Most therapy websites end with a shrug. A grey strip, a copyright line from years ago, maybe an icon for a Facebook page nobody has posted on since 2020.
That strip sits on every page of your site, and it is exactly where people go when they are ready to act. They want your email, they want to know where you work, or they want to read how you handle their information before they send anything. A neglected footer makes them hunt. A sharp one does its job quietly on every page.
One thing up front: what follows are recommendations, not a legal checklist. A couple of points touch on rules that depend on how your practice is set up, and we flag those as we go. None of this is legal advice.
Seven things worth checking
Open your site on your phone, scroll to the very bottom of any page and work through these.
1. Who you are and what you do
One line does it. “Jane Smith, Counsellor in Leeds” or “Integrative psychotherapy, in person and online”. Someone who lands on a blog post straight from a search knows at once whose site they are on.
2. How to reach you
Email, phone if you take calls, and a link to your contact page. Make the phone number and email tappable, so nobody has to copy and paste on a small screen.
3. Where you work
Seeing clients in person? Give the town or area. Online only? Say it plainly: “Online sessions across the UK”.
Your home address does not need to go in the footer. Plenty of therapists who work from home give the area publicly and share the full address once a session is booked. What you may need to show depends on your business structure. If you trade as a limited company, GOV.UK says your website must show the company’s name, its registered number, its registered office address, where it is registered (England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland) and the fact that it is a limited company. Your registered office does not have to be your home. Sole traders and partnerships have different rules. And none of these details have to live in the footer: a clear About, Contact or Legal page can carry them.
4. Your professional register link, if applicable
“Registered member of BACP” or “UKCP registered psychotherapist” tells visitors which professional body you belong to. Go one step further and link that line to your current entry on the body’s public register, so anyone can check your registration for themselves in one click. Test the link every few months, because register addresses do change.
5. Your privacy notice
A “Privacy notice” link in the footer is where most people expect to find it. Open it and check it still describes how you actually work today: the forms you use, where your notes live, how long you keep them and which services handle data for you, such as your email or booking system.
If those documents need a refresh, TheraComply is our optional service for UK therapy practices. You answer guided questions and it drafts your privacy notice, cookie and retention policies, data protection statement and complaints procedure for you to review and publish on a policy page it hosts. It costs £24 a year including VAT, it is separate from your website package, and it is not legal advice.
6. The other policies people look for
Cookie settings, an accessibility statement, your cancellation policy, how to raise a concern. Link the ones you actually have. Skip the placeholders.
7. Where to get urgent help
Your website is not a crisis service, and one short footer line can say so clearly. Match each route to what it is for:
- In an emergency, or if someone’s life is at risk: call 999.
- Urgent help that is not an emergency, in England: use NHS 111 online or call 111. For urgent mental health help, choose the mental health option.
- Elsewhere in the UK: contact your local NHS urgent care service.
- Someone to talk to, day or night: Samaritans, free on 116 123.
If you do not reply to messages quickly, say that too, so nobody waits on your inbox when they need help now.
Strip these out
The whole menu again. A handful of useful links helps. Every page repeated in tiny text does not.
Walls of small print. Keep footer lines short. Anything longer gets its own page and a link.
Your fee list. Link to your fees page instead, so there is only one place to update when prices change.
Dead social icons. If your last post was years ago, remove the icon. A silent account makes people wonder whether you are still practising.
An old copyright year. “© 2019” on every page makes the whole site feel abandoned. Update it, or have it set to update itself.
Make the fix yourself
Footers drift because they feel fiddly to edit. On our websites you can update your content yourself at any time, with UK-based support when you want it. As one client wrote on our reviews page: “I also like the fact that the website is self updatable which gives me independence in changing contents if I need to very easily.”
Your ten-minute footer audit
- On your phone, open three pages: your homepage, your fees page and one blog post.
- Scroll to the bottom of each.
- Check you can see who you are, how to reach you, where you work, your professional register link (if applicable) and your privacy notice.
- Test every link and the phone number.
- Delete anything dead or out of date.
Book ten minutes for it this week. Already with us? Make the edits yourself, or get in touch if you would like a second pair of eyes. If your current site makes the footer a battle to change, tell us how you work and we will talk you through a new or rebuilt website.