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In business and branding terms, messaging means ‘how you communicate to the world’. It’s the ‘strategic, consistent, and intentional use of words, tone, and storytelling to communicate your core identity, values, and unique value proposition to your target audience’. It defines who you are as a therapist, what you do, and why it matters, ensuring a cohesive, memorable message across a range of touchpoints.

So, wherever a potential client encounters you, they’re able to grasp:

• who you help

• What you help with (i.e. the transformation or outcome you offer)

• What change is possible

• how you work / what you stand for/ your why

• Why they should choose you

Why Messaging Matters More Than Ever

Messaging matters because you need to hook people in FAST. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. People scan websites and directories. If they don’t feel seen quickly, they’re likely to click away.

Messaging matters because it helps you stand out. Recent research suggests around half of all articles on the internet are AI-generated or AI-translated. Some forecasts are predicting this statistic could increase to 90% in the near future. The way many people are currently using ChatGPT means we’re seeing high volumes of low-quality ‘slop’. In short, AI is making everyone sound the same.

Messaging matters because it’s a revenue lever. How you communicate affects the quality of enquiries you receive, your conversion rate, and your ability to be referable. You want people to think, ‘oh, you’re the therapist who helps with X’.

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Messaging Also Matters If You Want to Hit Your Income Goals

£5K months come from steady enquiries, confident pricing and right-fit clients. Messaging impacts all three.

🔥Better messaging → more right-fit enquiries

🔥Better messaging → higher conversion

🔥Better messaging → less price resistance

🔥Better messaging → consistency (no more feast or famine)

Specific messaging reduces ‘general enquiries’, attracting people who are already aligned with you and your values. When clients feel ‘seen’, they book faster and ghost less. Clear outcomes combined with confident positioning means your fees make sense, and when you’re memorable, you’re referable.

This Is Why Your Messaging Needs to Match Your Fee Level

If you’re charging premium fees but your messaging sounds generic or AI-generated, you’ll constantly have to justify your price. Your messaging needs to be specific and in-depth, with an emphasis on the potential outcomes of working with you. It also needs to feel authentic, trustworthy and human.

Where You Might Be Going Wrong

In their messaging, therapists often lead with ‘I am’ statements that include their credentials, a list of acronyms for the therapy modalities they specialise in. They might also share some or all of their career story.

I would never make a blanket statement about removing these things completely. But I would point out that for your clients to see themselves in your messaging you need to consider how they’re feeling. You need to address the challenges they’re facing and describe the outcomes they’re searching for.

Clients tend to lead with things like:

🗣️‘I’m struggling with…’

🗣️‘I can’t keep going like this…’

🗣️‘I want to feel better / more in control / like myself again…’

My Client-First Messaging Framework

1. The problem (in the client’s language)

2. The pattern/impact (how it shows up day-to-day)

3. The outcome (what changes)

4. Your approach (simple, human, jargon free)

5. Why you (values, style, boundaries, your distinct voice)

6. Next step (clear CTA)

What You Need to Know to Communicate Effectively

Vagueness and uncertainty will kill your messaging. To nail it, you need clarity on the following:

1. Who You’re For (and Who You’re Not)

I’m not talking about demographics. I’m talking about the moment your ideal clients are in. What are they struggling with? What’s keeping them up at night?

Here are some examples:

💻‘high-achieving women who look fine but feel overwhelmed’

💻‘people stuck in people-pleasing and resentment’

💻‘burnout recovery for professionals who keep pushing through’

2. The Problem(s) You’re Known For

Pick 1–2 core problems (not 10). Specific always beats broad.

3. The Transformation you Reliably Deliver

Make it tangible. Again, consider the challenges they’re facing and the goals they might have for therapy.

💻‘stop spiralling and overthinking’

💻‘feel confident setting boundaries’

💻‘regain calm and self-trust’

4. What Makes You Different

You want to stand out, not blend in. What sets you apart?

✨your values (compassion-led, pragmatic, direct, gentle)

✨your process (structured vs exploratory, homework vs none)

✨your stance (e.g., ‘no quick fixes, but clear direction’)

Worried About Sounding Salesy?

Don’t! Therapists often resist clear messaging for this very reason, but clarity doesn’t mean you’re applying pressure. Instead, you’re showing respect for people’s time.

Ready to Nail Your Messaging? Do These 3 Things Today…

1. Conduct your own mini messaging audit. Look at your website copy, professional bio or some recent written content. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I lead with the client’s problem?

• Can someone recognise themselves in 10 seconds?

• Is the outcome clear?

• Do I sound like a real person?

• Is there a clear next step?

2. Keep an eye out for any generic sentences or language. Replace them with something more specific.

Generic: ‘I offer a safe, non-judgemental space…’

Specific: ‘If you’re stuck overthinking and people-pleasing, I can help you build self-trust and boundaries without guilt.’

