# Contacts

Source: https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/participants/participant-directory/contacts

> Share contacts across Participants, record relationships and consent, and choose which contacts Support Workers can see in the mobile app.

Link a Contact to one or more Participants. For each Participant, record the Contact's relationship and whether you have consent to share information with them.

To manage a Participant's Contacts, head to the Participant Directory page within [their profile](https://app.astalty.com.au/participants).

![A Participant's Directory page with an arrow pointing to the Add Contact button beside Actions on the Contacts table, above the Current Service Providers table.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/create-a-contact.png)

> **SMS reminders to contacts**
>
> Once a Contact is linked to a Participant, you can nominate them to also receive that Participant's [SMS reminders](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/settings/sms-reminders#nominating-contacts-to-receive-reminders) - for example a parent or carer. Nomination is set in the Participant's Reminder settings and is always explicit (it is not automatic for starred or communications contacts). The contact needs a valid Australian mobile and must not have opted out of SMS to actually receive the message.

## Adding Contacts

To add a Contact to a Participant, on the Participant Directory page click the *Add Contact* button.

Once the form opens, you have two options;

1. Search for an existing Contact - this is extremely useful if sharing a parent across several Participants or reusing a Contact such as an LAC or Public Guardian.
2. Creating a new Contact - if you can not find the Contact you need within Astalty using the Contact search, you are free to create a new Contact from this page

![The Create Relationship drawer with step 1 marked on the Contact field, open with a Search box above existing Contacts such as Shana Kunze and Jake Adams, and step 2 marked on the Create Contact button in the top right.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/cleanshot-2023-12-26-at-11.12.45@2x.png)

### Relationship

After selecting or creating the Contact, choose their relationship to the Participant. Select a suggested relationship or enter a new one. A new relationship becomes available in the list next time.

![The Relationship field open with the hint Select an option or type any value, above suggested relationships such as Primary Contact, Secondary Contact, Emergency Contact, Plan Nominee and Next of Kin.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/cleanshot-2023-12-26-at-11.13.28@2x.png)

> **Finding Contacts by their relationship**
>
> The search box on the Participant's Contacts table matches the relationship as well as the Contact's first name, last name, email, mobile and phone. Type `Trustee` or `Grandparent` to narrow the table to Contacts with that relationship - including any custom relationship you have typed in yourself.
>
> The **Relationship Type** filter works differently: it only lists Astalty's predefined relationships, so a custom relationship will never appear as an option there. Use the search box to find those Contacts instead.
>
> This applies to a Participant's Contacts. The provider-wide [Directory Contacts](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/directory/contacts) search still matches name, email, mobile and phone only.

A few relationships also feed document templates. Recording a Contact as *Primary Contact*, *Emergency Contact*, *Plan Nominee*, or *Child Representative* lets the matching [document template placeholders](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/document-template-placeholders) fill in that Contact's details automatically. Those placeholders match the relationship exactly, so it needs to be spelled as shown.

### Consent

The consent to share information field allows you to tell Astalty if you have consent to share information with the Contact for this Participant. This is clearly indicated in the Contacts table for the Participant with red or green icons.

![The Participant's Contacts table with a green or red consent icon at the start of each row, and a tooltip on a red icon saying the Participant has not given consent to share information with this Contact.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/cleanshot-2023-12-26-at-11.18.14@2x.png)

This value is also available as a [document template placeholder](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/document-template-placeholders) for the Primary Contact, Emergency Contact, Plan Nominee, and Child Representative relationships - useful for generating a relationship-specific consent form.

### Additional Details

Store Additional Details of the relationship or contact here.

![The Update Relationship drawer with the Additional Detail section highlighted, its Details box reading Prefers a phone call after 3pm on weekdays. Holds a spare key to Isla's unit.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/update-relationship-additional-details-guide.png)

Hover over a relationship label to read its **Additional Details**. A pinned note icon marks relationships that have this information.

