If you’ve been working as a counsellor either as an employee or a volunteer, it can be daunting to think about making the leap into Private Practice. You’ve got the skills to help your clients, but do you know how to run a business?
Some of the questions you might be asking are – do I need to be a limited company? What about Tax and NI Contributions? What insurance do I need? What records do I need to keep? Where can I work from? How do I deal with payments? What expenses can I claim and how do I pay myself?

The good news is that counselling and therapy are largely unregulated within the UK. This means there aren’t that many hoops to jump through when setting up your private practice.
As a quick start you need to do the following:
- Register with HMRC as a self employed
- Get Professional Indemnity Insurance
- Find a room to work from
- Start advertising
If you’d like to delve into more detail, we run several workshops designed to help you navigate the maze of questions and get you running your business like a pro.
Covers the legal and tax implications of setting up private practice.
Being A Professional Counsellor
The responsibilities of working for yourself as a counsellor.
How to ethically and professionally deal with clients in private practice,
All three of the above workshops combined.