3. When you list your credentials or use acronyms like EMDR and CBT, apply the ‘so what?’ rule. Tell the client what it means for them.

‘I offer EMDR Therapy so you can stop reliving your traumatic experience and start feeling safe again’

How to Know if it’s Working

Here are some messaging metrics you can track:

• Quality of enquiries

• Time from enquiry to booking

• Ghosting rate after initial contact

• Referral clarity (‘my friend said you help with X’)

• Timeline expectations (give it 6-8 weeks, not 6-8 days)

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Something I hear a lot from therapists in private practice is this:

“I think I know what I need to do. I just can’t seem to get clear on it.”

Sometimes private practice gets fuzzy. Not dramatically wrong, just unclear.

You’re not sure whether to raise your fee, or how. Whether a referral slow-down is normal or needs action. Whether your current way of working is sustainable, or whether you’ve accidentally built something that works against you.

And the problem with fuzzy is that it’s hard to fix when you’re right in the middle of it. You’re too close. The thinking goes in circles.

Most of the therapists I work with are trying to build a practice that pays them consistently and sustainably, often around £5k a month. What usually gets in the way isn’t effort. It’s not being clear on the right things to focus on.

That’s what a Private Practice Clarity Call is for.

It’s one hour with me, not a course, not generic advice, just your situation looked at properly. You’ll leave knowing what to focus on next, what to stop overthinking, and what action to take first.

I’ve been in private practice for over 15 years, fully booked, with self-funding clients. I’ll give you honest, practical guidance on whatever is making things feel stuck or unclear.

Book your call

I have four spots available over June and July.

I’m not working in August, and the next Getting Started in Private Practice course doesn’t begin until September. So if you want to get clear before the summer, or use the quieter months to sort something in your practice, this is the window. After July, Clarity Calls won’t be available again until October.

Here’s how it works:

Before we meet, you fill in a short form so we can use the hour well. I spend time before our call preparing and researching where you actually are.

Then we get on the call for the hour and work through what’s actually going on whether that’s your finances, referrals, fee, model, workload, or that nagging feeling that something needs to change but you can’t quite name it.

Afterwards, I will send you a written summary and plan for your key next steps, in order, tailored to where you are.

So you’re not left with more ideas. You’re left with a plan you can actually work from.

Most people leave feeling calmer, clearer, and relieved to know what to focus on next.

A Clarity Call might be exactly what you need if:

• You’re thinking about private practice and want to explore it properly before committing

• You’ve started, but you’re not sure you’ve set things up in the right way

• Something feels off with your income, referrals, workload or direction and you can’t quite name it

• You want to raise your fee or change your hours, but don’t know how to do it without disrupting what you’ve built

This is a standalone piece of work. If further support — a course, a resource, or the community — feels useful afterwards, we can talk about that. But the purpose of this hour is simply to help you understand what’s going on and leave with clear next steps.

The investment is £150, or two payments of £79.

Book your Clarity Call here

Some people leave with a plan to start. Some leave knowing what needs to change in a practice they’ve already built. Some leave with three focused actions for the month ahead.

All of those are good outcomes.

Sarah

Any other questions, email me at enquiries@sarahdrees.co.uk

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I’ve been noticing something in conversations with colleagues lately: a lot of us are quietly wondering whether what has worked for our practices in the past is still going to work going forward.

The way clients search for a therapist is changing. AI is beginning to shape how people look for help online. Directories and Google are still relevant, but they’re no longer the whole picture. And for many of us, the landscape is shifting faster than our training ever prepared us for.

That’s why I’m really pleased to be speaking at the Prosper in Private Practice Virtual Summit a free online event running 21–26 June 2026 for therapists and counsellors who want to build practices that are visible, sustainable and future-ready.

Save your free place

I’ll be speaking on “When You’re Visible But Not Getting Enquiries” and I’d love for you to join me.

Sign up

The week includes:

* A live opening session on Sunday 21st June — setting the context for the week ahead

* Three days of pre-recorded talks (23–25 June), released at 9 am each morning and free to watch for 48 hours so you can fit them around your schedule, between clients or in the evening

* A live closing panel on Friday 26th June, 12 pm–1 pm, an open conversation about longevity, visibility, identity and the future of private practice

Topics across the three days include visibility and search, sustainable pricing and capacity, AI in therapy and private practice, ethical marketing, expanding beyond one-to-one work, and more. Over 25 speakers in total.

My talk goes live on 23rd June. If you’ve ever felt like you’re shouting into the void and wondering why the right clients aren’t finding you, this is the one I’d most want you to watch. It’s the question I get asked more than any other, and the answer is more practical and more within your control than most people expect.

Registration is free. There’s also an optional all-access upgrade available after you register, for those who’d like lifetime access to all the recordings.

👉 Register free Here

(The link above is my affiliate link — I may receive a small commission if you register through it, at no cost to you.)

