How to Pitch an Article to a Magazine or Health Website as a Therapist
How to pitch an article to a magazine or health website as a therapist: where to find the guidelines, a pitch email template, and the ethics rules that apply.
13 min read
To pitch an article to a magazine, read the publication’s pitch guidelines, find the right editor, and send a short email: a working headline, one paragraph on what readers will learn and why now, why you are qualified to write it, and links to published samples. Pitch the idea, not a finished draft, unless the guidelines ask for one.
Whether a contributed article is worth your time as a link at all, and how many links a practice needs, has its own page: which links count for a therapist, and how many are enough.
Where to Find a Publication’s Pitch Guidelines
Most publications that work with outside writers say exactly what they want on one page, usually called writer’s guidelines, contributor guidelines or how to pitch. Find that page before you write anything. It tells you the format, who receives pitches, and what the editors will not consider, so you never send something the outlet has already ruled out.
Two examples show how specific these pages get:
- Psychology Today publishes writer’s guidelines covering both its blogs and its print magazine. A blog proposal goes through its Submittable form and should describe the blog, why you want to start it now, and what qualifies you, with one to three samples of previously published writing. The same page says staff are not able to respond to every proposal.
- SELF, a health and wellness magazine, publishes a pitch page asking for an email with the subject line “PITCH: Working Headline Here”, a working headline, one paragraph on why the story matters now and how it helps readers, the experts you would speak with, a word count estimate, and clips of your work. It also lists what it will not take, including stories already published elsewhere and Q&As.
If an outlet has no guidelines page, look for a masthead or staff page that names the editor for health, wellness or opinion. A pitch sent to a general inbox is a pitch nobody owns.
Which Publications Take Articles From Therapists?
Start with outlets whose readers already trust clinicians: your professional association’s newsletter or blog, the Psychology Today blog network, consumer health and wellness magazines, the opinion section of your local paper, and city or parenting magazines where you practice. Each one wants a different kind of piece, so match the pitch to the outlet.
| Outlet | What to send | Where the rules are |
|---|---|---|
| State or national professional association newsletter | A clinical or practice topic written for colleagues | The association’s publications page or the newsletter editor |
| Psychology Today blog | A proposal for an ongoing blog on one theme, with one to three samples | Psychology Today’s writer’s guidelines |
| Psychology Today magazine | A story idea, sources you might contact, and why you should write it | The same guidelines page |
| Consumer health magazine | A service story idea: what readers should do, and why | The magazine’s how-to-pitch page |
| Local newspaper opinion section | An opinion piece within the paper’s stated length | The paper’s submissions page |
| City or parenting magazine | A short, seasonal service piece for local readers | The masthead or contact page |
Two kinds of outlet are missing on purpose. A site whose “write for us” page will publish anything that carries a link is selling placement, not editing. An outlet that asks you to pay for a contributed article is selling an advertisement, which has its own rules, covered below.
If you have never been published, your own site is the first outlet. Two or three strong posts give an editor something to read when your pitch asks for samples, and the therapist blog guide covers what to write first.
What Should a Therapist Pitch?
Pitch one narrow question you answer often in clinical work, framed so a reader can act on it the same day. Service-driven health outlets want pieces that tell readers what to do and why; SELF’s guidelines put it as “Do this, and here’s why.” A topic is not a pitch. A specific angle with a practical takeaway is.
- Topic: health anxiety. Pitch: “What to say when someone you love keeps asking whether they are sick.”
- Topic: couples. Pitch: “Three questions to ask each other before the next argument about chores.”
- Topic: grief. Pitch: “What to say to a coworker coming back to work after a death in the family.”
- Topic: teens. Pitch: “How parents can tell first-week-of-school nerves from worry that needs a professional.”
The best ideas come from three places you already have: questions prospective clients ask on consultation calls, the misunderstanding you correct in most first sessions, and the weeks of the year when your specialty gets busy. None of them needs a client story.
What Not to Pitch
- An analysis of a public figure. APA Standard 9.01(b) says psychologists give opinions about an individual’s psychological characteristics only after an examination adequate to support them. A pitch built on diagnosing a celebrity or politician from news coverage runs straight into that standard.
- A case story about a client. The default answer is no; the reasons are in the ethics section.
- A piece that is mostly about your practice. Editors cut it, and readers who sense an advertisement stop trusting the rest of the article.
