Practice Clarity
Nine Principles for Building Trust Before Therapy Begins
Principle Six of Nine
The About Principle
People are not looking for your biography. They are looking for enough of you to imagine beginning therapy.
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The real About page question The About Principle Your story in service of theirs Common mistakes A simple structure Reflection Continue readingBy the time someone reaches your About page, something important has already happened.
The homepage has helped them decide that your practice may be relevant.
Your language has given them enough recognition to keep reading.
They now have a clearer sense of what the work could offer.
Attention naturally turns from the practice to the person behind it.
Now another quiet question appears.
Who is this therapist?
In this principle
## What you'll understand {#about-learning-title} - Why most therapist About pages become either too formal or too personal. - What prospective clients are really looking for. - Why your story should always serve the reader's decision. - How to sound human without oversharing. - A simple framework for creating a calm About page. - How the About page prepares the way for contact.The real About page question
A biography is not what people came for
It is easy to assume that an About page exists to answer one question.
“Who am I?”
But that is rarely the question the visitor is asking.
By the time they reach this page, they have usually already decided your work may be relevant.
Now they are wondering something much more personal.
“Can I imagine talking to this person?”
That question changes everything.
They may want to know your qualifications.
Your experience.
Your professional background.
Your approach.
Your values.
All of those things matter.
But underneath them sits a quieter assessment.
Do they seem calm?
Do they seem thoughtful?
Do they seem genuine?
Do they seem grounded?
Do they feel like someone who could understand me?
The About page is where those questions begin finding answers.
Not through performance.
Not through clever writing.
Through quiet clarity.
An About page carries a different responsibility
A homepage introduces the practice.
An About page introduces the person.
Those are not the same thing.
The homepage creates orientation.
The About page begins relationship.
Not the therapeutic relationship itself.
Just the possibility of one.
That is why writing an About page often feels surprisingly difficult.
It asks you to become visible without making yourself the centre of attention.
To feel human without oversharing.
To build trust without performing warmth.
To communicate confidence without sounding distant.
Finding that balance is the real work of an About page.
It is also why so many therapist About pages quietly miss the mark.
Some become professional biographies.
Others become personal memoirs.
Neither helps the visitor answer the question they actually arrived with.
“Could I imagine talking to this person?”
The About Principle
The page where trust becomes personal
For a long time I thought an About page existed to introduce the therapist.
That is partly true.
But eventually I realised something more interesting was happening.
People were not reading About pages because they wanted information.
They were reading because they wanted reassurance.
Not reassurance that the therapist had qualifications.
Or years of experience.
Or professional memberships.
Those things matter.
But they are rarely the reason someone chooses to make contact.
People read About pages because they are trying to answer a much quieter question.
“What would it feel like to meet this person?”
That question changes everything.
It means the About page is no longer simply descriptive.
It becomes relational.
The visitor is no longer evaluating a website.
They are beginning to imagine another human being.
Eventually I found myself describing that shift in one sentence.
That single observation changed how I approached every About page.
Not because therapists needed to reveal more.
Because they often needed to reveal less.
More thoughtfully.
Trust grows through humanity
Trust does not grow because someone knows every detail of your career.
Nor because they know where you studied.
Or every qualification you have collected.
Trust grows because the therapist begins to feel real.
Not overly familiar.
Not overly polished.
Simply real.
That distinction matters.
Professional credibility opens the possibility of trust.
Humanity deepens it.
Think about the therapists you have trusted most yourself.
It probably wasn’t because you knew their biography.
It was because something about their way of being felt grounded.
Calm.
Consistent.
Thoughtful.
Your About page should communicate those qualities.
Not by claiming them.
By quietly reflecting them.
Your story in service of theirs
The visitor is still the central character
One of the easiest mistakes to make is forgetting whose journey the website is describing.
The About page is about the therapist.
But it still exists for the visitor.
That distinction changes how everything is written.
Your story matters.
