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Healthcare · Industry Playbook

Therapist / Mental Health Provider biography playbook

Who you help, what you trained in, and how you work.

What the reader is hiring this bio to do

Prospective clients reach for a therapist's bio in a state of vulnerability. They are evaluating fit, approach, and safety. The bio that performs best speaks in the second person and names the difficulty without flinching.

Credibility signals to include

  • Licensure: state and license type (LCSW, LMFT, LPC, PsyD, PhD).
  • Populations served: adults, couples, adolescents, trauma survivors, LGBTQ+ clients.
  • Modalities practiced: CBT, EMDR, IFS, psychodynamic, somatic, narrative.
  • Training pedigree and supervision lineage where relevant.
  • Fees, insurance, and tele-therapy availability.

Avoid in this industry

  • Listing modalities you took one weekend workshop in.
  • Promises of outcomes ('we will resolve your anxiety together').
  • Cliché stock language ('safe space', 'judgment-free zone') in place of substance.
  • Refusing to name fees or sliding scale practice.

Structure

Preferred structure for the bio

A reliable order that performs in this field. Adjust to the venue.

  1. 1Greeting sentence in second person.
  2. 2Populations served and the difficulties you have depth in.
  3. 3Your training and approach.
  4. 4What a first session is like and how to book.
  5. 5Fees, insurance, and modality (in person, hybrid, online).

Tone

How this industry's bios should sound

Warm, plain, and honest. The reader is making a vulnerable decision. Restraint and specificity build more trust than reassurance does.

Lengths

Recommended lengths by venue

Practice website bio200 - 350 words
Psychology Today profile150 - 300 words
Speaking / training bio80 - 120 words

Openings

Opening formulas that work in this field

Second-Person Open

Address the reader directly with the difficulty they are bringing.

You are looking for a therapist because something feels stuck — in a relationship, in your work, or inside you — and you want a thinking partner who will be steady and direct.

Worked examples

One hundred words. Fifty words.

100-word example

You are looking for a therapist because something feels stuck — in a relationship, in your work, or in the steady ache that has settled into your week. I am a licensed clinical psychologist in California, in practice for twelve years, working primarily with adults in their thirties and forties on anxiety, depression, and the patterns that develop after long stretches of high-functioning overwhelm. I work in an integrative psychodynamic frame and am EMDR-certified for trauma. Sessions are 50 minutes, $260, and I am out of network for insurance with superbills provided. First sessions are by request at hello@drmichellebrooks.com.

50-word example

I am a California-licensed clinical psychologist (PsyD) in practice twelve years, working with adults in their 30s-40s on anxiety, depression, and high-functioning burnout patterns. Integrative psychodynamic and EMDR-certified. Sessions: 50 minutes, $260, out-of-network with superbills. hello@drmichellebrooks.com.

Vocabulary

Words to reach for — and words to handle with care

Words to reach for
work withtrained inspecialize inseehelp withlicensed inin practice forsessions are
Handle with care
safe spacejudgment-free zonetransformative journeyheal your inner childguaranteeunstuck

Cross-references

Frameworks and voices this playbook pairs with

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