F A Q

Many studies are demonstrating that online therapy can be as effective as traditional therapy for the treatment of most common emotional and behavioral health issues. Published research has proven the efficacy of counseling via the internet to the point where it has become a viable alternative to in-office therapy.

Santum is designed to be your own private practice – simple, inexpensive and convenient to run. You can use it part time or full time, it is up to you. We give you the clients, the marketing and the technology. You provide the professionalism, the experience and desire to help people.

Indeed you can. If you have future-booked sessions in your current practice or on other online platforms, you can block out corresponding time slots on the Santum calendar – to avoid double booking of your time. This way bookings will not clash, so you can optimize your time and resources.

Your earning potential is unlimited, how much you make is up to you. Dedicated mental health practitioners at Santum can earn +R50 000 per month. Earnings depend on your contributor level, calendar plan, time commitment, and the number of clients. Just like in the traditional practice, the more time you spend with your patients the more you will earn. For earning potential and income averages please view our Therapist Earnings Matrix.

Your hourly session fees charged to clients are standardized by Santum. The fees are carefully structured to promote affordability, while considering traditional therapy charges and current medical aid rates. Fee amount will depend on your contributor level:

Currently L2 therapists (clinical psychologists) receive R950.00 per single 50 minute session, and L1 therapists (registered counsellors) R450.00 per session. Weekly anytime messaging is charged accordingly.

No, counseling fees charged to your clients are yours in full, Santum does not deduct any commission. A nominal service fee of R140,0 is added to each session for the use of the platform. This fee is charged to clients and is reflected as a separate amount on all invoices and statements. The service fee includes all electronic payment processing costs.

All amounts paid by your clients are deposited into Santum secure escrow account. Reconciliations and settlement transfers to your bank account are made weekly, every Friday. Escrow and transactional banking charges (currently 2.5%) will apply on all settlements.

Licensed mental health care professionals differ in qualifications, expertise and experience – therefore cost. For this reason they are categorized into 2 contributor levels (L1 or L2), allowing for varied fee structure. L2 therapists command higher fees, therefore have a higher earning potential.

Your contributor level (L1 or L2) will be determined by your educational qualifications.

L1 – Registered Counselors – (B Psych), (BSc Psych)

L2 – Clinical and Counselling Psychologists – MA/MSc (Clin/Couns Psych)

If you are L1 therapist you can upgrade your contributor level to L2 by obtaining an additional qualification while working with Santum. You can send an upgrade request via support function in your account.

Absolutely, you will get access to printable Provider Manual as well as the Practical Training Guide, aimed at getting you acquainted with the platform logic and your account’s functionality . Santum website is easy to navigate, the initial learning process should take you a couple of days. You can also send questions to us via the ‘Online Support’ link in your account.

Santum offers 3 online media for communication with clients. Depending on your client’s choice you can either exchange messages via our messaging system, real-time chat function or real-time video calling.

Messaging – This is an anytime, asynchronous messaging where you and your client can write and reply in your free time, in a similar way to emailing.

Chat – This is a live scheduled session where you and your client can exchange messages in real-time, in a similar way to Whatsapp.

Video Call – This is also a live scheduled session where you and your client can talk face-to-face, in a similar way to Skype or Facetime.

Santum offers 4 calendar plans to suit your work schedule and personal routine. Each plan is priced differently and according to L1 or L1 contribution levels. You may start with half-day and upgrade to full-day as your business grows:

• Half Day Mornings Calendar (Monday-Friday / 8x 50min daily sessions / 6.00-13.00)
• Half Day Afternoons Calendar (Monday-Friday / 8x 50min daily sessions / 13.00.00-20.00)
• Full Day Calendar (Monday-Friday / 15x 50min daily sessions / 6.00-20.00)
• Extended Calendar (Monday-Sunday / 16x 50min daily sessions / 6.00-21.00 inclusive of holidays)

The cost for use of Santum platform is well below the rental of traditional counseling office space. The purpose is to give you a cost-effective alternative with maximum referrals. Monthly participation charges start at R2490 pm for Level 1 therapists (for half-day calendar plan / 40 sessions per week), and scale up to R4490 pm for Level 2 therapists (for extended plan / 112 sessions per week).

Your first month is on us, and you can cancel at any time. Absolutely risk-free.

Your platform participation charge includes:

• Full Santum membership
• Free marketing, advertising and referrals in South Africa and all neighbouring countries
• Use of Live Chat sessions, Live Video sessions and Anytime Messaging (subject to your selected plan)
• Access to your clients’ therapy history
• Automated administration of session bookings, billing, invoices and escrow receipts
• Clinical and technical support
• Training via Provider Manual and the Practical Training Guide
• Third party costs associated with electronic payments processing, video-call streaming services, and internet marketing sourcing/matching of new clients

Yes you can. Your selected plan will have a customized calendar to work with. You can block out inconvenient dates and time slots or you can request a cancellation or reschedule of an existing appointment. Your clients will only be able to book appointments in available time slots.

