Marketing for therapists, within your ethics code
Therapy marketing has rules other professions do not: no testimonials from clients, no uninvited approaches to people who may be vulnerable, and confidentiality in everything. Here are 20 ideas for a therapist in private practice that work inside those rules, checked against the APA, ACA and NASW codes, with a book on the problem you treat to anchor the rest.
The rules under every idea
Check your own license and state board first; the professional codes below are where most therapists' marketing rules come from.
| Code | What it says about marketing |
|---|---|
| APA Ethics Code (psychologists) | 5.01: no public statements, including advertising, directory listings and published materials, that are false, deceptive or fraudulent. 5.05: do not solicit testimonials from current therapy clients or others vulnerable to undue influence. 5.06: no uninvited in-person solicitation of potential clients or others vulnerable to undue influence. |
| ACA Code of Ethics (counselors) | C.3.a: identify credentials accurately, in a way that is not false, misleading, deceptive or fraudulent. C.3.b: counselors who use testimonials do not solicit them from current or former clients. C.3.e: advertisements for products or workshops you create are accurate and give enough information for an informed choice. |
| NASW Code of Ethics (social workers) | 4.07: no uninvited solicitation of potential clients who are vulnerable to undue influence, manipulation or coercion, and no soliciting testimonial endorsements from current clients, including asking consent to use a client's earlier statement. |
Two practical rules follow from all three. Never ask a client to help market your practice, and describe what you do rather than how well it works. If your practice is a HIPAA covered entity, anything that uses a client's information also needs the steps in HHS's summary of the Privacy Rule.
Sources: APA, Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (2017 amendments), Standards 5.01, 5.05 and 5.06; ACA Code of Ethics (2014), C.3; NASW Code of Ethics, 4.07. Read October 27, 2026.
Where to start
| If your best clients mostly come from | Start with | Then add |
|---|---|---|
| Doctors, psychiatrists and other clinicians | Referral sources (1 to 5) | A guide for their waiting rooms (19) |
| Searching online and directories | Being found (6 to 10) | Articles that answer their questions (16) |
| Schools, employers and community groups | Teaching in public (11 to 14) | A workshop series (13) |
| People who travel or go online to see a specialist | Podcasts and writing (15 to 17) | A book on that problem (18) |
Referral sources
Referrals ask nothing of your clients, which makes them the cleanest source of new ones.
1. List the people who see your future clients first
Primary care physicians, psychiatrists, pediatricians, school counselors, clergy, divorce and estate attorneys, and other therapists whose caseloads are full. Write down ten by name.
2. Tell them exactly who to send
A one-page note: the problems you treat, the ages you see, whether you take their patients' insurance, how soon you can see someone, and how to reach you. Referrals go to whoever is easiest to refer to.
3. Close the loop, with consent
When a client agrees in writing that you may tell the referrer they came, a short thank-you keeps the relationship alive. Say nothing about the client's care without the authorization your setting requires.
4. Refer out well
Keep a list of colleagues for the cases you do not take. Therapists who refer generously get remembered by the colleagues they refer to.
5. Join a consultation group
A regular case consultation group builds the trust that referrals run on, and it is good practice in its own right.
Being found
6. Complete every directory profile
Therapist directories, your insurers' provider lists and your Google Business Profile. Write the profile to the person reading it: what they may be going through and how you work, in plain words.
7. One website page per problem you treat
Anxiety in teenagers, grief, couples in conflict: a page each, describing the problem, what working with you looks like and how to book. Under APA 5.01 and ACA C.3.a, describe your methods and credentials accurately and avoid promising outcomes.
8. Answer the practical questions up front
Fees, insurance, session length, telehealth, how the first session works. A worried person who has to email to find out may not.
9. Make booking a first call simple
A clear phone number, a contact form that does not ask for clinical details, and a reply within a day.
10. Handle reviews carefully
Do not ask clients for reviews; the codes above rule out soliciting testimonials. If a client posts one, replying publicly can confirm they are your client, which is a confidentiality problem. A general statement that you cannot discuss anyone's care is safer than a reply to the review.
Teaching in public
Talks let people meet you without anyone being approached, which is why they fit the solicitation rules.
11. Give one talk, many times
Libraries, parent groups, employers, faith communities. Twenty minutes on one question, such as how to tell normal worry from anxiety, with a list of where to get help that includes but is not limited to you.
12. Teach other professionals
A lunch session for a pediatric practice or a law firm on recognizing when a client needs a therapist. It doubles as idea 2.
13. Run a short workshop series
A psychoeducation group on stress or parenting a teenager, clearly described as education and not therapy. ACA C.3.e asks that advertisements for workshops are accurate and informative.
14. Train where your peers gather
Continuing education workshops for other clinicians make you the person they think of when a case fits your specialty.
Podcasts and writing
15. Be a podcast guest on one subject
Hosts need clear experts. Pick the problem you know best and talk about it in general terms, never about clients.
16. Write articles from the questions people ask
The questions new clients ask in the first session are the ones your next clients are typing into a search box. Answer them on your site, one article each.
17. Keep stories composite and say so
Any example that resembles a client should be a composite, labelled as one, with details changed enough that no client could recognize themselves.
A book as the anchor
18. Write the book on the problem you treat
One problem, one reader, the questions they ask, answered in full. Dr. Valerie Rein, a psychologist whose clients were mostly high-achieving women, wrote Patriarchy Stress Disorder to share her method with women her one-on-one practice could never reach. She was invited onto more than 100 podcasts after it came out, and that when she asks who came to her training because another woman mentioned the book, every hand goes up (story). Those are her results, not typical ones.
19. Give it to referral sources
A book in a physician's waiting room or on a school counselor's shelf explains your approach when you are not there, and asks nothing of any client.
20. Build talks and workshops from its chapters
Each chapter is a talk (11), a workshop session (13) or a podcast subject (15). Plan the uses with the practice worksheet, and read time and confidentiality before writing about anything drawn from your caseload.
Choosing the one problem is the hardest part; the topic guide walks through it. Physicians who refer to you face their own rules, which the physician marketing ideas cover.
Nothing on this page is legal, ethics or clinical advice. It points to the APA's, ACA's, NASW's and HHS's own words; your licensing board, your code of ethics and, where it applies, your privacy officer decide what you can do.