Shownotes
If you want to attract more clients to your private practice, your therapist profile needs to show people that they’ll be safe with you.
In this episode, we’re talking about how a simple inclusion statement can make the difference between someone reaching out — or quietly clicking away. I share a personal story about almost contacting a therapist, and why I didn’t, and explore what therapists can do to show they’re truly inclusive.
I’ll walk you through why these statements matter, what often holds us back from writing them, and what you can include — even if you’re still learning.
If you’ve ever wondered how to make your practice more welcoming and visible to people from marginalised communities, this one’s for you.
Takeaways:
- Why inclusion statements help the right clients feel safe enough to reach out
- What silence on your profile might be saying (without you realising)
- Common fears therapists have about getting it wrong — and why it’s okay to start small
- Simple ideas for what to include in a statement that feels genuine
- Real-life examples of inclusive therapist websites that work
Setting up in private practice? Download my free checklist HERE
Need ideas for how to get clients? Download my free handout 21 Ways for Counsellors to Attract New Clients HERE
You can also find me here:
The Good Enough Counsellors Facebook Group
Josephine Hughes on Facebook
Josephine Hughes on YouTube
My website: josephinehughes.com
Links referenced in this episode:
Keywords:
inclusive therapy practices, diversity in counselling, creating an inclusive therapist profile, client safety in therapy, understanding LGBTQ+ clients, therapy growth strategies, anti-racist therapy practices, writing an inclusion statement, addressing privilege in therapy, promoting equality in therapy, therapist-client relationship dynamics, best practices for inclusive therapy
The information contained in Good Enough Counsellors is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this podcast are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this podcast. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this podcast.
Josephine Hughes disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this podcast.
Transcripts
Sometimes it's not what's said on a therapist's profile that matters, it's what's missing.
Speaker A:Just a sentence or two can help someone feel safe enough to reach out, or unsure enough to stay silent, hesitating, wondering if I'd be understood.
Speaker A:In this episode, I'm sharing a story about that moment and what we can do as therapists to help people find, feel, seen right from the very first glance at our profile.
Speaker A:Welcome to Good Enough Counsellors, the podcast for growing a private practice without the pressure to be perfect.
Speaker A:I'm Josephine Hughes, counsellor and creator of Therapy Growth Group, helping you get the clients you want.
Speaker A:And in today's episode, we're going to be talking about something that may seem trivial but may actually be costing you clients, and that's demonstrating that you're an inclusive therapist.
Speaker A:Now, back in the day, before I realised I had transgender kids, I'd think of equality, diversity and inclusion as box ticking exercises.
Speaker A:I was coming from that position of privilege and life had a lot to teach me.
Speaker A:What I'd like to share today is about how being inclusive can really make a difference to your practice numbers.
Speaker A:But I also wanted to share something that happened just today with one of my therapy growth group members.
Speaker A:It's Pride Month and she put what could be considered quite an uncontroversial post on her page, saying, love is love is love with the rainbow colours behind it.
Speaker A:And as a result of that, she started to get trolled by people leaving remarks and telling her she was wrong, and all sorts of other things that I won't repeat here.
Speaker A:It really made me think, though, because social media at the moment does seem to be a place where there are extremes of opinions that are being shared and it can really feel like social media is not a safe place for people.
Speaker A:It seems as though it's becoming increasingly hostile towards LGBTQ people and obviously other minorities as well.
Speaker A:And I think for us as therapists, that means that our clients may well be feeling quite wary about approaching us.
Speaker A:They don't know if we can be trusted.
Speaker A:And what happened to me recently that I'd really love to share with you is that while I was looking at therapist profiles, as I often do when I'm working out how to make profiles work, I came across a profile of a therapist and she sounded like she was right up my street.
Speaker A:I've been thinking about therapy for a particular issue in my life for a while, and this person really ticked a lot of the boxes for me and I thought, yeah, this feels like someone I could approach for therapy.
Speaker A:But like many clients, I didn't approach her straight away.
Speaker A:I decided to go away and have a think about it.
Speaker A:And when I thought about it, I realized that she hadn't said anything that showed me me she was friendly towards transgender people.
Speaker A:And that, for me, is a real no, no.
Speaker A:For me, it's really important that I work with a therapist who is affirming of transgender people, because some of the issues that I am going to be bringing are going to be connected with my transgender children.
Speaker A:And I need to know that I'm not going to be challenged about that, that someone's not going to try and change my mind and that they're going to treat me with the respect that I deserve.
Speaker A:And the fact that this person hadn't said anything on their profile, I went back and checked it again a couple of times.
Speaker A:They hadn't said anything that was affirming towards LGBTQ people.
Speaker A:And I thought, what do I do?
Speaker A:Do I write to them and say, can you tell me about what you think about LGBTQ identities or, you know, what's your attitude towards working with LGBTQ people?
Speaker A:But the fact that I'd have to ask, you feel as though whatever answer you got, it would be somebody who is just saying, oh, yes, yes, of course.
Speaker A:I fact that they hadn't already thought about it actually says quite a lot to me.
Speaker A:It says that it's not in their mind.
