How we check therapists
Choosing a therapist means trusting a stranger with something difficult. Here is exactly what we do before anyone appears on this site, so you can judge whether it is enough.
1. They must be registered with a professional body
We accept BACP, UKCP, NCPS, HCPC, BPS and AFT. These are the UK registers that hold members to a code of ethics and have a complaints process you can use if something goes wrong. Where someone is registered with a body outside that list, we check it case by case and only accept it if it holds its members to a comparable standard.
2. We see the paperwork before they appear
A therapist cannot finish signing up without uploading proof of their registration and a current professional indemnity insurance certificate. Insurance matters as much as registration: it is what protects you if you ever need to make a claim.
3. We check the number against the public register
Every registration number is checked against the register it claims to belong to. The registers are public, and the number is on each therapist profile, so you can check it yourself. We would rather you did.
4. Nobody lists themselves
A therapist cannot publish their own profile. An account is reviewed and approved by a person here before it becomes visible, and we can remove a listing at any time.
What we do not do
- We do not supervise therapy or sit in on sessions. What happens between you and your therapist is between you and them, governed by their professional body.
- We do not rank therapists by how good they are at their job, because we cannot measure that. The order you see is based on experience and the filters you set, never on who pays us more.
- We do not verify every claim a therapist makes about their training. We see their registration and their insurance; the detail of who trained where is theirs to state, and yours to ask about on the free first call.
If something goes wrong
Tell us, at hello@matchymatch.co.uk. We can remove a listing while we look into it. You can also complain directly to the therapist’s professional body, which is independent of us and can act on their registration. That route exists whether or not you tell us, and we would never discourage it.