Ethical, Private Website Design for Psychotherapists & Counsellors
The "Digital Therapeutic Alliance"
For a therapist, a website is not a sales tool; it is the first step in building a therapeutic relationship. Clients searching for help in Dublin are often vulnerable. If your website is slow or looks like a generic sales funnel, that crucial first bond of trust is broken. You need a digital presence that conveys safety, empathy, and absolute professionalism.
Privacy by Design (GDPR & Ethics)
Privacy is an ethical matter, not a checkbox. We build "Clean Static Sites" with zero tracking cookies and encrypted forms, so there is less for you to justify against your own body's code of ethics.
No Tracking Cookies
We respect your client's anonymity. No Google Analytics tracking them around the web.
Zero Data Retention
Contact forms are encrypted and do not store sensitive health data on the server.
Low Cost, Zero Maintenance
From €0 upfront and €50 a month, or €599 once to own it outright. No plugins to update either way.
Start Your Online Practice
Get a quote for a website that reflects your values.
Prefer to chat?
WhatsApp UsHow do clients actually find a therapist in Ireland?
Very few people search "psychotherapist". They search the thing that is wrong. "Can't stop worrying", "counselling after a bereavement", "anxiety therapist Dublin 6", "does couples counselling work". By the time somebody types the word therapist they have usually been circling the decision for weeks.
There are three routes in, and they behave differently. Some arrive through a directory listing. Some are referred by a GP or a friend and then look you up by name. Some find you cold, through a search for their symptom. All three end in the same place: your website, read carefully, usually late in the evening, often more than once before anyone makes contact.
That reading is the work your site has to do. Not persuasion — a client considering therapy does not need to be sold. They need to know you are properly accredited, that you have worked with what they are carrying, what the room and the fee are like, and that getting in touch will not commit them to anything. If your site does not answer those four things, they keep looking. We cover the search side in more depth on why your business is not showing up on Google.
Do I need my own website if I'm listed on a directory?
Directory listings are worth keeping. They are a real source of referrals and being findable in your accrediting body's register is reassuring in a way nothing on your own site can be. But a listing is a paragraph in a page of other practitioners, and every client who reads it is one click from somebody else.
A directory profile cannot hold a page about the way you work with trauma. It cannot carry a piece you wrote on what the first session is like. It ranks for the directory's name, not yours, and it stops existing the moment you stop paying. What it does well is put you in front of someone who is already deciding — which is exactly the point at which they will search your name to see what else there is.
So the two are not alternatives. The listing gets you seen; your own pages are where a client stops comparing and starts reading. That is the same reason we tell every small Irish business not to build their practice entirely on somebody else's platform. Related practice sites we build: private consultants and GP practices.
What should be on a counselling website?
Six pieces of information, written plainly. Almost every hesitation before a first appointment is one of these gone unanswered.
Your accreditation, stated plainly
Which body you are accredited with and your membership number. It is the first thing a careful client looks for and the first thing a GP checks before referring.
What you actually work with
Anxiety, bereavement, trauma, couples, adolescents. Clients search for their problem, not for the word therapy. Name your areas in the words they would use.
How the first session works
Length, cost, what happens in the room, whether they can bring notes. Most of the fear before a first appointment is fear of the unknown mechanics.
Your fee and any reduced rate
Publishing the fee is not commercial pressure — it is the question a client is most embarrassed to ask. Say it, along with how a concession rate is arranged if you offer one.
Where you are, and whether you work online
The area, whether there is parking or a bus route, and how a discreet arrival works. Say clearly if you offer online sessions and to which regions.
One low-pressure way to make contact
A short form or a direct email, with a line about when you reply. No live chat, no callback pop-up, nothing that feels like it is chasing them.
Is it a problem to have Google Analytics on a therapy website?
Think about what the visit itself reveals. Somebody reading your page on obsessive thoughts at eleven at night has disclosed something about their health simply by being there. A standard analytics install records that visit against a persistent identifier, and an advertising pixel can make it the basis for retargeting — which is how a client ends up seeing counselling ads on their phone in front of their family.
Whether a given setup is lawful depends on your configuration, your consent notice and your retention practice, and that is a question for your own advice and current Data Protection Commission guidance rather than something we would assert. What we can say is that the risk is easiest to manage by not creating it. A site with no tracking cookies, no pixels and no third-party embeds has nothing to disclose, needs no cookie banner, and gives a client nothing to find in their browser afterwards.
The same logic runs through the enquiry form. We keep it to a name, one contact detail and a short message, send it over an encrypted connection straight to you, and do not keep a copy in a database. If a client wants to describe why they are getting in touch, they can do it with you, not into a web form. Because the whole site is static files rather than a CMS with plugins, there is also far less of it to be broken into — you can test any existing site with our free speed and health test.
How do I write about my practice without overstepping?
Accredited practitioners work under a code of ethics, and how you describe yourself in public falls within it. The safe ground is factual and specific: what you trained in and where, what you are accredited to do, the modalities you work in, the presentations you have experience of, how sessions and supervision are arranged. That reads as competence, which is what a client is looking for.