Speaker A:They're not someone.
Speaker A:They might consider themselves inclusive, but they're unable to demonstrate it to me.
Speaker A:And the fact that they haven't bothered to demonstrate it to me actually rang alarm bells for me.
Speaker A:So I probably won't be going to that particular therapist.
Speaker A:There's that saying, isn't there?
Speaker A:Silence speaks volumes.
Speaker A:And unfortunately, that silence spoke to me.
Speaker A:So perhaps you are actually an inclusive therapist, but are you telling people.
Speaker A:What I did is I looked up some people that I know are very inclusive therapists and I'd like to share a couple of their websites with you.
Speaker A:And the first one I'd like to share with you is Jennifer Snow's, and you can go along to Jennifer snow counseling or one word.co.uk and the second sentence on Jennifer's website is the following.
Speaker A:My name is Jen and my pronouns are she, her.
Speaker A:So immediately, as soon as you start reading her website, you know her position vis a vis transgender people.
Speaker A:And then in the second paragraph, she talks a lot about how she works with different types of people, neurodivergent people.
Speaker A:She's committed to anti racism.
Speaker A:There's a lot in there on Jen's profile.
Speaker A:That just makes it abundantly clear that she's a very inclusive therapist.
Speaker A:And if I was someone with minority issues, such as being a member of the transgender community, then I would feel free to go to her and save.
Speaker A:Now, I don't know about you, but I think often we shy away from things like inclusion statements because we're a bit worried that we might make a mistake and that we don't know enough.
Speaker A:And that's when the silence might appear, because we want to be inclusive, but we're so keen to be inclusive, we're really worried about offending people.
Speaker A:I think there's a real sense of, I'm not good enough to be able to write an inclusion statement.
Speaker A:And that's often what stops us from being clear in what we stand for, because we don't want to make a mistake.
Speaker A:You know, sometimes the letters change.
Speaker A:I'm always questioning myself, you know, am I saying enough of the lgbtq, or should it be lgbtqia?
Speaker A:And there's lots of different ways of saying things, and we can get tangled up in thinking, oh, I'm getting this wrong.
Speaker A:So I think it's really important, first off to say, actually, even if you get it wrong, at least you are trying, and you could make a start on it, and then you could take it to others to help you review it.
Speaker A:So you could take it to supervision, say, you could take it to peers.
Speaker A:You could bring it into a counselling group and say, folks, have I got this wrong?
Speaker A:Do I need to correct this in any way?
Speaker A:People will help you out with it.
Speaker A:And actually, people usually are really pleased that you are making an effort rather than thinking, well, who do they think they are?
Speaker A:So I'd really like to encourage you that a little bit of humility is a great starting point.
Speaker A:And it's so much better to have something than nothing, because it will still speak to people.
Speaker A:You may be wondering to yourself, well, actually, what do I say?
Speaker A:I don't really know what I should say.
Speaker A:And it's really interesting because I spent quite a lot of time preparing for this podcast episode, partly because I felt like I didn't know what I was doing.
Speaker A:And it's just really interesting.
Speaker A:I spent at least half an hour reading up BACP Good Practice in Action guidelines and looking all about equality and diversity.
Speaker A:And I couldn't find anything that talked about how to write an inclusivity statement.
Speaker A:And I searched on the Internet and I couldn't find anything.
Speaker A:Which makes you wonder, really, doesn't it, what's going on.
Speaker A:But I actually think it might be a good thing that there's no templates that you could just copy and paste.
Speaker A:Because, actually, I think with something like equality, diversity and inclusion, it actually is important for us to have done the work, and we don't want it to be a performative exercise.
Speaker A:We want it to be real and grounded in who we are.
Speaker A:Because if we say that we're inclusive and actually, you know, people come along and we're not inclusive, that isn't any good for us or for the client.
Speaker A:So I think we do need to back up our inclusion statements with what we really know to be true.
Speaker A:And that might mean that we need to go away and do some reading, and that's okay.
Speaker A:I really admire Jen, for example, because I've always seen her be so committed to inclusion.
Speaker A:And I feel like I've still got a long way to go to catch up with her.
Speaker A:But that's all right.
Speaker A:You know, I'm learning and I'm on a pathway and I can't make myself be any faster than I already am.
Speaker A:I've just got to keep learning.
Speaker A:And so if I was to write my inclusion statement now, it would very much come from the place of where I'm at at the moment, and that will show people where I am.
Speaker A:And it will also be much less of a sort of cookie cutter approach.
Speaker A:It will be really grounded in reality.
Speaker A:So I think it's important that we do the work and we write a statement that comes from what we believe inclusion is all about.
Speaker A:And if we miss something, well, that in itself is going to speak to somebody who perhaps needs you to be particularly inclusive in that area.
Speaker A:Obviously, we'd all to be 100% inclusive, but let's face it, we've also all got blind spots that we need to work on.
Speaker A:So we have to do the best that we can.
Speaker A:And I'd really love to encourage you to just have a go.
Speaker A:And like I say, you can hold it up to the light.
Speaker A:You can say to people, what am I missing?
