Advertising works for therapists in specific situations: filling a training cohort or intensive by a deadline, launching in a new area, or promoting a group with fixed start dates. It's usually the wrong first move for filling a general caseload — organic local search converts better and costs nothing per click. Realistic UK numbers: Meta ads management from £100 a month plus £150–£300 of test spend; therapy-related search terms on Google can cost £1–£4 per click. The non-negotiable: ads for therapy must never use fear, scarcity or outcome promises — the same professional-body standards that govern the rest of your marketing apply, and then some.
The one question that decides everything
Before platform, budget or targeting, ask: does this campaign have a deadline and a defined thing to fill? Ads are a tap — you pay, attention flows, you stop paying, it stops. That mechanics suits time-boxed goals: a training cohort starting in November, an eight-week group, an intensive with four places, a practice opening in a new town. It suits them brilliantly.
What it suits poorly is the open-ended goal of 'more clients, generally'. For that, a person searching 'therapist near me' on Google — already looking, already local — will convert better than anyone you interrupt on Instagram, and your Google Business Profile reaches them without a per-click fee. Fix the free channels first; rent attention second.
Meta or Google? Different tools for different jobs
Meta (Facebook & Instagram) — demand creation
Meta finds people who weren't searching but fit a profile — clinicians for your EMDR training, adults in your city for your new group. It's the stronger platform for launches and cohort-filling, and the cheaper one per thousand eyes. The catch: Meta classes many mental-health-adjacent topics as sensitive, which limits targeting options, and interrupted audiences need warming — expect the ad to start a journey, not finish one.
Google Ads — demand capture
Google reaches people at the moment of intent, which is why therapy-related search clicks cost real money — typically £1–£4 in the UK depending on the term and city, against an all-industry average around £2. For a private practice, that maths only works if your website converts well; for training providers, terms like 'EMDR training UK' can be excellent because one enrolment is worth hundreds of pounds. Either way, the landing page does half the work — send clicks to a page built for the campaign, never your homepage.
What it actually costs
- —Management: ours starts at £100 a month, scaling with campaign complexity to £250 and £500 tiers. Ad spend is always separate and always yours.
- —Test spend: £150–£300 a month is the realistic minimum to learn anything on Meta. Below that, the data arrives too slowly to act on.
- —Cohort launches: training providers typically concentrate £500–£1,500 across a 4–8 week window before an intake — a burst, not a drip.
- —The trap: £50 a month forever. It's enough to feel active and too little to ever conclude anything. Run a real test, read the answer, then commit or stop.
The ethical lines — not optional, and not a disadvantage
Advertising to people who may be in distress carries obligations that generic ad agencies simply don't know about. The same BACP, UKCP and HCPC expectations that govern your website govern your ads, and the ASA's rules apply to every claim.
- —No fear-led creative — 'left untreated, anxiety gets worse' is both clinically irresponsible and a breach waiting to happen.
- —No manufactured urgency for therapy itself. Real deadlines (a course start date) are fine to state; fake scarcity is not.
- —No outcome promises. 'Feel better in six sessions' is a claim you cannot substantiate to ASA standards.
- —Extreme care with remarketing. Following someone around the internet after they visited a trauma therapy page is a privacy harm even where it's technically possible. We don't do it for clinical services.
- —Landing pages count as part of the ad. A compliant ad pointing at a page full of scarcity timers fails the same standards.
The constraint is the advantage. Therapy clients and clinicians alike can smell aggressive advertising a mile away — the practices that advertise calmly and honestly convert better precisely because everyone else in the ad auction is shouting.
Adam Watters, Founder, Psyche Creative
When we'd tell you not to advertise
- —Your website doesn't convert visitors you already get — ads amplify a system, they can't repair one. Fix the site first.
- —Your Google Business Profile is incomplete — the free channel is outperforming your paid one before you've spent a pound.
- —The budget only stretches to a token amount for a general goal with no deadline.
- —You're full, with a waiting list. Spend the money on email and content that deepens the specialism instead.
If the goal is a cohort or intensive with a date on it, that's the strongest case for ads we know — and we've written up the full launch playbook. Read: Filling Therapy Intensives →
And if you want a straight answer on whether ads are right for your situation before spending anything, that's a free call — we'll say no when it's no. See our Advertising service →
Adam works with UK therapy practices, EMDR trainers and mental health organisations on websites, social media and digital campaigns. He started Psyche Creative to give clinicians a marketing partner who understands the sector — and won't compromise on professional standards to get results.
