What should therapists NOT put on their websites?

Based on my investigations of last night and today, therapists should NOT put on their websites:

- quotes from Harry Potter, unless their main clientele is children

- baby/childhood pictures of themselves

- any sentence that involves a phrase like "I was fated to become a therapist"

Feel free to add.

Now I want to go look at mine's profile to see if she's changed it lately.

ETA: nope, she hasn't changed it since June. Nothing in there bothers me.

I would hate to see anything that involves saying how trustworthy they are.

I am not a big fan of woo woo chakra stuff (although I don't mind doing some of it-I hate reading it or having it talked at me in that manner) or long hippy beads and flowers woven into hair.
Pictures of oceans/lakes/woods/sunsets/sunrises = I find that manipulative.
Crazy talk about change and alliance and the beauty of the relationship

yeah, the woo woo chakra stuff - at the time I first called my t, if her profile had had any of that on there, I would probably not have called her. Not that I don't believe in some of it and practice it myself because I do, but having it all over her profile would have scared me off. I wanted a licensed professional. As it was, the first session when she told me "find your feet" I thought she was kooky. The way our mutual interest in some of the 'woo woo' stuff came out gradually through many sessions was much better. And, incidentally "find your feet" has proven over and over again to be invaluable in getting me out of my head.

Oh and what you said also sd about "alliance and the beauty of the relationship" - again, 2 things that I really really appreciate now, but if that had been on her profile, I would have been scared off by that too.

Nothing I've come across remotely measures up to seeing kid pictures on therapists' websites. Until something better comes along, I say that's in a class of its own.

I'd like to not see any sentence that starts with "You are...." (E.g. "You are looking for blah blah"; "You are anxious / depressed blah blah"). If a T has generic rubbish about an amorphous, hypothetical, faceless "You" glob, that tells me everything I need to know about how they look (or don't rather) at clients.

At a slightly lower level of peevishness: I'd like to not see crap like "Clients tell me I am / my approach is warm blah blah". If you really have to advertise like that.....

A photo of the therapist where they look completely nuts (hope that's an OK term to use here!) Seriously, a couple I looked at when hunting for a possible new T, their profile picture had total crazy eyes and smile. Like, if that's what you picked for your profile photo, how are you in real life? Oh, and one I saw with totally '80s hair and fashion that looked like, from photo quality, it was taken back then, too. Update your photo once in a while! Still, that's not nearly the level of including childhood photos...

In question form "You are..." is even more irritating: "Are you...do you feel...?"

Pet photos are super manipulative.

A lot of these are things on No. 1's website. And she also had a photo of her and husband in matching sweaters at Christmastime.

Neither of the therapists I have seen have websites so I have no idea. I am not sure I would trust a website, personally. It is an advertisement that is made to make them look like the best. Ads rarely tell the complete truth.

I can totally see how such woolly harmonic bliss might be appealing.

Claims that they will help you overcome this or that. There are no guarantees.

I chose "other" in the most useful poll because I use the website to look at education, phone number and directions.

Oh no! I think i have been permanently disinvited from family holidays because i cant hide my captain picard raised eyebrow when i encounter such sights!

Altho i love when t and i "accidentally" wear matching outfits. Seeings how our favorite clothes are jeans with a black t or sweater, its not really hard to do but i think its something people should do in private, like flossing.

That reminds me of my favorite therapy moment - when I went in dressed in black from head to toe to make fun of her for always dressing in black. the look on her face - priceless! T: "Are you making fun of me?" Me: "Probably."

(And yet here we still are, 4 years later.)

Maybe they can't help it because they are soul-mates?

I am tired. I got growlycat's post and yours mixed up and thought your therapist had a photo of herself and her pet in matching Christmas sweaters.

Well, actually the dog is in the same photo, just not wearing a sweater.

And who's to say what kind of treatment she gives her husband?

I get turned off by poor design and formatting. It's painful to the eye.

I hate it when they humblebrag about qualities clients have assigned to them (good listener, compassionate). And I don't trust a therapist who doesn't post a picture or one who lists every mental/emotional condition known to humankind as an area of expertise.

It was super depressing to hunt through entries on good therapy. I could not get past how so many of them describe themselves. One said she could treat trauma in 4 sessions, but that depression would take longer, like up to 10 sessions. She had a lot of humblebrags about things "people tell me" about how wonderful she is.

I'm really curious about the Harry Potter quote though.

Yeah. Some therapist websites read like late night TV infomercials.

Had to go through my history to find it again - "It is our choices that show what we are far more than our abilities." From Chamber of Secrets.

I don't know enough Potter to know the context, but it sounds like something Dumbledore would say.

Harry's expressing doubts about his identity--the Sorting Hat told him he'd make a fine Slytherin.

I dislike glitzy, dazzly web effects. It looks like they may be earning too much and paying too much to a web designer. I also dislike bad quality websites that don't meet basic web standards to work functionally with modern browsers, like forms to make an appointment that don't work properly. This suggests to me that either they don't earn enough to find a competent way of getting a website up, that they don't believe they need to respect the standards of another profession, or that they don't have the where-with-all to figure out how to work with someone from another professional field.

Therapists over here don't really have websites. Maybe a contact number, and what they specialize in. But nothing like you. describe.
Therapy in the usa all feels a bit 'Alice in Wonderlandish'. From what I read on here.

This one seems fairly similar to the psychology today therapist list:

Counselling in London - Counselling Directory

And private websites from the therapists on that site seem about the same as those I have usually seen:
<meta name="keywords" content="Psychotherapy, Counselling, Individual counselling, Couples' counselling, life coaching, discreet service for professional musicians"><title>About Therapy - Miranda Jackson - accredited Psychotherapist

Psychotherapy & Counselling|James Caspian

Counselling in Southfields, anger management, relationship, low self esteem counselling Wandsworth, Wimbledon, Fulham, Putney, Earlsfield, Parsons Green, London.

Deborah Holder Therapy

Areas of Work - Julian Samiloff, Counsellor & Psychotherapist Julian Samiloff, Counsellor & Psychotherapist