The problem
Coaching, hypnotherapy, holistic therapy and health coaching sit next to healthcare without being it, and the copy on their websites drifts across the line. "Cure anxiety." "Treats IBS." "Guaranteed to stop smoking." "Clinically proven." "Sarah's depression lifted after three sessions." Each is a sentence an advertising regulator, a professional body or a sceptical client could pick up, and in most countries at least one of them would.
The rules differ by country and by practice type, and this is orientation rather than legal advice. But the shape of the problem is the same everywhere, and so is the fix: say specifically what you help with and what typically changes, and leave out the medical claims and the guarantees.
The shape of the rules
Advertising standards. Most countries have an advertising regulator or code that requires health-related claims to be substantiated and prohibits misleading ones. In the UK that is the ASA and the CAP Code; in the US the FTC's rules on advertising and endorsements; in Australia the Australian Consumer Law and the ACCC; in Canada the Competition Act and Ad Standards. A claim to treat or cure a medical or psychological condition, made by someone who is not a registered clinician, is the claim most often challenged.
Testimonials. Several countries restrict testimonials for health services or health outcomes, and many professional bodies for hypnotherapists, counsellors and complementary therapists restrict them in their codes regardless of the law. Where a testimonial is permitted, it has to be genuine, typical and not itself a medical claim.
Protected titles and scope. "Psychologist", "dietitian", "physiotherapist" and similar are protected in many countries. A health coach is not a dietitian and the site should say what the qualification covers. A coach or hypnotherapist is not a clinician and should not imply otherwise.
Consumer law. Guarantees of an outcome you cannot guarantee are misleading under general consumer protection law almost everywhere.
Your professional body. Its code of ethics or advertising guidance is often stricter than the law, and membership depends on following it.
The words to remove
Cure. Treat. Heal, when applied to a condition. Guaranteed. Proven, clinically proven, scientifically proven. Permanent. Any named medical or psychological diagnosis as something you treat rather than something a client is living with. Percentages and success rates you cannot substantiate. "Doctors recommend." Before-and-after claims for health.
The words to use instead
Describe the situation the client is in and what you help them work on. "I work with people who are anxious about a flight, a speech or an exam that is already in the diary." Describe what typically changes, in the client's words and without a promise. "Most clients tell me the situation feels more manageable after a few sessions." State the evidence position honestly: what the research does and does not say about your approach. Say what you are not: "Coaching is not therapy or medical treatment; if you are being treated for a condition, please talk to your clinician."
This copy is not weaker. It is more specific, and specific is what converts a cautious client, because it reads as honest. The hypnotherapists, health coaches and holistic therapists sub-pages each treat it as a must-have for that reason.
By practice type
Hypnotherapists: issue pages describe what you help clients work on, not conditions you treat. Smoking, weight, phobias and anxiety are the areas most often ruled on, so these pages need the most care.
Health and nutrition coaches: coaching supports behaviour change; it does not treat or cure. Draw the line between yourself and a registered dietitian in a plain sentence.
Holistic therapists: treatment pages describe what happens and how clients typically feel, without claims to treat medical conditions.
Sleep consultants: no guarantees, honest expectations about what typically changes and how long it takes.
Doulas: be clear about what a doula does and does not do, and that you are not a midwife.
Coaches generally: outcomes with permission, specific and measurable where they are, and no implication of therapy.
Building for review
- Copy held as editable content, so a sentence can be changed without a developer.
- A plain "what this is and is not" statement on the How it works page.
- Testimonials as a module that can be switched off per page or per country.
- A note in the site's handover on which pages carry health-adjacent claims, so a new issue page is reviewed before it is published.
- A country page or statement if you practise across borders, because the rules that apply follow the client.
Where this sits
Compliant claims, written within the rules for your country with room for review, is the last of the six must-haves on our coaching practice website page, and it is checked on every issue page before launch. The copy that survives a regulator's reading is also the copy a sceptical client believes, which is the whole point.