A gentle start to the year
Hello everyone,
I hope this finds you keeping well. I also hope you managed to have some kind of break over the Christmas period – although I know it probably already feels a long time ago now.
As we move through the start of the year, I’m very aware that this can bring up all sorts of feelings. Hope, uncertainty, motivation, dread – often shaped by how our private practice is going at that particular moment. It’s so easy to overlook what is working and focus instead on the numbers: income, enquiries, client hours.
Private practice: where are you right now?
I find myself wondering where each of you might be – years into practice, a year in, or perhaps just starting out. One thing I’ve noticed recently is a shared concern among therapists about directories not funnelling clients in the way they once did. I’ve noticed the same shift in my own practice.
What has changed for me is where enquiries are coming from. Increasingly, they’re arriving via Google and AI tools. Love them or hate them, these are now part of how people search for support – and they can be used ethically and thoughtfully.
Even if you’d rather ignore AI altogether (which I know many people do), I wouldn’t ignore search engines. They remain one of the main ways potential clients find their way to your website.
One simple thing you might consider focusing on in February is SEO – Search Engine Optimisation. Despite the name, it doesn’t need to be technical or overwhelming. It simply means making it easier for the right people to find you online.
I’ve included a few gentle ideas in the Practice Tips section below, and I hope they feel accessible and useful.
Your creativity
I really love being able to support other therapists, and when I spotted one of our members sharing something they’d created in a counselling group recently, I immediately wanted to pass it on to you.
Emma, has created a guided Reflective Supervision Journal, designed to support counsellors and psychotherapists in supervision and reflective practice. With thoughtful prompts throughout, it integrates learning, reflection, emotional processing, and burnout-aware practice in a way that feels both structured and genuinely supportive.
It includes monthly supervision templates, reflection prompts, goal-setting pages, and space to track session hours. I think it’s a brilliant idea – you can buy Emma's Journal using the link below – a way to support both yourself and another therapist at the same time.
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If you have a resource you’d like me to share in a future newsletter, please do email me – I’d love to hear about it ❤️
As ever, thank you for being part of The Therapy Exchange 🌿
Do keep reading – there’s more below that I hope you’ll find useful.
Warm wishes,
​Anne (she/her) 🌿
🌿 What’s new in The Therapy Exchange!
I’ll be sharing more details and setting up the sign-up option very soon. In the meantime, if you don’t already know them, you can take a look at what they provide here:
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Discounted CPD with Onlinevents 🎉
I’ve got some really exciting news to share with you.
I’ve been working behind the scenes on a collaboration with Onlinevents, and I’m delighted to say that Therapy Exchange members will soon have access to discounted CPD. CPD is essential, but it can be costly and time-consuming to source. Onlinevents brings a wide range of training together in one place, making it much easier to stay engaged and up to date.
They’ve been really supportive of what we’re building at The Therapy Exchange and are happy to offer an exclusive membership discount just for our members.
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đź’Ş Practice Tips
Improving your SEO (without it feeling overwhelming)
So – that SEO I mentioned earlier. Here are a couple of gentle, doable ways to improve it and help people find your website.
🌿 Add a blog (if you have a website)
​Writing even one helpful article can make a difference. A good place to start is with questions clients already ask you, such as “How therapy can help with anxiety” or “What to expect from counselling.” You don’t need to write loads – around 600–800 words is plenty. Search engines tend to favour clear, helpful content written by real people.
🌿 Update your page title and meta description
​If that sounds confusing, don’t panic – this is much simpler than it sounds.
Your page title and meta description are the bits of text people see on Google before they click your site. The title is the clickable headline; the meta description is the short sentence underneath. Think of them as a heading and sub-heading.
For example:
Title: Online Anxiety Therapy for Adults | Cambridge & UK
​Meta description: Compassionate online therapy for anxiety and overwhelm. Supporting adults across the UK. Book a free consultation.
Search engines work like a library – when someone makes an online search, it’s like asking the librarian to find something for them, the librarian goes off and looks for it, and search engines like Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo do the same – trawling over the internet to find these headings and a sub headings to link up to people’s searches – they’re looking for good matches. If you work with grief, ADHD, trauma, or relationships, those key words need to appear in your page titles and descriptions. Most website platforms allow you to edit these easily – and small changes really can improve how findable you are.
đź“š What I'm reading
One book that’s been sitting patiently on my shelf is Already Enough: A Path to Self-Acceptance by Lisa Olivera. Already Enough: A Path to Self-Acceptance by fellow therapist Lisa Olivera is her memoir-driven, self-help book, focused on healing, self-love, and overcoming limiting narratives. Combining her personal story of being abandoned at birth with therapeutic insights, Lisa guides readers to rewrite the stories they tell themselves, fostering a belief that they are inherently worthy and enough.
I’m hoping February will finally be the month I make time to read it.
Psst. Does anyone else find it harder these days to sit down with an actual book?
That's all for now folks!
👩‍💻 If you have anything you would like me to include in the newsletter, whether it's an idea for the newsletter, a book, a top tip, some great CPD you're aware of, or a resource you've made or use that you love, drop me a line at anne@annelewistherapy.co.uk.
P.S. If you’d like to invite a therapist friend to join The Therapy Exchange 🌿 you’ll receive one month free when they join and they’ll get 15% off the membership fee for as long as they remain a member 🎉 Just email me and I’ll set it up for you both.
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