What a counsellor's website should include

Key takeaways

A counsellor's website should show qualifications and membership of a professional body, ideally one with a register accredited by the Professional Standards Authority, plus approach, issues worked with, fees, session length and format, cancellation terms, confidentiality and its limits, and how to book a first session. Clients need to feel safe before they reach out.

• Counselling titles are not protected, so show body membership.
• State fees, session length, format and cancellation terms.
• Explain confidentiality and its limits plainly.
• Health data shared in forms is special category data.

What should a counsellor's website include?

A counsellor's website should include qualifications, professional body membership, the approach used, the issues you work with, fees, session details, cancellation terms, confidentiality and how to start. Global Bridge Labs (GBL) sees fees and confidentiality as the two items most often missing on therapy websites.

• What information should every business website have?
• What first-time buyers of your service need to read

Why does professional body membership matter?

Counselling and psychotherapy titles are not protected by law in the UK, so clients look for membership of a recognised body, such as BACP, and its register. Show your membership level and number and link to the register, so clients can verify you.

• Show your regulator and registration number online
• Qualifications on your website: which ones to list

How should fees and sessions be explained?

State the fee per session, the session length, whether you work in person, online or by phone, any concessions, and your cancellation policy. Clear fees remove a barrier for people who are already finding it hard to reach out.

• Your cancellation policy on your website: what to say
• Should you show prices on your website?

What about confidentiality?

Explain confidentiality in plain words, including its limits, such as risk of serious harm, and how you store notes. Contact forms and emails may contain health information, which is special category data under UK GDPR, so explain in your privacy notice how you protect it.

• What a UK website privacy policy must include
• Tell clients how you protect their data

Which claims should you avoid?

Avoid claims to cure or guarantee outcomes, and be careful naming medical conditions you treat. Advertising rules require health claims to be evidenced. Describe how you work, who you work with and what clients can expect from sessions instead, which is both safer and more reassuring.

• Inaccurate information on your website: the legal risk

When is less information better?

Long lists of every therapeutic model can overwhelm people. Most clients want to know whether you can help with their issue, what it costs and what the first session is like. Keep theory brief and put it on a separate page for those who want it.

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see on therapy websites: a long page on therapeutic approach and training, with fees and how to book hidden at the bottom. Moving fees, availability and a short 'what happens in the first session' section higher makes it easier for nervous clients to take the first step.

• See client work
• Website Design & Development for UK businesses

Counsellor website checklist

• Show body membership and register link.
• List qualifications plainly.
• State fees, session length and format.
• Explain cancellation terms.
• Explain confidentiality and its limits.
• Describe the first session.

• What a pharmacy website must display
• What an osteopath or chiropractor's website must show

Next step

Write a short 'your first session' section covering cost, length, what happens and confidentiality. Put it near the top of your homepage.