Your Profile Bio is one of the main sections of your Profile that you can use to highlight what makes you unique as a therapist and make sure you stand out from the crowd.
We recommend using this space to explain to clients why you might be the right therapist for potential clients viewing your Profile, and what you would be able to offer compared to all the other therapists we have available.
We recommend including information about you, your approaches, what issues you can help clients with, and what clients can expect in sessions with you. It's a good idea to make sure you have included as much relevant information as possible to help clients decide if you could be the right therapist for them, and that all of the questions potential clients are likely to ask have been answered.
We've noticed that bios laid out as per the headings below do seem to do well (you do not need to include the actual headings themselves) :
Introduction (see advice below)
Experience (where you have worked, who you have helped and with what presenting issues)
Approaches (including what these approaches entail, what issues they help with, what clients can expect, is homework required etc.)
Practicalities (eg. how many sessions do clients usually attend? Do you work on an open-ended basis or time-limited? How do couples/family sessions work - do you break off into individual sessions, or do couples/families always attend together? How do group sessions work via video call? If you work with children, do you also meet with the parent? etc.)
Qualifications / Training / Education (inc. CPD courses etc.)
Awards / Accreditations / Registrations
Regarding your introduction, the first 75 characters of your bio are particularly important as these first 1 or 2 lines are shown in the search results in your therapist card, and can help draw clients into viewing your full profile. It is important to not waste any of these first 75 characters by repeating information that is already displayed in the searches, such as your name, job title, availability etc.
We also recommend avoiding acronyms that clients may not recognise in your Profile Bio (and in your chosen Job Title) - this includes professional bodies, accreditations, qualifications, registrations etc.
While we recommend that you include as much relevant information as possible, we would still be mindful to keep information clear and concise, and to avoid overwhelming clients with large blocks of text or overly wordy explanations. Breaking down larger paragraphs into smaller chunks of text is usually a good idea.
Lastly, we would recommend always keeping in mind that your target audience is potential clients, rather than other therapists or counsellors. Please avoid using jargon or technical language that clients may not recognise, and remember that many of our clients are completely new to therapy, with no in-depth or prior knowledge.