I hope to see you there.

Sarah x

Ps - in case you missed it book here

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Here’s a question that comes up in almost every Q&A we run.

Which directories are actually getting you, clients?

It sounds simple. It’s not. Because most of us are paying between £10 to £30 a month, some of us for multiple directories, and very few of us are tracking whether that money is coming back.

So I want to ask the 4,000 therapists in this community directly, what is actually working? So that therapists in private practice can make a more informed decision if a directory is worth it.

But first, let’s be honest about what directories actually are and how they work.

A directory is rented land.

You’re paying a monthly fee to appear on somebody else’s platform. You don’t own your profile. You don’t control the algorithm. And the moment you stop paying, you vanish. Nothing you’ve built there carries over to your own practice.

The business model is straightforward: the directory charges thousands of therapists a monthly listing fee, invests heavily in SEO so the site ranks on Google for terms like “therapist near me,” and sells your visibility back to you. Your £25 a month isn’t buying you clients. It’s buying you a spot in a very crowded queue.

Counselling Directory alone lists over 15,000 therapists. At £24.50 a month each, that's in the region of £4.4 million a year in listing fees. The BACP directory has over 18,000. You're not their client, you're their revenue model and that's the queue you're joining. I did use them myself when I was getting started and I think it increased my visibility, but I haven’t tried them again. However, I’m always curious and might give them another go depending on these results.

Here’s what other therapists want to know from you.

I’ve got 4,000 therapists in this community. A huge number of you are using directories and paying monthly. I want real data from real therapists — not opinions, not assumptions. Let’s find out what’s actually working.

👇 Vote in the poll: Which directory gets you the most client referrals?

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If there are others I’ve not listed, please let us know in the comments.

For paid subscribers, I’m sharing my own experience with directories below and what they actually returned, why the ROI is harder to measure than you think, and three practical things you can do this week: a directory profile audit to improve what you’ve already got, a simple tracking system so you stop guessing, and exactly how to set up a £25/month Google Ad if you decide the money’s better spent on your own platform.

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Therapists’ Corner Member Shout-Outs

Members of Therapists Corner – Are sharing what they’re up to in private practice, their niches, offers and specialist interests. Think of it as a growing, trusted pool of therapists you can follow, get to know, and keep in mind for referrals, specialist supervision or signposting clients on.

Even if you’re not (yet!) a paid member, my hope is that, over time, these shout-outs become a genuinely valuable resource. Look out for the monthly post to add your comments to.

Member Shout-outs

• From - Hi,I’m Rachel and I’ve just taken the leap into starting my own practice. I specialise in maternal mental health, working with mums experiencing PND, birth trauma, and postnatal anxiety, primarily online across the UK.

  Website: nurtureandbloomtherapy.co.uk

  Pop me a follow on Instagram: @nurture.and.bloom.therapy

  Always happy to connect with aligned therapists and welcome referrals 💚

• - brings a wealth of experience in mental health, eating disorders and clinical leadership, while offering therapy that feels personal, thoughtful and paced around the individual. Check out her new website -

  https://dimensions-psychotherapy.co.uk

• Welcome Iris https://substack.com/@irismcfee who joined us in Therapist Corner last month great to have you with us

• From - has launched her new website after agonising over the copy for about 6 months!! Jo also has therapy rooms and associate opportunities available in Knutsford, Cheshire.

  Website -

  https://spring-psychotherapy.co.uk

  Therapy Space/Associate Opportunities - https://spring-psychotherapy.co.uk/careers/

From Sarah

1. Writeupp - get 25% off for 6 months Writeupp - discount

2. I’m hosting another webinar for the BABCP next month. Join me for Transitioning from the NHS to Private Practice, a practical and supportive webinar for CBT therapists who are thinking about making the move into independent practice. We’ll look at how to choose the right transition pathway, build a caseload, protect your time and energy, manage risk outside the MDT, and grow your confidence as an independent practitioner. Whether you’re planning a gradual step across or wondering if you’re ready to make the leap, you’ll leave with a clearer sense of your options and next steps. Book here

Price:

BABCP Member Registration:

£20.00 GBP

Non Member Registration:

£40.00 GBP

To see all the details, go here

Got Something to Share?

If you want to get involved, you can. Each month, I’ll be doing a feature post that celebrates what you’re doing — whether that’s:
✨ Launching a new website or platform
✨ Opening spaces for therapy or supervision, celebrate being fully booked or a business goal achieved
✨ Running a workshop or course, sharing a new blog post,
✨ Starting a Substack, A general brilliant achievement you want a clap for because you’re worth it
✨ Offering something new in your practice
✨ Or even just wanting to share your Instagram or LinkedIn account so people can follow and support you

Here’s how it will work:

• Pop your link or update in the comments of the shout-out post — tell me what you’re doing and what you’d like to share.

• Each month, I’ll post a reminder thread.