![The Participant's Contacts table with the Mother relationship label highlighted, showing its note icon and a tooltip with the Additional Details Prefers a phone call after 3pm on weekdays. Holds a spare key to Isla's unit.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/contacts-additional-details-guide.png)

## Support Worker Visibility

Support Worker Visibility lets you choose which of a Participant's Contacts are shared with your Support Workers in the Astalty mobile app. Contacts are hidden by default - you opt each one in individually, so you stay in control of exactly which contact details Support Workers can see.

Scheduling add-on - This feature requires the Scheduling add-on, which is available on Astalty Premium. See How to enable Scheduling.

To share a Contact, head to the Participant's *Directory* and open the Contact you want to update - click *Add Contact* for a new relationship, or choose *Update Relationship* from the actions menu of an existing Contact.

![A Participant's Directory page with an arrow pointing to Margaret Brennan's row in the Contacts table, below the Actions and Add Contact buttons.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/participant-contact-support-worker-visibility-open-contact.png)

In the *Support Worker Visibility* section, tick *Visible to Support Workers* and then save. This setting is separate from *Consent to share information* - visibility is controlled solely by this checkbox.

![The Update Relationship drawer with the Support worker visibility section highlighted and its Visible to support workers checkbox ticked, below the Additional Detail box.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/participant-contact-support-worker-visibility-checkbox.png)

### Identifying shared Contacts

Contacts that are shared with Support Workers are marked with a green eye icon in the Contacts table. Hover over the icon to confirm the Contact is visible in the mobile app.

![The Participant's Contacts table with an arrow pointing to the green eye icon beside the Mother relationship, and a tooltip saying Visible to support workers in the mobile app.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/participant-contact-support-worker-visibility-eye-icon.png)

### What Support Workers see

Shared Contacts appear on the Participant's screen in the mobile app, showing the Contact's **name**, **relationship**, **organisation**, **mobile**, and **phone**.

![The Participant Details screen in the mobile app, with a Contacts card below the Participant's name showing a Contact's name, relationship, mobile and phone numbers.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/participant-contact-support-worker-visibility-mobile-contacts.jpeg)

Support Workers can tap a Contact to quickly *Call*, *SMS*, or *Copy* the Contact's details.

![The Participant Details screen in the mobile app with a menu open at the bottom of the screen offering Call, SMS and Copy for a Contact.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/participant-contact-support-worker-visibility-mobile-contact-options.jpeg)

> **Inactive contacts**
>
> If a Contact's relationship is marked *Inactive*, it will no longer appear in the mobile app - even when *Visible to Support Workers* is ticked.

## Starred Contacts

On the Contacts table, there is also a blue star which will be filled or not filled. A solid blue star means the Contact has been starred whereas a star with only a blue outline means the Contact has not been starred.

Emergency Contacts and Primary Contacts are always starred, so their star cannot be changed.

![The Participant's Contacts table with a blue star beside each Contact, solid for Margaret Brennan and outlined for Daniel Brennan and Priya Nair.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/cleanshot-2023-12-26-at-11.19.05@2x.png)

### Viewing starred Contacts

Starred Contacts will appear on the Participant's front page under the *Starred Contacts* card. The starred contacts feature allows you to store every contact for the Participant but keeping the most important ones starred and therefore displaying front and centre on their profile.

![A Participant's profile with the Starred Contacts card highlighted, listing Margaret Brennan as Mother with her mobile number, and a Manage button.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/cleanshot-2023-12-26-at-11.20.16@2x.png)

## Inactive Relationships

Use **Mark Inactive** when the Contact should stay in the Directory but their relationship with this Participant is no longer current. The row receives an **Inactive** badge and no longer appears in the mobile app, even if Support Worker visibility was previously enabled. Use **Reactivate** to make the relationship current again.

The Contacts table can be filtered by **Consent Status**, predefined **Relationship Type**, relationship **Status**, archived Contact status, and Organisation. The search box also matches custom relationship names.

## Participants with the Same Contact Details

If you have Participants that have the same contact details (for example, siblings where their contact is a parent), you will need to add that contact as a Primary Contact. We have created a video walk through that guides you through the process of assigning a shared contact amongst Participants.

Video walkthrough: handling participants with the same contact details.