Update your Find A Therapist profile

Find a Therapist is only as good as the data it contains. It’s important for all UKCP members on Find a Therapist to complete their profiles. By doing so, you will help improve Find a Therapist’s ranking in Google, and the chance that an individual will find a safe, ethical, high quality therapeutic relationship which is right for them.

Download our step-by-step guide to updating your profile: Guide to creating or updating your Find A Therapist profile (PDF)

We also have also created a step-by-step video guide, which you can watch here. 

Video contents:

• How to login to your members area: 00:00
• Changing your membership details: 2:09
• Download your membership receipts: 2:38
• View details of your organisational member, modality and college: 2:47
• Add or edit your Find a Therapist profile image: 03:00
• Update your mailing preferences: 04:19
• Update your Find a Therapist profile page: 05:15
• Add, update or hide your location on your Find a Therapist profile: 09:12
• Update your fee information on Find a Therapist: 10:40
• Select or update the issues you can help with that appears on the Find a Therapist filter: 12:18

Please note: any changes that you make to Find a Therapist can take up to 24 hours to be visible on the website. If you need to make a change urgently, please contact our Membership team.

How to get the most out of Find A Therapist

Add a profile picture

In our research with members of the public, participants unanimously preferred profiles that had a photo, because along with what the therapist had written in their profile it helped them to get a sense of who they would be talking to. Any profile picture was preferred over none, but it was head and shoulders photos of the therapists themselves which got by far the best response.

Use a conversational tone of voice

One of our research participants’ top criteria when they were choosing a therapist was that they seemed ‘friendly and approachable’, and most preferred profiles were written in an informal, first person, conversational tone. For example ‘I specialise in…’ rather than ‘Jonathan specialises in…’ or ‘We will meet for an initial session to talk about the issues that have led you to seek help from a therapist…’ rather than ‘Clients attend an initial assessment meeting where their presenting needs are discussed…’

Think about what the client most wants to know

Members of the public were reassured when therapists included their qualifications on their profile, but they were put off by profiles that read too much like a CV or a journal paper. They wanted to understand what working with this person might be like, what would be involved, and how it could help them.

Use familiar words and avoid jargon

As our research participants navigated Find A Therapist and individual therapists’ profiles they often came across specialist terms, especially around modalities and titles eg ‘Process Oriented Psychotherapist’ or ‘Systemic approach’. Typically they would get distracted from their goal, attempting to guess at what these terms meant and understand if they were relevant to their specific issue. Try to use words that people might use themselves to describe their feelings and problems. They might think of themselves as having problems with their sex life rather than sexual dysfunction or see themselves as unhappy rather than suffering from emotional distress.

Include your fees and whether concessions are available

Members of the public we interviewed reported that one of the most important criteria when choosing a therapist would be cost. Although they understood that they could contact a therapist and ask about their fees before meeting for a first session, it was clear that for some people bringing this up in conversation was a barrier in itself. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I include testimonials on my Find a Therapist profile?

The UKCP Code of Ethics and Professional Practice prohibits the use of testimonials. Therefore, they should not be used on your Find a Therapist profile, website or any other promotional materials.

Why are some of the fields in Find a Therapist already filled in?

If you are using Find a Therapist on a mobile phone, you may notice that some of the fields already have already been filled out, even though you have not selected anything.

This seems to be an issue with Microsoft phones. If you have not selected an item from the list, most mobile phones will show ‘0 selected’ or ‘0 items’. However, some phones will show the first item on the selection list instead. For example, on affected phones, the Reason for Therapy Field shows the word Abuse because that is the first term in the list.

The results that you get when you search for a therapist will not be affected by anything that you haven’t selected. We are aware of this issue and are working on it with our developers.

I can’t find myself on the register. What should I do?

You can search for a member on the national register by searching for their full name, partial name, or by the initial of someone’s surname.

Results are listed in alphabetical order and may run over more than one page. If you are unable to find your name please contact membership@ukcp.org.uk. 

I can’t find myself on Find a Therapist. What should I do?

The first thing to do is to make sure you have opted into find a therapist , you can also check your profile is up to date and has the correct details. Find out how in our guide to updating your find a therapist profile. When looking for yourself on find a therapist make sure that the search filters you’re using match the information in your profile. 

The search results generated lists every therapist that matches the search filters. If a search generates several results, you may not always appear on the first page of results. Be sure to check all the results or try refreshing the page. If you still do not appear, then contact us.

My map isn’t displaying correctly on my Find a Therapist profile

Like most websites that use maps, UKCP uses Google Maps to generate map links on Find a Therapist. If your map does not appear correctly, it is because there is something about the address that Google has not recognised.

This could be because you have:

• used a house name rather than a number
• used a room number or the name of a smaller building within a larger
  complex, such as a hospital
• included the county rather than London for metropolitan towns, such as Croydon or Bromley.

I speak a language that isn’t shown on your list

If you would like to add a language to the list, please contact us at membership@ukcp.org.uk or communications@ukcp.org.uk. 

My ‘Work Phone’ number is not being accepted. What should I do?

Telephone numbers entered into the ‘My Profile’ section of the member area must be entered without spaces.