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Plain guides

Guides

Short, plain pieces about what therapy involves, what the letters after a name mean, and how to choose someone. General information, not advice about your situation.

Guide · 3 minWhat an LCPC is, and why most states call it something else

LCPC stands for Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, a state-issued clinical counseling license that goes by different letters in different states.

Guide · 4 minLCPC, LPC, LCSW, LMFT: what the differences actually are

Plain, state-by-state meanings of LCPC, LPC, LCSW and LMFT and how to check a therapist's licence and NPI.

Guide · 4 minWhy the state on a profile matters for online therapy

The state on a therapist profile shows where they are licensed to work with people who are physically located in that state.

Guide · 3 minHow to check a licence and an NPI yourself

How to check the licence number and NPI on a therapist profile using state board and NPI searches.

Guide · 4 minHow to choose between two therapists who look the same

A quick, practical way to compare two similar therapist profiles and decide which to try first.

Guide · 3 minThe approaches you will see listed, in plain words

Plain descriptions of common therapy approaches, what the labels mean, and how to check a therapist’s profile.

Guide · 4 minWhat a first session is actually like

A clear, practical guide to what happens in a first online session and how to prepare for it.

Compliance review

Numbered elements are the compliance-relevant zones present on every page of this type across all directory sites in the network.

1

Affiliate disclosure bar

Renders between the header and main content on every category, combo, and therapist profile page. Wording is shared verbatim across all sites. Two variants — "category" (affiliate-listing pages, verbatim: "The therapy listings are provided by BetterHelp and we may earn a commission if you use our link - At no cost to you.") and "default" (general editorial pages). Hidden on the homepage, Privacy, Terms, and Contact.

2

General BetterHelp CTA

"Get 20% Off Your First Month of Online Therapy". Rendered on page 1 of every category template in two slots — after the therapist grid and after the contentful body. Link uses rel="noopener noreferrer sponsored" and opens in a new tab. Discount code fhn20 auto-applies on BetterHelp's landing page.

3

Per-therapist affiliate CTA

Profile-page primary action. Each therapist has a pre-computed URL of the form hasofferstracking.betterhelp.com/aff_c?offer_id=2&aff_id=4566&source={therapistId}&url_id=40, so BetterHelp attributes the click to the specific profile. rel="noopener noreferrer sponsored", opens in a new tab. The disclosure bar is always above the fold on profile pages.

4

Footer

Every page links to Privacy Policy and Terms. Both pages disclose the affiliate relationship with BetterHelp in body copy, including that we may earn a commission at no additional cost to the user.

Also enforced

Prohibited terms — secure, confidential, private (platform context) — filtered from all AI-rewritten bios and category content.
Regional terminology applied per site locale: US uses "Licensed therapist"; UK/AU use "Therapist"/"Therapist"; Canada never uses "Licensed".
Titles, H1s, and breadcrumbs are deterministic templates — not AI-generated — so compliance-sensitive phrasing is locked across ~100k pages.
These compliance zones are invariant across all sites in the network. Color, typography, photo shape, and layout density may vary per niche.