• I’ll then gather everything and create a “What Our Members Are Up To, Shout-Out” post, which will go out to our full email list of almost 4,000 therapists.

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SEO Investment and 3-Month Commitments

• Question raised about whether paying for SEO help for 3 months provides long-term benefit.

• Concern that short-term investment may not produce lasting results.

• Advice to understand SEO fundamentals before hiring someone to help.

• Recommendation to ask potential SEO service providers specifically what they will do during …

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In our Therapists’ Corner Q&A last week, brought up something that hit a nerve with all of us. Her client had been engaged, consistent, making real progress and then just didn’t show up. No message. No cancellation. Nothing. Ahhhh! We all know that feeling too well and generally, we spiral.

She wanted to know: What do I actually do now?

And I could feel everyone quietly thinking the same thing; we’ve all been there. Sitting with the not-knowing. Replaying the clients last session, scanning for the thing we said wrong.

I once saw a client for a couple of years who missed one appointment and then disappeared for a full year. Turns out it was a relationship issue she was going through. Nothing to do with me. But I’d spiralled for months before I found that out.

Most of the time, it’s not about you. Sometimes therapy gets associated with a painful chapter, and when the client moves forward, they want to leave it all behind, including you. Sometimes life gets in the way. And sometimes, especially with clients who have ADHD or executive functioning difficulties, they fully intended to come back. They just didn’t manage to.

None of that makes the empty chair easier to sit with. So here’s what to actually do — and I’m giving you the exact email I use.

One email. Doors wide open.

I send one email. Not three. Not a chase. One warm, honest email that checks in, offers a few paths forward, and makes it completely safe for them to come back or not.

Take this Template, adapt it. Make it sound like you.

Subject line: Checking in

Hi [name],

I noticed we didn’t get to meet for our session on [date] and I just wanted to reach out.

No pressure at all, I know things shift and life gets in the way. I just wanted you to know the door is open.

If you’d like to pick back up where we left off, I’m here. Just let me know when it feels right and we’ll get something in the diary.

If you’ve decided to take a break for now, that’s completely okay. You’re welcome to get back in touch in the future if returning feels right.

If a full session doesn’t feel right but you’d like a short call — 15 minutes or so — no cost, just to check in and wrap things up properly, I’d be happy to do that. I think endings matter, even small ones.

There’s no pressure to reply straight away. I just didn’t want you to feel like the door had closed on my end.

Take care of yourself.

[Your name]

Why this works.

It doesn’t ask why. It doesn’t chase. It doesn’t make them feel guilty for disappearing.

It gives three clear paths: return, pause, or close things gently and none of them feel like the wrong answer.

That 15-minute wrap-up offer matters more than it looks. A proper ending, even a brief one, gives your client the chance to reflect on what the work meant. And it gives you something too. Not every therapeutic relationship gets a clean goodbye, but offering one is worth doing.

If you hear nothing after about a month, that’s when I send a short feedback form. Low-key. Simple. Just: your experience mattered to me, and I’d value knowing what it was like for you.

Then you close the book. For now.

But here’s the question I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since our Q&A this week.

The template above handles a client who’s already gone. That’s the reactive side, what to do after it’s happened.

But what if the way we structure our practices is making it harder for some clients to follow through in the first place? Not harder to find us. Harder to stay.

What if the ghosting, the no-shows, the enquiries that go cold, what if those aren’t just business problems, but clinical information we’re not reading?

Below the paywall, I’m sharing what I’ve changed in my own practice around commitment and what we discussed about how we can support clients when struggling with commitment is part of the clinical picture.

Including a £20 experiment that came out of the Q&A that I think could shift how you think about intro calls entirely, especially if you work with clients who struggle with following through with their best laid plans.

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Client Ghosting and Dropout Strategies

• Discussion of clients dropping out or ghosting before completing therapy.

• Recognition that session four is a statistically common dropout point.

• Advice to send one email offering options when a client misses an appointment.

• Suggestion to offer a 15-minute roundup session to close things off nicely.

• Recommendation to lea…

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Dates for Your Diary…

📆 UK National & International Awareness Days – June 2026

June is full of awareness days. You don’t need most of them. Here are the ones worth your time and what to do with them.

📆 Dates for Your Diary

1st–7th June – Child Safety Week

8th–14th June – Carers Week

15th–21st June – Men’s Health Week

18th June – Autistic Pride Day

21st June – Father’s Day (UK)

27th June – PTSD Awareness Day

All month – Pride Month

Seven dates. That’s it. These are the ones that connect directly to the kind of work you’re doing with clients’ identity, family, caring, vulnerability, trauma, and childhood.

Everything else on the June calendar? You can let it go.

The real question isn’t which dates to post about. It’s what to actually say and how to make it land with the people you’re trying to reach.

That’s what the rest of this post covers: what to do with each of these dates, the angles that work for therapists specifically and a simple way to plan it without losing your week to content creation.

