Can therapists have testimonials or ask clients for reviews?

Is it true that therapists can’t have testimonials?

No. “Therapists can’t have testimonials” gets repeated often, but the major codes don’t say it. What they restrict is asking.

• Psychologists. Standard 5.05 of the APA Ethics Code¹ says psychologists don’t solicit testimonials from current therapy clients, or from anyone else whose circumstances make them vulnerable to undue influence.
• Counselors. Standard C.3.b of the 2014 ACA Code of Ethics² goes further: counselors who use testimonials don’t solicit them from current or former clients, or from others vulnerable to undue influence, and they discuss the implications with the client and get permission for any testimonial they use. ACA is revising its code and says the 2014 version stays current³ until the new one is adopted.
• Social workers. Standard 4.07(b) of the NASW Code of Ethics⁴ says social workers should not solicit testimonial endorsements from current clients or from others vulnerable to undue influence. It counts asking for consent to reuse something a client already said as solicitation.
• Marriage and family therapists. Standard 13.6 of the CAMFT Code of Ethics⁵ says MFTs don’t solicit testimonials from clients whose circumstances make them vulnerable to undue influence. We haven’t found wording as specific in the AAMFT code, so the cautious course for LMFTs is the strictest reading on this list: don’t ask current or former clients.

California law adds one more test. Business and Professions Code section 651(b)(8)⁶ treats a testimonial or endorsement as misleading if it is likely to deceive because material facts are left out. Section 651 applies to every licensed health professional in the state, psychologists included. The Board of Behavioral Sciences’ advertising regulation and its Advertising Fact Sheet⁷ don’t address testimonials separately.

The association codes bind their members, and they also bind licensees in states whose boards have adopted a code into their rules. Check your own state board’s rules as well, because some go further than the codes. Minnesota’s counselor rules bar soliciting or using testimonials from current clients, or from former clients vulnerable to undue influence (Minn. R. 2150.7570⁸). New Jersey requires a signed, notarized release before an MFT (N.J.A.C. 13:34-9.7⁹), social worker (13:44G-11.7) or psychologist (13:42-9.6) uses a testimonial.

Can I ask clients to leave a Google review?

We treat a request for a public review as a request for a testimonial, because that is what a review on your listing does for you. Read that way, asking current clients runs straight into every code above, and under ACA’s wording so does asking former clients. A review link in a follow-up email or on a card handed over at the last session is the plain case.

Federal law sets separate limits that apply to every business. The FTC’s Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials¹⁰ (16 CFR Part 465), in effect since October 21, 2024¹¹, makes it a violation to:

• offer payment or any other incentive for reviews that express a particular sentiment, positive or negative (section 465.4);
• write a review or testimonial about your own practice, as an officer or manager of it, without clearly disclosing the relationship (section 465.5);
• respond to a review with an unfounded legal threat, intimidation, or a knowingly or recklessly false public accusation, in an attempt to stop the review or get it removed (section 465.7).

The FTC rule is written for all businesses and leaves room for general requests: its fake-review provisions expressly exclude reviews that come from a business asking its customers in general to post about their experience (section 465.2(d)). For therapists, the ethics codes are the tighter limit. Google also has its own review rules, which our local SEO and Google Business Profile guide sets out alongside the ethics codes.

Can I put an unsolicited review on my website?

The codes don’t forbid it. Copying a review from Google onto your own site is a new act, though, and it brings three questions with it:

• Permission. ACA requires the client’s permission for any testimonial used, after a conversation about what it means. NASW counts asking a current client for consent to reuse their words as solicitation.
• Accuracy. Under section 651(b)(8), leaving out a material fact can make a testimonial misleading.
• Confidentiality. On your site, the review tells every visitor that its author was your client.

If you use one, keep a written record of how it arrived and the client’s written permission to publish it. We leave star ratings and review counts off therapist sites entirely, because that volume is hard to gather without asking.

Should I reply to reviews of my practice?

Replies carry a risk of their own. A warm “Thank you, I’m glad our work together helped” confirms in public that the reviewer was your client. So does a careful correction of a negative review. The confidentiality sections of the codes speak to this directly:

• APA Standard 4.01 makes protecting confidential information a primary obligation, and 4.05 allows disclosure with the client’s appropriate consent or where the law mandates or permits it.
• ACA Standard B.1.c limits disclosure to cases with appropriate consent or sound legal or ethical justification, and H.6.d asks counselors to take precautions against disclosing confidential information through public social media.
• NASW Standard 1.07(r)¹² tells social workers to avoid posting any identifying or confidential information about clients on professional websites or social media.
• CAMFT Standard 2.1 says MFTs don’t disclose client confidences, including clients’ names or identities, without written authorization or a legal basis.

Posting a review is the client’s choice. Confirming it is yours, and under these standards that confirmation is a disclosure. As general information, two approaches avoid confirming anything: leave reviews unanswered, or use one identical reply on every review, positive or negative, saying that your practice doesn’t confirm or deny whether anyone is a client. If a review is false or abusive, use the platform’s reporting process rather than a public reply.

If you belong to a professional association, ask it about a specific review before you reply. ACA offers members an ethics consultation service, and CAMFT’s legal team¹³ takes member calls on confidentiality and ethics.

What can a therapy website show instead?

Most of what a testimonial tries to prove can be shown with information you control:

• your license and training, stated exactly, with the modalities named;
• what happens in a first session, and what happens if it isn’t a fit;
• your fee, and how insurance or superbills work;
• who you work with, and who you refer elsewhere;
• writing in your own voice about how you work.

When we build a practice website, a testimonial appears only with a record that it arrived unasked and the client’s written consent; see how we build practice websites.

This post is general information, not legal or ethics advice. Check the primary texts, the codes linked above and the FTC rule at 16 CFR Part 465, and for your own situation ask your licensing board, your professional association’s ethics or legal line, or an attorney.