Speaker A:And that will help you to learn as well.
Speaker A:Now, coming up in therapy growth group in July, I have got a training session on identifying your values and thinking about who you are as a therapist and how you can communicate this to clients.
Speaker A:And I think this would be a perfect opportunity for you to come on board and explore and see what it is that really you want to communicate about your values and how you can do that.
Speaker A:And we're running a training course, as I say, in therapy growth group, just go along to josephinehughes.com work with me and you'll find the link to Therapy Growth group there.
Speaker A: er that's taken place in July: Speaker A:Now, something else that I've touched on that you might be feeling is you might be worried that you're going to sound as though you are just being performative.
Speaker A:That actually it doesn't mean anything.
Speaker A:But I think that's helpful because it shows that you really care about integrity.
Speaker A:But having said that, I still think it's more important that you say something rather than you're silent.
Speaker A:Because as I said earlier, your silence will speak volumes.
Speaker A:Here's a quick list of things that you might want to include in your inclusion statement.
Speaker A:It doesn't have to be very long.
Speaker A:Some people write a lot.
Speaker A:Other people only write quite short passages.
Speaker A:But this is what I think you could include.
Speaker A:The first thing is that you want to show that you welcome people of all, all sorts of identities into your practice.
Speaker A:And you can do that by welcoming them and naming the people that you would work with.
Speaker A:But having said that, I think it's really important to affirm people's identities.
Speaker A:You don't just want to say that you work with transgender people, for example, because that might imply that you are seeking to cure them.
Speaker A:You really want to make it clear that you're affirming of them.
Speaker A:There's quite a difference there.
Speaker A:And if you want to hear a little bit more about that, I recommend you listen to Janine Connor's podcast, which is episode 68.
Speaker A:And she talks when she's talking about working with transgender people, how some gender critical therapists phrase the way that they work and how they work with gender identity.
Speaker A:And it's really interesting just to hear the very subtle differences that might confuse clients.
Speaker A:So I think it's really important that you do actually talk about how you affirm people.
Speaker A:The next thing I think to include is to acknowledge your own privilege.
Speaker A:Perhaps this is where I would need to acknowledge my privilege and talk about how I'm still learning and I'd like to be held accountable.
Speaker A:So it's not that when we're inclusive, we don't make mistakes.
Speaker A:It's just that we're showing people that we are open to being corrected, and that's okay.
Speaker A:And finally, you may like to include relevant training or particular placements or particular work that you've done where you are working with particular types of communities.
Speaker A:So that could be something else that you include in your statement.
Speaker A:And I'd love for you to have another example of a great website.
Speaker A:And I'm going to recommend that you go and look at Louisa Harvey's website now.
Speaker A:Louisa has a statement, standout website in terms of her inclusivity.
Speaker A: looked at her website back in: Speaker A:So you can find Louisa at Psychodynamic Therapy Birmingham.
Speaker A:That's all1word.co.uk I recommend you just go and have a little trawl of her website because it's so brilliantly inclusive.
Speaker A:But what comes across is just how real she is and how utterly committed she is to anti oppressive practice.
Speaker A:So do go and look at that website.
Speaker A:Psychodynamic therapy birmingham.co.uk so if you've been wondering whether it's really worth putting something on your profile about inclusion, my answer is a big fat yes.
Speaker A:There might be someone just like me who needs to speak to someone inclusive and is looking.
Speaker A:I haven't found anybody yet that has got the elements that I'm looking for.
Speaker A:Just think, it could be me.
Speaker A:I'm probably not the only person who's representative of this particular issue.
Speaker A:So do make your profiles inclusive.
Speaker A:It really is worth it because your silence can speak volumes.
Speaker A:If you say something, it's going to help someone feel safe enough to get in touch.
Speaker A:And remember this.
Speaker A:You don't have to get it perfect, you just have to be willing to show up, show that you care.
Speaker A:That can make all the difference.
Speaker A:And if you're not really sure where to start, say so.
Speaker A:Tell people.
Speaker A:Start by being honest.
Speaker A:Say you're learning, say you're open.
Speaker A:And that in itself can be quite a powerful statement.
Speaker A:The thing is, you might be much more inclusive than your profile suggests.
Speaker A:It could be that you just haven't thought about doing it.
Speaker A:So now is a really great opportunity for you to sit down and do something.
Speaker A:Could you do it within the next week?
Speaker A:Perhaps?
Speaker A:And if you need a bit of help, come along to Therapy Growth Group in July and join us as we work on our identity and values and how to communicate that.
Speaker A:Remember, inclusion isn't just about who we're happy to work with, it's about who feels able to reach out in the first place.
Speaker A:Thanks for listening.
Speaker A:Do come and join my Facebook community.
Speaker A:Good enough Counsellors.
Speaker A:And for more information about how I can help you develop your private practice, please Visit my website, JosephineHughes.com if you found this episode helpful, I'd love it if you could share it with a fellow therapist or leave a review on your podcast app.
Speaker A:And in closing, I'd love to remind you that every single step you make gets you closer to your dream.
Speaker A:I really believe you can do it.
Speaker A:Sam.