The rest of this post is for paid subscribers of Therapists’ Corner.

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Here are your Therapists’ Corner dates for June 👇

Here’s what’s coming up inside Therapists’ Corner this month.

Live Sessions: All sessions are at 12 pm UK time

💻 Friday 5th June, 12 pm
Q&A with Sarah & Sophie
Bring your questions, dilemmas, ideas, or anything you’d like support with in private practice.

📆 Wednesday 10th June, 12 pm
Co-working Session
A calm, focused space to get something done, whether that’s admin, content, planning, or a task you’ve been putting off.

🤖 Friday 19th June, 12 pm
Q&A with Sarah & Sophie
Open questions and support around private practice, visibility, marketing, confidence, systems, or anything else you’re working through.

🙋 Friday 26th June, 12 pm
End-of-Month Q&A with Sarah & Sophie
A chance to reflect, ask questions, and gather some momentum before heading into July.

The Most Popular May Posts in case you missed them:

How to use the live sessions

You’re very welcome to come along, whether you have a specific question or just want to listen in. You might bring:

✨ a private practice dilemma
✨ a question about marketing, visibility, fees or boundaries
✨ something you’re stuck on in your business
✨ a page, offer, post or idea you’d like feedback on
✨ a task you want to finally get done in co-working

These sessions are here to give you support, structure and a bit of momentum, so you don’t have to work everything out on your own.

Can’t make it live?

No problem, replays will be added afterwards so you can catch up in your own time. You’re also welcome to send questions in advance if there’s something you’d like us to cover.

📌 A quick note:
The Zoom link is updated each month. You’ll find the correct link in your reminder emails and at the bottom of the calendar page.

Join Therapists’ Corner as a paid member for live calls, expert Q&As, practical resources, and the support you need to grow your private practice with more confidence.

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In 1972, the Nobel Prize–winning economist Kenneth Arrow wrote that ‘virtually every commercial transaction has within itself an element of trust.’

In therapy, especially, trust isn’t optional; it’s the foundation of everything.

Clients will only book once you’ve built the Know/Like/Trust (KLT) factor. In other words, they need to get to know you, decide whether they like you, and then trust what you do.

📌How to Build the Know/Like/Trust Factor

Unfortunately, experts believe we’re currently experiencing a trust recession. In this article, I’m going to explain what this means, explore its potential impact on private practice, and share my tips for navigating the current online landscape.

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What is the Trust Recession?

In short, the term ‘trust recession’ is used to describe a broad, sustained decline in consumer trust in businesses, institutions, and online sources. The term was originally coined around 2008 and gained wider attention after a 2021 article in The Atlantic called ‘The End of Trust’.

‘People who don’t trust other people think twice before investing in, collaborating with, or hiring someone who isn’t a family member […] The concept may sound squishy, but the effect isn’t. The economists Paul Zak and Stephen Knack found, in a study published in 1998, that a 15 percent bump in a nation’s belief that “most people can be trusted” adds a full percentage point to economic growth each year […] “If trust is sufficiently low,” they wrote, “economic growth is unachievable.”’

Recent global events and the rise of AI have accelerated this trend. In 2025, the Edelman Trust Barometer found that nearly 70% of people believe that leaders regularly mislead them. Deepfakes, AI-generated reviews, and fake profiles are making it harder to know what’s real.

Is it any wonder a large proportion of consumers now doubt online authenticity?

There is more information available, but people are less sure about what they can trust.

Are We Seeing a Trust Recession in Private Practice?

We can definitely connect this broader trend to patterns we’re seeing in the world of private practice.

There are more therapists visible online than ever before. More directories, more social media, more choice. Prospective clients also have more ways to research therapy than ever before — Google, Instagram, Substack, directories, reviews… the list goes on.

People can now ask AI tools about therapy, approaches, and what to look for. They may be better informed, but they’re also more overwhelmed. In my opinion, information overload makes the decision harder, not easier, and choosing a therapist is already one of the most personal decisions someone can make.

We need prospective clients to trust us, but gaining their trust has become a lot more difficult.

How it’s Impacting Private Practice

With trust at an all-time low, especially online, people are taking much longer to go from discovering a therapist to actually booking.

As prices increase, prospective clients often want to speak with you before they book. A quick call or consultation is becoming an expected part of the process.

On top of this, people are contacting multiple therapists at once. The one who responds quickly and warmly has a real advantage.

Paid members - continue reading to learn

What Therapists in Private Practice Can Do: My Tips for Navigating the Trust Recession

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As promised, here’s the updated template.

If you read the framework post earlier this week, this is everything from that post in ready-to-use contract form. If you’re coming to this fresh, the framework post is worth reading first — it explains the thinking behind each section.

