DepressionCounsellorsCounsellors

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Plain-English guides

Guides

Short, plain pieces about what counselling involves, what the professional registers mean, and how to compare counsellors before you contact anyone. General information, not advice about your situation.

Guide · 4 minWhat counselling for depression involves

A calm outline of what counselling for low mood may involve, and how to find a counsellor on this site.

Guide · 5 minNHS talking therapies or a private counsellor: how they differ

A clear, even-handed comparison of NHS Talking Therapies and private registered counsellors, with practical steps to find and choose them.

Guide · 3 minWhen getting started feels like too much

Gentle suggestions for tiny first steps towards counselling when low mood makes beginning feel too hard.

Guide · 4 minBACP, NCPS and HCPC: what the letters mean

Plain explanation of what BACP, NCPS and HCPC letters mean, what membership involves, and how to check public registers.

Guide · 4 minWhat a first session is actually like

A calm, practical guide to what an online first counselling session involves and how to prepare, with notes on safety and next steps.

Guide · 4 minHow to choose between two counsellors who look the same

A calm guide to choosing between two similar counsellors and what you can learn from a first session.

Guide · 4 minIf you are not safe right now

If you are not safe right now, stop and get help from emergency services or a helpline before using a counselling directory.

Compliance review

Numbered elements are the compliance-relevant zones present on every page of this type across all directory sites in the network.

1

Affiliate disclosure bar

Renders between the header and main content on every category, combo, and therapist profile page. Wording is shared verbatim across all sites. Two variants — "category" (affiliate-listing pages, verbatim: "The therapy listings are provided by BetterHelp and we may earn a commission if you use our link - At no cost to you.") and "default" (general editorial pages). Hidden on the homepage, Privacy, Terms, and Contact.

2

General BetterHelp CTA

"Get 20% Off Your First Month of Online Therapy". Rendered on page 1 of every category template in two slots — after the therapist grid and after the contentful body. Link uses rel="noopener noreferrer sponsored" and opens in a new tab. Discount code fhn20 auto-applies on BetterHelp's landing page.

3

Per-therapist affiliate CTA

Profile-page primary action. Each therapist has a pre-computed URL of the form hasofferstracking.betterhelp.com/aff_c?offer_id=2&aff_id=4566&source={therapistId}&url_id=40, so BetterHelp attributes the click to the specific profile. rel="noopener noreferrer sponsored", opens in a new tab. The disclosure bar is always above the fold on profile pages.

4

Footer

Every page links to Privacy Policy and Terms. Both pages disclose the affiliate relationship with BetterHelp in body copy, including that we may earn a commission at no additional cost to the user.

Also enforced

Prohibited terms — secure, confidential, private (platform context) — filtered from all AI-rewritten bios and category content.
Regional terminology applied per site locale: US uses "Licensed therapist"; UK/AU use "Therapist"/"Counsellor"; Canada never uses "Licensed".
Titles, H1s, and breadcrumbs are deterministic templates — not AI-generated — so compliance-sensitive phrasing is locked across ~100k pages.
These compliance zones are invariant across all sites in the network. Color, typography, photo shape, and layout density may vary per niche.