What we leave out is anything that promises a result — no recovery timelines, no "proven" methods, no claims to be the best or the leading practitioner in a county, no client testimonials. Soliciting a testimonial from someone you have treated is ethically fraught, and we neither write nor invent them. We also avoid urgency: no countdowns, no limited-availability banners. Nobody should feel hurried into asking for help.
Codes and any statutory requirements change, and yours may differ from a colleague's depending on the body you are accredited with. So take the copy we draft and check it against your own body's current code before it goes live — we will change any wording you are not comfortable with, no argument. We hold to the same restraint on our own pricing page: state the facts, let people decide.
What does it cost?
Published prices, nothing to chase. We build your homepage design first — you pay nothing until you approve it.
Most popular
Starter
€0 upfront
then €70€50/monthAutumn offerPay it over 12 monthsEnquire before 1 November. New customers pay €70/month from that date.
5-page site, hosting, domain, SSL, security, one content update a month and Google Business Profile setup. 12 monthly payments, then €15/mo optional.
Own it outright
Own It
€849€599 onceAutumn offerEnquire before 1 November. The price is €849 from that date.
Free hosting year 1, then €15/mo
The same 5-page site, yours outright. Care plan covers hosting, domain and small edits, month-to-month with no minimum term.
Blog & more pages
Bigger Brochure
€1,199€900 fromAutumn offerEnquire before 1 November. The starting price is €1,199 from that date.
one-off, optional care plan
Up to 10 pages with a blog for psychoeducational writing, enquiry forms and local SEO basics.
Online payment, a secure client area or a booking calendar tied to your diary are custom work, quoted from €1,500 plus €125/month. Full detail on our pricing page.
What Our Clients Say
"Their support is fast, reliable, and always helpful. A fantastic team for any web project!"
ICPF Ireland
Trustpilot
"Transparent in pricing and kept me informed every step of the way. Quality exceeded expectations."
Benjamin Holbrook
Trustpilot
"The entire process was seamless and extremely professional, surpassing my expectations."
Aidan Mangan
Trustpilot
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a therapist website cost in Ireland?
Our Starter plan is €0 upfront and €50 a month: a five-page site with hosting, domain, SSL, security, one content update a month and Google Business Profile setup, for 12 monthly payments — then it's yours. If you would rather own the site outright it is €599 once, with the first year of hosting included free and an optional €15/month after that, no minimum term. A larger site with a blog and forms is the Bigger Brochure plan, from €900. See the pricing page for the full picture.
Can I have a website with no tracking cookies at all?
Yes, and it is our default for practices. No Google Analytics, no advertising pixels, no embedded third-party widgets that set cookies. That means no cookie banner to click past and nothing following a client around the web after they visit. If you want to know how many people are visiting, we can use aggregate, cookie-free statistics that never identify an individual.
What about GDPR and client enquiries?
Anything a client tells you about their health is sensitive personal data, so the safest design is to collect as little of it as possible. We keep the enquiry form to name, contact detail and a short message, submit it over an encrypted connection and send it straight to you rather than storing a copy. You remain the data controller, so your privacy notice and retention practice should be reviewed against your own body's guidance and current Data Protection Commission advice.
Am I allowed to advertise my practice?
Accredited practitioners in Ireland work under their body's code of ethics, and those codes generally set expectations about how you present yourself and your qualifications. We write copy that is factual and restrained — what you are trained in, what you work with, how sessions run — and avoid outcome promises or comparisons with other practitioners. Before you publish, check the wording against the current code of the body you are accredited with, and against any statutory requirements that apply to you.
Can I include client testimonials?
We advise against it, and most codes of ethics treat soliciting testimonials from clients as ethically difficult given the power imbalance and the confidentiality involved. We do not write or invent them either. Trust on a therapy website comes from your accreditation, your training and clear writing about your approach — which works better anyway.
Should I write a blog?
It is the single most effective thing a private practice can do for search, because clients search their symptoms long before they search for a therapist. A plainly written piece on what a panic attack feels like, or on what to expect from bereavement counselling, reaches people at the point they are still working out whether to ask for help. Keep it psychoeducational rather than diagnostic, and it is on our Bigger Brochure plan as standard.
Can clients book and pay online?
They can, but consider whether you want them to. Many practitioners prefer a first conversation before a slot is held, because an initial phone call is part of the assessment. If you do want it, a booking calendar sits on the Bigger Brochure plan and online payment or a client area is custom work, quoted from €1,500 plus €125/month.
Why is my practice not showing up on Google?
Usually because the site never names the town it is in or the areas of work in the words clients type, and often because the Google Business Profile was never claimed. Both are fixable. We list the common causes on this page.
Related guides
- Private consultant websites
Consultants in private practice face the same referral-and-self-referral mix you do, and the same question of how much clinical detail belongs on a public page.
- Online appointment booking
If you are losing initial enquiries to phone tag, this covers how booking works on a practice site and what it means for GDPR when the client is disclosing a health condition.
- Affordable web design
A private practice rarely wants an agency retainer — this is the €50/month route, with what it does and does not include set out plainly.