A few things to do before you use this:

→ Read through every section before adapting it; each one is there for a reason

→ Fill in your own fees, contact details, and payment information

→ Check the GDPR and professional body sections reflect your own practice setup

→ If you use different systems or tools to the ones named here, update those references

This template is a starting point, not a finished document. Your supervision practice is your own — make sure the agreement reflects that.

The full template is below.

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Are Therapists in Private Practice Allowed to Ask Clients for Testimonials?

For therapists, counsellors and coaches, there are no universal hard-and-fast rules about asking for testimonials.

The ethical position depends on your professional body, how the testimonial is gathered, how it’s used, and whether the client’s autonomy and confidentiality are protected.

Some professional bodies are stricter than others. For example, UKCP’s code says members must not include client testimonials in advertising. Meanwhile, the BACP Ethical Framework is much broader, asking members to work within certain principles such as client autonomy, trust, confidentiality, integrity and avoiding harm.

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The Argument for Testimonials

Clients are making a significant decision when choosing a therapist. They often want to know:

• Can I trust this person?

• Do they understand people like me?

• Might they be able to help?

Testimonials, feedback, reviews, and clear service information can help potential clients answer these questions and make a more informed choice.

Feeling aligned with a therapist before the first session may help the client arrive with more trust, hope and confidence, which can support the beginning of the therapeutic relationship.

Feedback can also aid accountability. It helps therapists reflect on their service, notice what clients value, and receive difficult feedback with the support of supervision.

The Ethical Concerns

The main ethical concern is the power imbalance that exists when a therapist seeks a testimonial. The client may feel obliged to say something positive, worry about disappointing the therapist, or fear that refusing could affect the relationship.

There are also issues around confidentiality, consent, identifiability, emotional vulnerability, and whether a testimonial creates unrealistic expectations. A glowing review can imply, even unintentionally, that another client will get the same result.

Google reviews are particularly difficult because they are public, often linked to a person’s name, and not always easy to manage. Anonymous reviews can also raise questions about authenticity, although named reviews may expose clients in ways they later regret.

📌Should Therapists Ask for Google Reviews?

Advertising and Accuracy

Testimonials are a form of advertising. In the UK, the ASA/CAP position is that testimonials must not mislead, and factual claims made in testimonials need to be supported.

For health and therapy-related claims, extra care is needed because a testimonial must not imply guaranteed outcomes or make unsupported claims about treating a condition.

So, a testimonial saying, ‘I felt safe and understood’ is much less risky than, ‘this therapy cured my trauma in six sessions.’

Good Ethical Practice

If you do decide to use testimonials, you need a clear consent process. Good practice would include:

• checking the rules of your professional body, insurer and advertising standards

• never asking during active therapy in a way that could create pressure

• making it clear that giving feedback is optional

• separating feedback for service improvement from feedback for marketing

• getting explicit written consent before using any words publicly

• allowing the client to approve the exact wording

• anonymising carefully, while explaining that anonymity can never be fully guaranteed

• telling clients they can withdraw or amend their testimonial at any time

• avoiding testimonials that make strong clinical claims or promise outcomes

• taking any difficult feedback to supervision rather than becoming defensive

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My Personal Position on Asking for Testimonials

My view is that testimonials are not automatically unethical, but they do require care. Clients deserve enough information to make an informed choice about who they work with.

In private practice, we are also running businesses, and testimonials can help make our work more visible. But the therapeutic relationship is not the same as an ordinary customer relationship. The power balance, vulnerability, confidentiality and possibility of undue influence mean testimonials should never be treated casually.

I believe the safest position is:

• feedback is essential

• testimonials are optional

• consent, control and transparency are non-negotiable.

3 Ways to Use Testimonials in Your Marketing

1. Include them in promotional materials like brochures, fliers, Instagram posts, Meta ads etc.

2. Weave them into your website copy and/or select a specific page or section on your website to place them. Using them to illustrate certain points about your services will add credibility.

3. Use your blog or mailing list to share case studies. A more in-depth version of a testimonial, this type of content usually includes a description of the specific problem the client faced (or how they were feeling before starting therapy), how you helped them, the results you achieved, and direct quotes from the client validating the experience.

Start Gathering Testimonials for Your Private Practice

Below the paywall, the exact wording I use to ask clients for testimonials. Simply copy, paste, pop it in an email, and start gathering your own testimonials today.

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There’s a version of you that has a supervision agreement in a folder somewhere.

You put it together when you first started offering supervision. Maybe you used a template. Maybe you wrote it yourself.

Either way, you haven’t looked at it in a while.

I went back to mine recently, after a peer supervision conversation that stayed with me. That conversation was specifically about clinical continuity, and I wrote about it the other week if you missed it.

But that conversation did something else. It made me look at the whole agreement. Not just the missing clause — everything.

And what I found, in my own contract and in conversations with other supervisors, is that most of us are working from something that made sense when we wrote it, but hasn’t kept pace with the work.