Your values matter.
Your approach matters.
Your experience matters.
But every one of those details should quietly help another person answer one question.
“Would this therapist be right for me?”
The About page is not an autobiography.
It is a bridge.
It connects the visitor’s uncertainty with the therapist’s humanity.
When that bridge becomes too focused on the therapist…
the visitor quietly disappears from the page.
Why your story matters
Some therapists respond by removing themselves almost entirely.
The page becomes little more than qualifications.
Professional memberships.
Training.
Modalities.
Insurance.
Everything is technically correct.
Yet nothing feels personal.
The opposite can happen too.
The About page becomes a memoir.
Long descriptions of childhood.
Personal healing journeys.
Family history.
Turning points.
Again, none of those things are automatically wrong.
But they can quietly shift the focus away from the person who is still deciding whether to ask for help.
The strongest About pages usually sit somewhere between those two extremes.
They reveal enough.
Without asking the visitor to hold unnecessary detail.
They communicate personality.
Without becoming performative.
They explain values.
Without becoming philosophical essays.
That balance is surprisingly difficult.
It is also where trust often begins.
Values communicate more than facts
Facts matter.
People often want to know:
- your qualifications
- your experience
- your memberships
- your approach
- where you work
Those are important.
But facts rarely become memorable on their own.
Values do.
Not values listed as bullet points.
Values demonstrated through the way you write.
Someone finishes reading your About page and thinks:
“This therapist seems thoughtful.”
Or:
“They seem calm.”
Or:
“They seem to understand complexity.”
Those impressions usually matter more than whether you completed a particular training course in 2018.
Facts establish credibility.
Values establish relationship.
The best About pages communicate both.
What people remember
Very few prospective clients finish reading an About page remembering every detail.
They rarely remember:
- every qualification
- every certificate
- every professional organisation
- every training course
What they remember is much simpler.
How the therapist felt.
Calm.
Warm.
Thoughtful.
Grounded.
Gentle.
Clear.
Those impressions are not created by trying to sound warm.
They emerge naturally when the page reflects genuine clarity.
The Mirror Principle taught us that websites reflect understanding.
The About Principle extends that idea.
An About page reflects the person behind the understanding.
Not perfectly.
Not completely.
Simply honestly enough for somebody to imagine beginning a conversation.
Common About page mistakes
1. Writing a CV instead of an introduction
Many therapist About pages begin like this:
“I qualified in…”
“I hold a diploma in…”
“I am accredited by…”
“I have completed training in…”
None of that is wrong.
Eventually, most visitors will want to know those things.
But they rarely arrive on your About page looking for qualifications first.
They are looking for the person behind them.
Professional credibility matters.
Human connection usually matters first.
Qualifications answer:
“Can this person practise?”
The About page should also answer:
“Could I imagine talking to them?”
Those are different questions.
The strongest About pages answer both.
2. Trying to sound professional
Professionalism matters.
But professionalism and formality are not the same thing.
Some About pages become so formal that the therapist almost disappears.
Everything is technically correct.
Everything sounds appropriate.
Yet nothing feels human.
The visitor finishes reading without any real sense of the person behind the words.
That is not because the therapist lacks warmth.
It is because the writing has quietly hidden it.
A therapist does not need to become informal.
They simply need to sound like themselves.
Clear.
Thoughtful.
Grounded.
Professional.
Human.
Those qualities happily exist together.
3. Oversharing personal history
The opposite problem is becoming too personal.
Some About pages begin describing:
childhood experiences…
family history…
their own therapy…
major life events…
or detailed personal struggles.
Again, none of those things are automatically inappropriate.
Sometimes they genuinely help.
The question is never:
“Is this true?”
The better question is:
“Does this help the visitor decide whether working together feels right?”
That single question quietly changes what belongs.
An About page is not a memoir.
It is not a confessional.
It is not a personal blog.
Its purpose is to reduce uncertainty for someone considering therapy.
