We created the free course Starting a Private Counselling Practice in Hong Kong from Scratch to guide you step by step in building your own private counselling practice. You are also welcome to contact us with questions. The founder will personally respond and help you set up your services through the platform.

Yes. You remain responsible for making independent clinical decisions in accordance with your professional registration, code of ethics, insurance requirements, and applicable Hong Kong laws. Solacare provides tools for search, appointments, communication, documents, and payments. It does not replace your professional judgement or clinical responsibilities.

Yes. You can use the platform to arrange both in person and online counselling. For in person services, the platform can help manage appointments, time, documents, and payments. For online services, the platform includes video, audio, and text counselling rooms so you and your clients can complete the relevant service process online.

Yes. A single appointment can include one or more counselling professionals and one or more clients. This supports family counselling, couples counselling, group counselling, co facilitated sessions, and clinical supervision.

Yes. Solacare provides a flexible template system that allows you to create personalized counselling notes, psychological assessment forms, consent forms, homework, and other documents. You can also set automatic delivery conditions, such as sending a specific form to a client after the first session of a particular service.

Yes. You can set fees, session length, availability, advance booking requirements, cancellation deadlines, missed appointment arrangements, and whether you are accepting new clients. This information will be shown to clients before they book so that both parties understand the service arrangements.

Solacare offers different plans for different service models. The Growth plan has no fixed monthly fee. A 10% platform fee is charged only after a paid session is completed, with a monthly cap of HK$950, plus a 4.8% transaction processing fee. For example, after completing a HK$1,200 session, the amount you receive after these fees would be HK$1,022.40. If you have a steady client volume, you may prefer the Core plan, which charges a fixed monthly fee without a per session platform fee. Organizations that provide only free services may consider the Community plan. Current prices and plan details are subject to the latest information published on the platform.

Yes. The platform uses encryption, access controls, and other technical and administrative safeguards to protect data. In general, only authorized professionals who are directly involved in a case can access the relevant records. You are also responsible for protecting client information, device security, and account access in accordance with your professional standards, platform terms, and applicable laws.

Solacare processes client information only to the extent needed to provide platform services, process payments, protect security, handle complaints, or meet legal obligations. We do not sell your client list to third parties. Please refer to the platform’s Privacy Policy and Professional Partnership Terms for details on how data is collected, used, retained, and disclosed.

Yes. The platform includes time zone features so you can manage appointments in your local time. However, you are responsible for confirming that you hold the Hong Kong professional qualifications, registration, insurance, and authorization needed to provide the relevant services, and for complying with the laws and professional requirements that apply both where you live and in Hong Kong. Solacare’s verification of professional information does not replace your responsibility to assess all cross border practice requirements.

If the platform receives a complaint about your services, we will preserve relevant information and review the matter. We may also ask you to provide a response or relevant records. The process will take account of client safety, privacy, platform requirements, and your professional responsibilities. Depending on the circumstances, Solacare may restrict or suspend your ability to accept new clients and may end the partnership where there is a serious or ongoing failure to meet platform requirements.

Yes. An organization account can manage multiple professionals and, where needed, multiple service locations within the same organization. The platform provides different roles and permission settings so that organization leaders, administrative staff, counselling professionals, and other team members can use their own accounts to complete the work relevant to them.

Yes. Organizations can hide public professional profiles and turn off new client intake. This allows them to use Solacare only for existing clients, internal referrals, appointments, documents, sessions, payments, and related operational work.

Yes. Solacare is not only a paid private counselling platform. It is also a counselling service management system. Organizations that provide only free services can consider the Community plan and use most appointment, session, document, and case management features without charging clients.

Yes. Depending on their role permissions, administrators can view appointment volumes, service status, payment records, and other operational information to support organizational management. To protect client privacy, counselling content and clinical records are available only to individuals with appropriate permissions and a legitimate service related need.

Yes. Organizations can configure their name, logo, contact details, social media accounts, and other brand information. Clients will clearly see the relevant organization’s branding when viewing professional profiles and booking services.

Yes. The platform allows multiple professionals to join the same appointment, which supports supervisors and placement students attending sessions together. Organizations can also use customizable forms, document templates, permission controls, and appointment records to support different placement and training requirements. The actual arrangements must still comply with the requirements of the school, placement organization, and relevant professional bodies.

Yes. Organizations can create and manage their own document templates, including consent forms, assessment forms, counselling notes, referral forms, service reviews, and other internal documents. Different services can use different templates and automated delivery workflows.

Organizations can manage and export data they are authorized to access, subject to the platform’s available features and applicable terms. Export options, retention periods, account closure procedures, and file formats may depend on the Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, and the selected plan. Before leaving the platform, an organization should retain any records required by its professional and legal obligations.

Data retention, export, and deletion after account closure will be handled in accordance with the platform’s Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, applicable laws, and professional record retention requirements. Counselling or health related records may not always be eligible for immediate deletion when an account is closed. Organizations should understand their record retention responsibilities before joining the platform.

The platform can support multiple locations, multiple roles, different service types, and customizable document workflows. Organizations that need specific permissions, data migration, branding, training, or other features can contact the Solacare team to discuss current capabilities and possible arrangements.