The person reading a psychologist’s website has often been thinking about getting help for a long time before they open the page. They might be reading at 11pm, on their phone, with the screen dimmed so their partner doesn’t see. That changes what the site needs to do.
Most physio or dental sites can be direct and practical. A psychology or counselling site still needs to be practical, but it also has to lower the emotional cost of making contact. The good news is that the practical answers do most of that work: a warm but plain tone, a clear “getting started” page, fees and Medicare referral details in one place, short contact forms that protect privacy, and crisis information in the footer.
Tone: warm, plain and not too much
The usual mistake isn’t coldness. It’s over-softness: pages full of watercolour imagery, phrases like “a safe space to heal and grow”, and so much reassurance that the reader still can’t tell what happens or what it costs.
Aim for the tone of a good intake call. Kind, calm, and specific. Some before-and-after rewrites:
Before: “We provide a safe, nurturing space where you can explore your feelings and begin your healing.”
After: “Sessions are 50 minutes, one to one, in a quiet room in our Ballina practice or by telehealth. You decide what we talk about and how fast.”
Before: “Our compassionate team supports clients with a wide range of mental health concerns.”
After: “We see adults and teenagers for anxiety, low mood, grief, stress at work and relationship difficulties. If we’re not the right fit, we’ll help you find someone who is.”
Before: “Reach out today to begin.”
After: “You can book online, call, or send a short message. You don’t need to explain everything in the first contact.”
That last line is worth using almost word for word. A lot of people stall at the contact form because they think they need to describe their whole situation.
Explain how the first step works
Write a page, or a clear section, called something like “Getting started”. Walk through exactly what happens:
- How to make contact (booking, phone, form) and when you’ll reply
- Whether there’s a brief phone call before the first session, and what it covers
- What to bring or prepare, including a referral if they’re using one
- What the first session is like, and that it’s normal to feel nervous
- How many sessions people usually have, in honest general terms
- How to change or cancel
For many practices, online booking for first sessions isn’t the right fit, because you want to check suitability or triage before booking. That’s fine, just say so clearly. If you do take online bookings, our guide to online booking for allied health websites covers the setup.
Fees, Medicare and referrals
Show your fees. A person who’s anxious about money won’t ring to ask, they’ll just not book.
Cover the private fee for each session type, what the Medicare rebate means in practice (the out-of-pocket gap), whether you bulk bill anyone, and what the patient needs to claim a rebate. Explain the referral pathway in plain terms: who can refer, what the referral or plan is called, and what to ask their GP for.
Medicare mental health arrangements have changed several times in recent years, including the number of subsidised sessions and how referrals work. Don’t scatter session numbers and rebate amounts across your home page, service pages and FAQs, because one of them will be wrong by next year. Keep the detail on a single fees page, put a “last updated” date on it, and check it whenever Medicare announces changes. Your professional association usually summarises changes quickly.
Also cover other funding if you offer it: NDIS, WorkCover, DVA, EAP arrangements, victims support schemes. A line each is enough, with a pointer to call if they’re unsure.
Privacy is part of the design
People will judge your privacy practices by how your site behaves, not just by your privacy policy.
Keep contact forms short. Ask for name, preferred contact method, a good time to call, and an optional short message. Add a note: “Please don’t include detailed personal or health information here. We’ll talk through that privately.” Detailed clinical information shouldn’t sit in an email inbox.
Tell people how you’ll contact them. Offer a choice: call, SMS or email, and whether it’s OK to leave a message. Someone in a difficult home situation needs to know you won’t leave a voicemail saying “Hi, this is the psychologist”.
Be careful with tracking. Advertising pixels from Meta and similar platforms record which pages someone visits. On a psychology site, a visit to a page about trauma or eating difficulties is sensitive in itself. Think hard before installing advertising pixels at all, and talk to us or your privacy adviser if you plan to run ads.
Think about telehealth links. If you send video links, explain how sessions are kept private and what platform you use.
Practitioner profiles
People choose a psychologist or counsellor largely on whether the person feels right. Profiles should include a warm, natural portrait (not a corporate headshot against grey), registration type or professional membership, approaches they use explained in a sentence each, who they work with, and practical details like days, telehealth and availability.
Describe approaches in plain terms. “CBT, which focuses on the link between thoughts, feelings and behaviour” is more useful than an alphabet of acronyms. Psychologists are AHPRA registered, so the advertising rules apply: no testimonials about clinical aspects, as AHPRA’s testimonial guidance explains, and no “specialist” claims unless you hold the relevant endorsement. A clinical psychologist with the area of practice endorsement can say so.
Counsellors and psychotherapists aren’t AHPRA registered, but consumer law still applies, and your professional body will have its own code. Writing to the same standard as psychologists is the safe default.
Crisis information, in the right place
Every page should have a short, consistent line in the footer, something like: “We’re not a crisis service. If you need urgent help, call 000 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.” Put it on the contact page and the booking confirmation too.
Keep it calm and factual rather than alarming, and don’t let it push your own contact details off the screen.
Visual design
Calm doesn’t have to mean beige. Pick a restrained palette, generous spacing, a readable type size and real photos of your rooms so people can picture walking in. If your practice name and logo look generic, it can be worth working on branding before the website.
We built the site for North Coast Psychology with this sort of reader in mind. The physical and allied health side has different priorities, which we cover in websites for physios, osteos and chiros.
A quick test
Hand your phone to someone who doesn’t know your practice and ask them to find three things: what a session costs after the Medicare rebate, whether they need a referral, and how to make contact without explaining everything. Watch where they hesitate.
Wherever they hesitate is where to start, and if that turns out to be most of the site, we’re happy to talk through a rebuild.