How we verify
How every therapist here is verified, check by check.
Gototherapy UK verifies each professional by having a person check their entry on their professional register, see a current insurance certificate, confirm their supervision arrangement with the supervisor in writing, and match their identity to the register entry. The checks depend on the role, are repeated every year, and are printed on the profile. Roles with no register say so in plain words.
- Who checks
- A person at Gototherapy UK, against the source, never a certificate alone.
- How often
- Before anyone is listed, and again every year. Expiry dates are tracked.
- What is public
- Which checks were done, when, and when the next is due. On every profile.
- What is never public
- The documents. They are never shown and never stored in the database.
Four checks
How does Gototherapy UK verify a therapist?
Four checks, done by a person, in this order, before anyone is listed.
Register
We look the person up on the register itself, not on a certificate they send us. We record the registration number and the expiry or renewal date.
Insurance
We see a current professional indemnity certificate and record when it expires.
Supervision
The therapist tells us who supervises their work. We contact the supervisor, who confirms the arrangement in writing. Nothing about clients is asked.
Identity
We match the person applying to the person on the register using photo identification. The image is deleted after the check.
Per role
Why is the badge different for each role?
Because a counsellor is checked against a register that can strike them off, and a coach has no register: anybody may use the title tomorrow morning. One badge across both would transfer the credibility of the regulated professions onto the unregulated ones. So the badge says what was checked for that role, and nothing more.
| Role | Checks required | The badge says |
|---|---|---|
| Therapist | Register, Insurance, Supervision, Identity | Register, insurance and supervision checked |
| Supervisor | Register, Insurance, Identity, Supervision training | Register, insurance and supervision training checked |
| Coach or wellbeing practitioner | Insurance, Identity | Insurance and identity checked, plus the caveat |
| Trainer | Register, Insurance, Identity | Register and insurance checked |
| Training provider | Insurance, Identity, Course accreditation | Course accreditation and insurance checked, plus the caveat |
“This is not a regulated profession in the UK, so there is no register to check.”
Printed on every unregulated profile. Styled as a fact, never as a warning against the practitioner.
Holding two roles means meeting both standards. A therapist who is also a coach does not get to drop the register check.
What does verified mean here, and what does it not mean?
Verified means the checks above were completed by a person on a stated date: the person is who they say they are, holds the registration they claim, is insured, and is supervised.
It is printed with the date it was done and the date the next annual recheck is due.
It does not mean Gototherapy UK recommends the person, that they are right for you, or that anyone has assessed the quality of their work. Nobody can check that from documents, and we do not claim to.
What happens every year?
Every check is repeated. We track the expiry dates of registrations and insurance policies and email members before they lapse.
If a document expires and is not renewed, the badge lapses on its own and the profile says so until a renewal has been sent and checked by a person. The verification history on a member's account shows each check and recheck.
Where do the documents go?
Documents sent for checking are never shown publicly and are never stored in our database.
They go to private storage with no public access, the database holds only a note that the document exists and when it was seen, and every time a reviewer opens one it is recorded. Identity documents are deleted once the check is done.
What if a register entry changes?
If a register entry is suspended or removed, or a check cannot be completed, the badge is removed and the profile is hidden.
Members agree to tell us if their registration, insurance or supervision changes, and the annual recheck catches what they do not.
Plain answers
More questions people ask
Is Gototherapy UK a regulator or a professional body?
No. The registers belong to the professional bodies, such as BACP, UKCP and HCPC, and it is their entries we check. Gototherapy UK confirms that a person is on the register they claim, insured, supervised and who they say they are. It does not register anybody and cannot strike anybody off.
Can a therapist pay to be verified, or to be placed higher?
No. Nobody pays before the checks are complete, and the checks are the same whatever anybody pays afterwards. Nothing on the site is ranked, so there is nothing to pay to be higher in.
Why does a coach have a different badge from a counsellor?
Because coaching is not a regulated profession in the UK and there is no register to check. A coach is checked for insurance and identity, and every coaching profile says in plain words that there is no register. One badge across both roles would lend the credibility of the regulated professions to the unregulated ones.
How do I check a therapist's registration myself?
Every professional body publishes its register online. Search it by the therapist's name or registration number, which a verified profile shows, and confirm the entry is current. If what you find does not match the profile, tell us.
How do I raise a concern about somebody listed?
Use the complaints page. A concern about a register entry, insurance or supervision is checked against the source and the profile is hidden while it is. A concern about the therapy itself belongs with the professional body, which has a complaints process of its own, and the complaints page says how to reach it.