Why reviews here look different
Section 133 of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law prohibits using testimonials to advertise a regulated health service. A client posting on their own social media is their business. A review Open Therapy publishes on your profile is our advertising of your service — and yours. So the line we apply is: a review may describe the service, but not the treatment.This cuts both ways: a review can’t say therapy helped, and it can’t say it didn’t. Outcome claims
are out regardless of whether they flatter you.
Screening
Every review is screened before it appears, in two stages. Nothing is published on a timeout, a failure or an unclear verdict — anything ambiguous goes to a person. Three outcomes:
The reasons a review is held or rejected are recorded as one of: mentions a symptom, condition or diagnosis; describes treatment, technique or medication; describes a clinical outcome or improvement; recommends the practitioner for a clinical need.
Implication counts. “I can finally sleep through the night” is an outcome even though it names no diagnosis.
What you can’t do
Screening is Open Therapy’s responsibility and is applied identically for everyone. Leaving it with you would make it your advertising decision, which is exactly the thing the National Law is about.What you can do
- Report a factual error or a breach. If a published review names a diagnosis, describes treatment, or contains something that shouldn’t have cleared screening, write to governance@opentherapy.app. Getting a review published in breach is our problem to fix, not yours to absorb.
- Raise a conduct concern. If a review is abusive or identifies a third party, same address.