The supervision relationship carries a level of professional responsibility that most agreements aren’t written to hold. For the supervisee’s development. For the clients they’re holding. For what happens if something goes wrong.

The gap between having an agreement and having one that’s actually fit for purpose is wider than most of us would like to admit.

Paid members get the full ten-section framework below, plus the updated supervision contract template landing later this week, ready to copy, adapt, and use straight away.

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Marketing Progressive and Emerging Therapies

• Question raised about how to promote a progressive or innovative form of therapy that clients may not be familiar with.

• Discussion of balancing unique selling points with professional credentials and background.

• Reflection that new therapies are constantly emerging, and many face scepticism or lack of public awa…

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Your feedback form is not just another admin task.

It is part of how you listen. Part of how you reflect on your work. And if you think about it carefully, it can be part of how future clients decide whether you are the right therapist for them.

I’ve recently overhauled my own. It surfaced questions I hadn’t sat with properly before and actually thought about what I’m trying to learn, about who the form is really for, and what it means to ask for feedback in a profession where the relationship is everything.

Before I get into what I changed, I want to start somewhere more fundamental.

A well-designed feedback form does three things.

It helps you reflect on your practice without spiralling into self-evaluation. Most of us are either avoiding looking at our work critically or going too far the other way reading every session for evidence of what we got wrong. A structured form gives you a contained way to look. You’re reading responses, not rewriting your professional identity.

It gives clients a chance to notice their own progress, sometimes for the first time. The end of therapy can feel anticlimactic. A lot has happened, but the change has been gradual, and people don’t always see it clearly. Being asked what has changed for you since you started? can help a client consolidate something they’ve been living without quite naming.

That’s not a small thing. The form is doing clinical work.

And it gives future clients language for what it actually feels like to be in the room with you. Generic reviews — “Sarah was lovely, I’d recommend her” — don’t help the right client find you.

Specific ones do. A form that invites clients to reflect carefully tends to produce responses that are genuinely useful to someone sitting on a website at eleven at night, wondering if you’re the right person for them.

Those three things matter. They also pull in different directions if you’re not careful about design.

Below — what I changed, why the order of your questions matters more than you think, and what to actually do with the responses.

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Therapists’ Corner Member Shout-Outs

Members of Therapists Corner – Are sharing what they’re up to in private practice, their niches, offers and specialist interests. Think of it as a growing, trusted pool of therapists you can follow, get to know, and keep in mind for referrals, specialist supervision or signposting clients on.

Even if you’re not (yet!) a paid member, my hope is that, over time, these shout-outs become a genuinely valuable resource. Look out for the monthly post to add your comments to.

Member Shout-outs

• Lyndsey MacAulay one of our members and a neurodiverse specialist, is offering a QLS Level 5 Diploma in Working Therapeutically with Neurodiversity, a practical, neuro-affirming course for qualified counsellors looking to strengthen their work with neurodivergent clients. Delivered over three weekends, the training explores autism, ADHD, trauma and anxiety through diagnostic, functional and lived experience perspectives, while offering adaptable, real world tools to create more inclusive and responsive practice.

  Next intake starts 16 May, online, £849 with a payment plan available. For more information or to book, contact bpcounsellinged@gmail.com have a look at her webist - Website

• Lyndsey also offers Supervision and having worked with her I’d highly recomend her services - Supervision Page

• Rabia Khan has a new website, you can see it here - CBT Therapist Birmingham | PCOS & Endometriosis Therapy | NuraMind Therapies

• Claire Callaghan has a newsletter for the latest updates on women’s physical health, moving well and staying injury free. You can sign up here - https://www.clairecallaghan.com/subscribe

• We welcome to Therapist Corner.

• shared the following - I love this! ❤️ So, I’m a clinical psychologist, based in Milton Keynes, but working online in private practice. PP Is my passion, it’s always been!

  And I specialise in women’s mental health. I recently created a new beach within my practice called The Exhale Space, with a focus on women. And this September, I’m launching a 6-session programme for women navigating perimenopause and menopause. It’s going to be in a group, a mix of workshop-style sessions and a couple of integration sessions to discuss how everybody is doing in applying the concepts learned.

  My website is relaunching soon, and there will be a dedicated page there.

  www.pontespsychology.com

  But for now, anyone wanting to join can fill in the form below and join the waitlist and my newsletter. 😊 The form is also at the top of my home page on my website, but the direct link is below:

  Here 🙌🏼

• shared the following - My name is Adina, and I’m a Gestalt therapist based in the Netherlands offering counselling, therapy and coaching to adults, students or entrepreneurs, in English, Romanian and Dutch. I also offer online sessions and here is my practice website for more details:

  https://thelibrarywithin.com/

  What I wanted to share here is the Embodied Relational Awareness Gatherings that I organise in person, in The Netherlands: https://thelibrarywithin.com/gestalt-gatherings/relational-awareness/.