Your client will be charged in full if he misses a scheduled appointment. The client has a chance to cancel or reschedule 24 hours prior to a booked appointment, after which time it becomes ‘payable’.

You are expected to engage in text messaging with clients once a day, during or after business hours, five days a week. Since one week of working with a client via anytime messaging is roughly equivalent to one hour session, you’ll be expected to spend about 10 minutes a day per every client.

You are expected to conduct live video calls or live chat sessions at scheduled times in accordance with the time slots booked by clients. Live sessions are scheduled on top of the hour, you will have 50 minutes to finalize the session and 10 minutes to prepare for the next session. 

Absolutely. Your first month’s membership is free. This should give you enough time to train, get acquainted with our systems and conduct some live sessions (for which you will get paid). You may cancel your membership at any time should you decide that Santum online counseling is not for you. 

You can pay for your monthly membership by a credit card, cheque card or a debit card. You will be charged automatically, in arrears, at the end of each month until you cancel the membership. Should you decide to upgrade or change your plan you will be charged accordingly.

* Nominal card verification amount of R5 will be charged on initial plan purchase.

Enrolling as a Santum therapist is easy. You will need to complete an online application form and attach required documents. Your application will be vetted, then followed by a short video chat/interview (not always required). Once you met the requirements and have been approved you will need to complete setting up of your account, and electronically sign our Provider Participation Agreement.

In the next step you will start familiarizing yourself with the tools available to help you manage the technology. We will guide you through the entire process, and will assist you with all your concerns. Once you understand how the platform works, you are ready to provide services on the platform as a qualified private practice therapist. You can start the process through Enroll as Therapist page.

Once approved you will receive a welcome email with a link to your account setup page. You will then be required to write a short ‘about me’ paragraph for the profile page, add your profile picture and purchase your preferred calendar plan. The account will be activated as soon as the payment details and your profile details are confirmed.

If you are interested in joining Santum platform you can visit the Enroll as Therapist page. You will then be presented with the following criteria outlining the minimum requirements for participation:

• Submission of a fully completed online application form, as well as submission of updated information and documents as required.
• Possession of the required educational qualification from an accredited institution.
• Current, valid, and unrestricted professional registration with HPCSA, SACSSP or ASCHP
• Treating practice number.
• The following attestations: (1) disclosure of any and all malpractice suits, arbitrations, settlements, or adverse actions which have resulted in a settlement or adverse judgment; (2) absence of any drug or alcohol abuse, which might adversely affect judgment or competence, so as to substantially impede the practitioner’s ability to perform the essential functions of the practitioner’s practice/profession.
• Free of conviction for any criminal offense punishable by law, or engagement in any improper act related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of a practitioner, as defined in the contract.
• Absence of Medical Aid sanctions, fines or suspensions.
• Possession of computer equipment such as pc or tablet with a camera and a microphone, including fast and reliable internet connection of at least 10Mb/sec.
• Minimum 1 year of direct clinical experience, with at least 250 counseling hours.

You will need to submit copy of your ID, Curriculum Vitae with full work history and all references, as well as documents pertaining to your educational qualifications, training, and professional registration.

No, you can not. In order to maintain the quality of Santum service your are prohibited from allowing other practitioners, friends, family members or non-accredited persons to engage with your clients in any way.   

No, you are an independent provider using the Santum platform. You will be responsible for your own labour matters and tax returns. Session invoices will include yours and your clients’ details. For your convenience, printable invoices will be generated in the billing section of your account.

If you no longer wish to continue working with Santum, you can easily cancel at any time through your account settings. Once you cancel, your account will not be renewed and you will not be charged for subsequent months. Your membership will be suspended and can only be re-activated by new application.

You can opt to ‘Pause’ your membership instead, in which case you will be able to resume (within 12 months from pausing) using the same access details.

Yes, Santum can terminate your membership in case of misrepresentation, negligence, incompetency, or non-payment – as per the Provider Participation Agreement. All complaints and misconduct issues will be investigated in-house and communicated to you prior to termination.

You will need a recent desk top computer, laptop or tablet with camera, microphone and speakers (or earphones). You can use a mobile phone but larger screens are preferable. You will also need a good internet connection, 5Mb per second should be sufficient however we recommend at least 10Mb per second.

Load shedding is here to stay, so you will need to ensure that your devices (including wifi router) have an uninterrupted power supply and internet connection. Ideally you should get an inverter to power up all equipment, but an inexpensive UPS just for the router will also do (as the laptop or tablet has its own battery).

To minimise the risk of interruptions we encourage clients to keep their devices fully charged and to book sessions outside of their load shedding hours. Links to Eskom load shedding website are provided on the booking page, and on all outgoing Santum emails. Power related interruptions from Santum are unlikely as admin, ISP and hosting maintain independent power supply.

Sessions that end prematurely due to power outages will be repeated free of charge, subject to duration rules of the Terms & Conditions.

Yes, on session completion you will be required to provide the ICD code which will appear on the printable session invoice. This invoice can then be forwarded to your patients’ Medical Aid for claiming purposes.