The Pathway
Getting clients
The part of private practice nobody trains you for: being found and being chosen. Naming, your website, directories, Google, referrals and EAP work, explained.
You can be the right counsellor for someone and still never meet them, because they couldn’t find you or couldn’t tell, from the outside, that you were any good. Getting clients is the work of closing that gap. Not selling, not persuading people into therapy they don’t want, but making sure the people already looking can find you and feel safe choosing you.
It breaks down into a few moving parts that all pull in the same direction. Your practice name and your website tell a stranger what you do and where. Directories and your Google Business Profile put you where people are already searching. Referrals and EAP work bring clients through other people’s trust rather than your own marketing. Get these lined up and pointing the same way and they compound. Leave them scattered and each one works harder for less.
Here’s what’s covered in this stage.
In this stage
Naming your counselling practice Your own name or a practice name? The decision most people rush, why it matters more than it looks, and how to build a name people can actually find.
Counselling Directory vs Psychology Today The two directories most UK counsellors weigh up, compared on cost, what you get and who each one suits.
Your website, and what it needs to do What a counselling website is actually for, and the few things it must get right.
Website options compared: what each really costs WebHealer, Pocket Site, WordPress, Squarespace, Wix and a build of your own, totalled honestly over three years.
Your Google Business Profile The free listing that puts you on the map for local searches, set up properly.
Referrals Building the quiet network of GPs, supervisors and fellow practitioners who send people your way.
EAP work What Employee Assistance Programme affiliate work involves, and whether it’s worth it early on.
Where to start
If you haven’t named your practice yet, start there, because it shapes everything else. If your name’s settled and you’re deciding where to be listed, the directory comparison is the practical next step.
Rather have a hand with all of this? Every step here is free to work through yourself with the guide. If you’d rather do it alongside someone who has set up a practice before, launch support is three one-to-one sessions for £300.