  And to share my offer for Community Gatherings https://thelibrarywithin.com/gestalt-gatherings/community-gatherings/ for which soon I’ll plan an online version.

• We also welcomed Suzie, Celine, Eszter and Lilla to Therapist Corner this month.

From Sarah

• Writeupp - get 25% off for 6 months Writeupp - discount

Got Something to Share?

If you want to get involved, you can. Each month, I’ll be doing a feature post that celebrates what you’re doing — whether that’s:
✨ Launching a new website or platform
✨ Opening spaces for therapy or supervision, celebrate being fully booked or a business goal achieved
✨ Running a workshop or course, sharing a new blog post,
✨ Starting a Substack, A general brilliant achievement you want a clap for because you’re worth it
✨ Offering something new in your practice
✨ Or even just wanting to share your Instagram or LinkedIn account so people can follow and support you

Here’s how it will work:

• Pop your link or update in the comments of the shout-out post — tell me what you’re doing and what you’d like to share.

• Each month, I’ll post a reminder thread.

• I’ll then gather everything and create a “What Our Members Are Up To, Shout-Out” post, which will go out to our full email list of almost 4,000 therapists.

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Blog Posts and Social Media Content Repurposing

• Question raised about creating multiple social media posts from a single blog post.

• Explanation that hundreds of social media posts can be generated from one piece of content.

• Introduction to Missing Letter, a tool that automatically creates social media captions from blog posts.

• Experience shared of blogging …

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A note before we start: I’m going to recommend a specific tool in this piece. I’m an affiliate, which means if you sign up through my link, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

I only recommend tools I’ve used myself and I used this one for years before I had an affiliate link.

Paid subscribers: I’ve included the exclusive Therapists Corner offers below the paywall, including a 30-day trial of the full platform for $5 and 50% off any plan for the first three months.

In today’s Q&A, someone asked me a question I get all the time:

“How many social media posts can you actually get out of one blog post?”

My honest answer: a lot.

A single blog post, fed into the right system, can supply content across your platforms for twelve months.

Not dozens of identical reposts but quotes, reflections, questions, teaching points, client-facing explanations and different angles drawn from one piece of original thinking, dripped out over time.

That’s a very different proposition from “post every day.”

Let me explain what I mean.

The Reframe That Changed Everything

If you’re a therapist in private practice trying to grow your caseload, you’ve probably been told you “need to be on social media.”

Maybe you’ve forced yourself onto Instagram, written a few posts, run out of steam, and quietly disappeared again.

I see this every week inside Therapists’ Corner.

The problem isn’t you.

The problem is the framing.

Most therapists treat each social media post as a separate piece of content.

A blank canvas.

A new idea.

A new battle with imposter syndrome and the cursor blinking back at them.

Here’s the reframe:

A blog post is an anchor.

One thoughtful piece of writing about anxiety, perfectionism, perimenopause, burnout, trauma, relationships, neurodivergence — whatever your niche — can quietly feed your social media for months.

The blog is the trunk of the tree.

Your social posts are the leaves.

You don’t need more ideas.

You need a system that mines what you’ve already written.

What One Blog Post Can Become

Let’s say you’ve written a blog post called:

“Why high-achieving women feel anxious even when life looks successful”

That one blog could become:

• a quote post from one strong sentence

• a myth-busting post about anxiety and success

• a “signs this might be you” post

• a LinkedIn reflection about perfectionism

• an Instagram carousel explaining why achievement doesn’t always equal safety

• a short post about why rest can feel threatening

• a question prompt for your audience

• a post aimed at partners or family members

• a gentle psychoeducational post about threat systems

• a short video script

• a newsletter reflection

• a reminder post pointing people back to the original blog

And that’s before you’ve even changed the angle.

You could write one version for clients who are exhausted.

Another for people who don’t recognise their anxiety because they’re still functioning.

Another for people who are frightened of slowing down.

Another for people considering therapy but unsure whether their problems are “bad enough.”

This is why blogging and social media work so well together.

The blog gives you depth.

Social media gives you repetition.

And repetition is what helps people remember you.

Where Most Therapists Get Stuck

Even when therapists understand the anchor concept, the execution is where it falls apart.

Sitting down to pull a 1,200-word blog into thirty post variations, write captions, choose hashtags, design graphics and schedule posts across LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and X — that’s a job.

A full one.

And it’s why most therapists quietly stop posting after the first few weeks.

Visibility shouldn’t cost you a clinic day.

This is where a system helps.

You still need the original thinking.

You still need to check the tone.

You still need to make sure anything going out under your name feels ethical, accurate and true to you.

But you don’t need to manually turn every blog post into months of social content from scratch.

Below the paywall, I’ll show you the tool I’ve used for years, why I think it works particularly well for therapists, and the two exclusive offers I’ve arranged for Therapists Corner readers — including a 30-day trial of the full platform for $5.

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