- A subject the outlet covered recently. Search the site first. SELF lists recently covered stories among the things it will not take.
How to Write a Pitch Email to an Editor
A pitch email should fit on a phone screen: a subject line with the working headline, a first sentence that states the idea, a paragraph on why readers need it now, two lines on why you are the right person to write it, and links to samples. The editor is deciding whether to ask for more, not whether to publish.
Subject: PITCH: [working headline], or whatever format the guidelines specify
Body:
Hi [editor’s first name],
I would like to write a piece for [publication] readers on [the idea in one sentence]. For example: what parents can say on the first morning a teenager refuses to go to school, and what to avoid saying.
Why now: [the season, the news hook or the recurring moment]. For example: the first weeks of the school year.
What readers will take away: [two or three concrete things a reader can do after reading].
Why me: I am a licensed [credential] in [state], and I work with [population] on [problem]. [One line on relevant training.]
Length and format: about [number] words, as a [service piece, essay or opinion piece], following your guidelines.
Samples: [one to three links to published writing].
Thank you,
[full name], [credential]
[practice name and website]
Rules that keep a pitch from being ignored: use the editor’s name; send one idea per email; do not attach a finished draft unless the guidelines ask for one; if you send the same idea to a second outlet before the first has answered, say so in the email; follow up once, after the response window the guidelines give, or after about two weeks if they give none.
What Your Ethics Code Says About Writing for the Public
Your ethics code treats a published article as a public statement. Three rules apply before you send anything: what you write must rest on professional knowledge and literature, it must not suggest you have started a professional relationship with the reader, and it must not identify a client. For psychologists that is APA Standard 5.04; for counselors, ACA C.6.c.
| Standard | What it covers | What it means for an article |
|---|---|---|
| APA 5.01(a) | Defines public statements to include comments for use in media and published materials | Your article and your quotes fall under the same rules as your website |
| APA 5.04 and ACA C.6.c | Public advice must rest on professional knowledge and literature, stay consistent with the code, and not imply a professional relationship | Write general guidance, name your sources, and tell readers to see their own clinician |
| APA 5.02(b) | No compensating media employees in return for publicity in a news item | Never pay a reporter or editor to feature you |
| APA 5.02(c) | A paid advertisement must be identified or clearly recognizable as one | A paid “contributed” article is an ad and has to be labeled as one |
| APA 4.07 | No confidential, identifiable client information in writings or public media unless disguised, consented to in writing, or legally authorized | Default to a labeled composite, or to no case material at all |
| NASW 4.06(a) | Distinguish statements made as a private individual from those made for the profession or an employer | Say which role you are writing in, especially in an opinion piece |
| NASW 1.07(r) | Avoid posting identifying or confidential client information on professional websites or social media | The same caution applies to anything you publish elsewhere |
| ACA C.4.b | Claim only licenses and certifications that are current and in good standing | Check the bio line an editor writes for you |
| APA 5.02(a) and ACA C.3.c | You stay responsible for statements you engage others to place, and you make reasonable efforts to keep what others say about you accurate | Correct an inflated bio or headline before it runs |
For social workers writing opinion pieces, NASW 4.06(a) is the one to remember: a bio line that names your agency invites readers to assume the agency agrees with you, so clear the piece with the agency or leave its name out.
On case material, changing a name and an age may not disguise someone in a small town or a narrow specialty, and the person themselves will recognize the details even when strangers cannot. If a piece needs an example, build a composite from several clients and label it as one, or make the point without a case. The consent mechanics for anything drawn from one person are set out on the content writing page.
Does a Contributed Article Count as a Backlink?
Sometimes. Each publication decides how to mark the links it publishes, and Google’s documentation on qualifying outbound links says links marked nofollow, sponsored or ugc will generally not be followed. A byline still does work a link cannot: it puts your name and license in front of new readers, and it becomes a sample for your next pitch.
Google’s link spam policy is the reason not to push for more. Its examples include exchanging money for links or for posts that contain links, excessive link exchanges, and links with optimized anchor text in articles, guest posts or press releases distributed on other sites. For a therapist that comes down to three rules:
- If the outlet allows a link, ask for a plain one with your name or practice name. Do not ask for a phrase like “anxiety therapist Denver” as the linked text.
