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Why are therapists set up historically to fail in marketing? What is the way to change these struggles and allow modern-day therapists to market themselves without fear or shame? How is interpersonal branding a potential solution for therapists who struggle with marketing themselves and their practice?
In this podcast episode, Joe Sanok speaks about why therapists often struggle with marketing with Carrie Wiita.
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Meet Carrie Wiita
Carrie Wiita is the creator of Interpersonal Branding, helping therapists and service providers build marketing strategies that are ethical, evidence‑based, and sustainable. She’s an educator, consultant, and speaker who equips professionals to shape a professional identity that’s both authentic and future‑proof. Carrie blends her passion for mental health with marketing wisdom so that clinicians can promote their work with confidence — without compromising integrity.
Visit Carrie’s website as well as Interpersonal Branding. Connect on Facebook and LinkedIn.
In This Podcast
- Why therapists are set up for failure in marketing
- The gig-economy marketing is icky for everyone
- Interpersonal branding for therapists
- Carrie’s advice to private practitioners
Why therapists are set up for failure in marketing
One of the things I think I’d really put my finger on in the cultural fabric of our field is that we get handed, upon entry into this field, this unspoken message that “Good therapists don’t talk about themselves in pubic.” And I was curious about where that came from. (Carrie Wiita)
According to Carrie, there are three main reasons why therapists struggle with marketing:
1 – Historical reasons
2 – Cultural reasons
3 – Methodological reasons
Regarding historical reasons for the modern-day barrier that many therapists face when it comes to marketing, the main one is transference, and the idea that, in psychoanalysis, the therapist should be a blank slate or screen for the client’s work.
If a therapist was revealing or self-disclosing too much, it was seen as the mark of an amateur. You were a bad therapist. Your therapy wouldn’t work because you weren’t unknown. So, from the beginning, there was this rooted sense that self-disclosure is associated with therapists who were not good at the job, right? (Carrie Wiita)
There was a historical need to be confidential as a mark of professionalism, and to protect oneself from liability by never revealing any other information about oneself to the patient. However, this is no longer the case in 2025!
The gig-economy marketing is icky for everyone
These days we live in what has been described as a gig-economy or a reputation-economy, and the idea that “good therapists” shouldn’t talk about themselves in public is in direct opposition to the requirements of economic survival in a gig-economy … Your livelihood fully depends on talking about yourself in public, so customers know you have something to sell. (Carrie Wiita)
This collision between the older beliefs of anonymity and no self-disclosure being viewed as essential for what makes a good therapist, and the modern-day reputation-economy, where people need to talk about themselves to get clients, is tough for therapists.
Therapists are not taught in grad school to navigate this tension, which means that they enter the work field feeling uncomfortable with how to reach clients and need to learn how to establish themselves in the marketing world without fear or shame.
Interpersonal branding for therapists
Personal branding was something that came about in the 1990s as we saw this shift to the gig economy. It was this innovative, groundbreaking idea to apply product marketing principles to people … Entrepreneurs don’t have a problem [doing this] … But therapists hear this and it just hits all the wrong buttons. (Carrie Wiita)
However, from a client and consumer perspective, in our current day and age, “shopping” for a therapist is no different from anything else.
Clients are looking for a solution, and that is in the form of a therapist. To improve on this connection and to bring in a more holistic approach, Carrie recommends an interpersonal branding approach.
I think that this is why I saw the need for interpersonal branding … The personal branding rhetoric is missing this interpersonal piece. It forgets that what we’re talking about is a relationship … As a therapist, you are selling who you can be to someone. (Carrie Wiita)
With interpersonal branding, the therapists have a choice to make. You can be as personal or as public as you want to be, and are comfortable with being. You don’t need to sell yourself entirely – go with what feels right and authentic to you.
We’ve got to start with the therapist and their personal boundaries and who they want to be in the world, and one of those questions is, “How public and private do you want to be?” … You don’t have to show your tattoos if you don’t want to, but you can if you want to! … I want to remind therapists that they have autonomy. (Carrie Wiita)
Carrie’s advice to private practitioners
When it comes to who you want to be, you have a lot more agency than you have been led to believe.
Your interpersonal brand is an opportunity for you to craft who you want to be in the world, how you do what you do, and how you do it differently.
Sponsors Mentioned in this Episode:
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Useful links mentioned in this episode:
- Check out our Practice Academy!
- Visit Carrie’s website as well as Interpersonal Branding. Connect on Facebook and LinkedIn.
- Sign Up to the Group Practice Boss Conference!
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Meet Joe Sanok
Joe Sanok helps counselors to create thriving practices that are the envy of other counselors. He has helped counselors to grow their businesses by 50-500% and is proud of all the private practice owners who are growing their income, influence, and impact on the world. Click here to explore consulting with Joe.
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