Everything else is secondary.
4. Speaking only about yourself
It sounds obvious.
It is an About page.
Of course it should be about you.
But the strongest About pages continue speaking to the visitor.
Not constantly.
Just often enough to remind them why they are reading.
Instead of saying:
“I believe therapy is…”
You might gently connect that belief to the client’s experience.
Instead of describing your philosophy in isolation…
show how that philosophy shapes the experience of working together.
The visitor is still quietly asking:
“What will this mean for me?”
A thoughtful About page keeps answering that question.
5. Trying to become memorable
Some About pages try very hard to stand out.
A surprising opening.
An unusual anecdote.
A dramatic personal story.
A clever metaphor.
Occasionally these work.
Often they distract.
People rarely remember therapists because they were entertaining.
They remember therapists because they felt genuine.
Clarity lasts longer than cleverness.
Authenticity lasts longer than novelty.
The goal is not to become unforgettable.
It is to become believable.
A simple About page structure
Your About page only needs a few things
Like every other principle in Practice Clarity, simplicity usually creates more trust than complexity.
A calm About page often answers just five questions.
Notice what is missing.
There is no requirement to explain everything.
No pressure to justify every decision.
No expectation that someone should know your whole story.
The About page exists to introduce the therapist.
Not exhaustively.
Just honestly enough.
The About page belongs inside the wider journey
One reason many About pages struggle is because they are expected to carry too much responsibility.
They don’t have to.
The homepage has already created orientation.
Recognition has already begun.
Trust has already started forming.
The About page simply deepens those experiences.
It does not start from zero.
That is why every page in Practice Clarity has one primary responsibility.
The homepage helps someone feel they are in the right place.
The About page helps them imagine the relationship.
Service pages deepen understanding.
Fee pages reduce practical uncertainty.
The contact page removes friction.
When each page performs one clear role…
the website becomes remarkably calm.
The About page in the wider journey
The questions continue becoming more personal
Notice how the Practice Clarity journey keeps evolving.
The Mirror Principle asked:
“What is your website reflecting?”
The Waiting Room Principle asked:
“Can the right people discover it?”
The Threshold Principle asked:
“Do they feel safe enough to stay?”
The Recognition Principle asked:
“Do they recognise themselves?”
The Homepage Principle asked:
“Am I in the right place?”
Now the About Principle asks:
“Who is this therapist?”
Each question becomes a little more personal.
A little more relational.
A little closer to the experience of therapy itself.
The About page is where the practice begins feeling human.
Not because it contains personal stories.
Because it allows the therapist’s way of being to become quietly visible.
That naturally prepares the next principle.
Once someone feels they know the therapist…
another question appears.
“Why does the website suddenly feel so easy to use?”
That is where the Simplicity Principle begins.
Reflection
Estimated reflection time: 5 minutes
Before moving on, spend a few quiet minutes with these questions.
Don’t worry about finding perfect answers.
Simply notice what your current About page is communicating.
If you remember one thing
About this principle
The About Principle emerged from watching how prospective clients actually use therapist websites.
Most people do not begin with the About page.
They arrive there after something else has already happened.
They have found the website.
They have stayed.
They have recognised something of themselves.
They have begun to feel they may be in the right place.
Only then do they quietly wonder:
“Who is this therapist?”
That question completely changes the purpose of an About page.
It is no longer a biography.
It is not a CV.
It is not a life story.
It becomes the page where a visitor imagines what it might feel like to sit across from another human being.
The strongest About pages rarely reveal everything.
They reveal enough.
Enough honesty.
Enough clarity.
Enough humanity.
Enough consistency.
Enough that beginning therapy no longer feels like stepping into the unknown.
That is all the page ever needed to do.
The Practice Clarity Framework
Each principle builds naturally upon the last.
From principle to practice
Turn this thinking into one clear professional foundation.
Practice Clarity + Website applies the framework to your positioning, language, professional identity and website.