- Never pay for a placement that is presented as editorial. If you do buy space, it is an ad: Google’s policy expects the link marked sponsored or nofollow, and APA 5.02(c) expects the piece to be identified as paid.
- Do not trade articles with other practices in exchange for links to each other. That is the exchange pattern the same policy describes.
How to check what you got. Open the published article, find the link in your bio, and view the page source or inspect the link. A rel value containing nofollow, sponsored or ugc means the link is qualified. Search Console’s Links report shows links Google has found over time, but it does not say whether a link is nofollow, and it can include links that have since been removed.
Authorship matters on its own terms. Google’s guidance on helpful content asks whether content is written or reviewed by an expert who demonstrably knows the topic, and whether bylines lead to more information about the author. The E-E-A-T guide covers how that applies to a practice website.
How to Get Quoted by Health Websites Without Writing the Article
Being quoted as a source takes less time than writing a piece, and the same ethics standards apply. Health reporters need licensed clinicians to explain what they cannot say on their own authority. Your job is to be easy to find, easy to verify, and easy to reach before a deadline, then to keep your comments general and accurate.
- Build a short media page on your site. Your full name, license and state, the subjects you can speak to, a headshot, and a direct email address, so an editor or reporter can confirm who you are in one page.
- Introduce yourself to one local health, education or parenting reporter. Two lines: your specialty, and that you are available to explain it. Not a story idea yet.
- Appear on podcasts. A guest spot produces an episode page with show notes and gives you a sample to cite in your next pitch. The podcasting guide weighs guesting against hosting.
- Ask to confirm your quotes for accuracy. APA 5.04 and ACA C.6.c make your public statements your responsibility. Reporters differ on what they share before publication, so ask at the start.
Prepare for the question you should not answer. A reporter covering a public figure may ask what you think is going on with that person. For a psychologist, the answer that stays inside APA 9.01(b) is to describe the pattern in general terms and decline to assess the individual. That answer works for every license.
A Pitch You Can Send This Week
Five steps, about three hours in total, spread across one week. The times are estimates for a clinician sending a first pitch; the second takes far less.
- Monday, 30 minutes: list three outlets your clients or colleagues read: one professional, one consumer health, one local. Find each one’s guidelines page and the right editor.
- Tuesday, 45 minutes: write down the five questions you answered most often on consultation calls this month. Turn each into a headline a reader could act on.
- Wednesday, 45 minutes: pick the strongest headline for the outlet most likely to want it, and write the pitch from the template above.
- Thursday, 45 minutes: check the pitch against your code’s media standard and against the outlet’s guidelines, add your samples, and send it.
- Friday, 15 minutes: put the follow-up date in your calendar and start the second pitch for the next outlet on your list.
The arithmetic for a solo practice. Three hours for the first pitch and about one hour for each one after means a pitch a week for a quarter costs roughly 15 hours. At a $150 session fee, that is the time of about 15 sessions, set against bylines you keep. Psychology Today says it cannot answer every proposal, so expect silence from some outlets and keep the list moving.
FAQ
How do I become a Psychology Today blogger? Send a blog proposal through the Submittable form linked from Psychology Today’s writer’s guidelines. Describe the blog, why you want to start it now and what qualifies you to write it, and include one to three samples of published writing. The guidelines note that staff cannot respond to every proposal.
Should I send a finished article or a pitch? A pitch, unless the outlet’s guidelines ask for the finished piece. SELF, for example, asks for a working headline, a one-paragraph description and a word count estimate. Some opinion sections want the complete text instead. The outlet’s own page decides, so read it first.
Do magazines pay therapists for articles? Some do, and they publish their rates. SELF’s pitch page lists rates starting at $250 for short news stories, $500 for reported service stories and $750 for features. If an outlet’s guidelines do not mention payment, ask before you write.
Can I write about a client in a magazine article? Not in any identifiable way without written consent. APA 4.07 allows identifiable client information in public writing only if the person is disguised, has consented in writing, or there is legal authorization, and NASW 1.07(r) tells social workers to avoid posting identifying client information. A labeled composite, or no case at all, is the safer default.
Can I republish the article on my own website? Only if the publication’s terms allow it, so ask the editor first. Outlets that want original work, as SELF’s guidelines say it does, may not take a piece that already ran elsewhere. A safer approach is a separate post on your site that answers the same question in different words and links to the published article.
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