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