Thank you for your interest in writing for Harley Therapy’s Counselling Blog.
We take pitches from therapists, researchers, and coaches, as well as experienced writers who simply like to write about our topics.
*Please note we do NOT publish pieces by marketers containing links to commercial sites. There is no point in submitting such content. We have strict protocol against it to protect the integrity of our site.
**Like all magazines and publications, we don’t need you to send us a full article. You simply need to pitch us your idea along with writing samples. If it’s a topic we’ve already covered that’s fine, clearly explain how your pitch is different. (For example, we have many pieces on depression, but new angles always come up that interest us).
Our topics.
We are always interested in any articles that are about psychotherapy, counselling, and personal development. We like psychological theory just as much as we appreciate ‘how to’s‘ for making daily life easier and a good case study. But we don’t publish pure opinion as our aim is to educate and inspire.
*Please take the time to look around our site before submitting to get an idea of what we publish. If you aren’t sure, just ask.
Length.
We are not too worried about length. Our concern is more that an article is clear and useful. We happily publish long, informative cornerstone pieces of 1000+ words, as well as shorter, ‘useful info fast’ pieces. But we tend to not drop below 800 words (although if a piece is shorter we might option it for our sister site).
If you would rather discuss an idea before writing it, feel free to send us your thoughts with the word “pitch” in the subject line. If it’s your first contact with us, include your CV and a link to your writing samples, along with a few lines explaining the piece you’d like to write, and we’ll let you know if it might be something we’d publish.
Our audience.
Our readers tend to be those who are considering trying therapy and are looking to learn more. They are educated, employed, and intelligent – but maybe not versed in psychology. They want clear info fast.
We also attract ‘self-improvers’ and students and trainees learning about psychology, so accept pieces that speak to these secondary audiences, too. But note they must be written in a non-academic style (see next section).
Our style.
We prefer articles written in accessible, clear English over an academic style.
We use a magazine tone, meaning that we often make use of the second person, ‘you’, then use ‘we’ to add a sense of inclusion.
For example, rather than saying a scholarly ‘the client experiences the therapist’s full attention because people benefit from focused attention”, we would say, “when you visit a therapist, you receive their full attention, as we all benefit from focused attention”.
Of course if you are submitting a case study, do use the first person.
Quotes and References
We expect all submissions to be original content. Any quotes of over three words should be cited.
We need the citation worked into the copy. So please write your quotes like you would for any magazine or newspaper. But you can include footnotes at the end as well if you want.
For example, if you are quoting a study on pet therapy carried out at the University of San Francisco, you would write, “A study on pet therapy led by the University of San Francisco found…”. Then include a link to the study in a square bracket directly after the quote, and our editors will integrate it into the piece.
**We do not accept quotes or references from other websites like ours. Think of us as an online magazine. Just like you wouldn’t find a quote from Vogue in Elle, you won’t find us quoting articles in Psychology Today or another therapy company’s articles.
We WILL take quotes, however, from government authorities and regulatory boards (NHS, NICE, BACP, etc), mental health charities (such as Mind), and well known authorities (famous therapists, authors, CEOs of charities, etc).
We will quote leading publications like the Economist or the Guardian IF they have come up with the idea or tagline (such as calling today’s world the ‘freelance economy’), not if the author is referencing a study or idea with another source (in that case go right to the source or study).
We prefer all quotes to come from source. So if you find a statistic mentioned in a Guardian article that is from a study, find the source of the statistic and send that link over a link to the Guardian article.
We especially like links to psychological studies. It’s easy to find most study papers online nowadays, so please do so. Even if it’s only a link to the one paragraph summary of the study, we’ll take that. Again, include the hyperlink in a square bracket after the mention.
Summary:
- quote references in the body of the piece
- include hyperlinks to all research and studies in brackets after the quote or reference
- include footnotes or a bibliography if you want (it might attract more traffic to your piece)
- if you use more than three words from somewhere else, put quotes around it and put the reference
- we quote authorities and research at source, not other online magazines and papers, unless they are experts writing original ideas. Otherwise find the source of the information and send that link along.
Formatting.
Send your article attached fas a word document or cut and pasted into the body of your email. We appreciate a no frills approach, without pictures added and with text double spaced, aligned left, and spell checked.
Editing.
**By submitting you agree to let us edit your piece for clarity, grammar, length and audience relevance.**
Attribution
We attribute pieces to our writers unless you specifically ask to be anonymous, such as with a case study about your life.
When you send your commissioned piece you can also send us your headshot, and a one or two line blurb about yourself, including hyperlinks to your website and social media accounts.
Legalities.
We own full rights of all commissioned and published articles. This means you cannot then publish it again, in full or in part, elsewhere.
Any published submission to Harley Therapy Counselling Blog grants us a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate and distribute such material (in whole or in part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or hereafter developed.
All commissioned submissions become the property of Harley Therapy and may be edited for length, clarity, and/or functionality. It is possible that similar submissions might be submitted to Harley Therapy from multiple sources that we reserve the right to choose and publish the one that is the right fit for our site.
By submitting your piece you are agreeing that others might write on a similar topic now or in the future. You agree that anything you submit to us does not violate any law or any intellectual property.