How to Create an Online Course as a Therapist or Counselor

Nearly 500 therapy and counseling courses on Ruzuku serve 23,000+ students, with the highest completion rate of any niche on the platform — over 50%. Therapists and counselors create online courses for three distinct reasons — and understanding which path fits you shapes everything from content to pricing to accreditation.

Package the Knowledge You Repeat

Every therapist has frameworks, psychoeducation modules, and skill-building exercises they teach to client after client. An online course lets you package that repeatable knowledge once — freeing your 1:1 sessions for the deeper, individualized work that actually requires your clinical presence. Courses don't replace therapy; they make your therapy sessions more productive.

Create CE Courses for Fellow Professionals

If you've developed a specialized methodology or deep expertise in an area like trauma-informed care, DBT skills, or therapeutic writing, other clinicians need to learn it — and need CE credits for doing so. Kay Adams, LPC, built Journalversity into a platform with 7,000+ enrollees and NBCC-approved CE courses. GERTI, a nonprofit in Kansas, delivers 25+ CE-approved courses for nurses and social workers in elder care. CE accreditation is achievable for individual practitioners, not just institutions.

Reach Beyond Your Caseload

A therapist with a full caseload of 25-30 clients per week is helping 25-30 people. That same therapist's expertise — their frameworks for managing anxiety, building communication skills, or processing grief — could help thousands. Online courses are the bridge between clinical depth and educational scale, without compromising either.

Complement Therapy with Coaching and Courses

Many therapists also offer coaching, which has different scope-of-practice rules than therapy. Courses fit naturally into this triad: therapy for clinical treatment, coaching for goal-directed growth, and courses for scalable education. A therapist might offer a CE course for clinicians, a coaching program for personal development, and a self-paced course for the public — three offerings from one body of expertise.

Train Your Organization's Staff

If you run a group practice, training organization, or institutional program, online courses let you standardize staff training, track completion for compliance, and scale beyond in-person workshops. Belinda Vierthaler, LMSW, has run GERTI (Geriatric Education and Research Through Innovation) on Ruzuku for over 9 years, delivering 25+ CE-approved courses for nurses and social workers in elder care — she uses the platform's quiz tracking to print completion records for employee HR files. Working to Recovery in the UK runs an Online Recovery College training mental health practitioners across three organizational faculties.

Build a Sustainable Teaching Practice

Clinical work is rewarding but bounded by hours. As Abe Crystal writes in The Business of Courses, the 'dollars for hours' model has a ceiling — and reaching it often looks like burnout. Online courses create a complementary revenue stream that compounds over time: you build the course once, refine it with each cohort, and grow enrollment while your 1:1 practice stays at a sustainable size.

Online therapy courses carry unique responsibilities. The best ones are clear about what they are (education) and what they're not (treatment) — and they meet the standards that licensed professionals expect.

Clear Scope of Practice Boundaries

The most important quality of a therapy-related course is clarity about what it is. A course that teaches 'Cognitive Behavioral Techniques for Managing Anxiety' is education. A course that says 'We'll treat your anxiety' is therapy — and crosses scope-of-practice lines when delivered as a self-paced course. The best courses state clearly: this is psychoeducation and skill-building, not a substitute for individual therapy.

CE Accreditation When Appropriate

If your audience is licensed professionals, CE accreditation transforms your course from 'nice to have' to essential. Therapists need continuing education credits to maintain their licenses — and they prioritize accredited programs. Kay Adams' Journalversity courses are NBCC-approved (ACEP #5782). GERTI's courses are approved by the Kansas Board of Nursing and Behavioral Sciences Board. The accreditation process varies by board, but it's achievable for individual practitioners.

Evidence-Based Content Structure

Therapists expect courses built on research and clinical evidence, not opinions. Reference the theoretical frameworks you're drawing from, cite relevant studies, and be transparent about where the evidence is strong and where it's emerging. This isn't about being academic — it's about meeting the professional standards your audience holds themselves to.

Assessment and Completion Tracking

For CE courses, completion verification is essential — licensing boards require it. Even for non-CE courses, assessments help students integrate the material. Working to Recovery uses assignment-gated certificates: students must complete coursework before receiving credentials. GERTI tracks quiz completion for employee HR files. Build assessment into your course design, not as an afterthought.

Practitioner-Quality Materials

Therapists and counselors are trained to evaluate clinical materials critically. Your course content needs to reflect that: well-organized modules with clear learning objectives, downloadable worksheets and frameworks (not just video), case examples that respect confidentiality, and references to primary sources. A CE course student who's been practicing for 15 years expects rigor.

Community and Peer Interaction

Some of the best learning in therapy comes from peer discussion — case consultation, shared experiences, reflecting on practice. Online courses that include discussion forums, peer feedback, or live group sessions create the professional community that isolated practitioners often lack. This is especially valuable for therapists in rural areas or private practice who don't have colleagues to consult.

Here's a practical roadmap for building your online course as a therapist or counselor, from identifying your audience to launching your first cohort.

Step 1: Identify What You Teach vs. What You Treat

Start by separating the educational components of your expertise from the clinical ones. The frameworks you explain in session, the skills you teach clients, the psychoeducation modules you use — these are teachable. The individualized assessment, treatment planning, and therapeutic relationship — those stay in your clinical practice. Your course lives in the teaching space.

Tips:

• List the topics you explain to almost every client — those are your course topics
• Think about what colleagues ask you to train them on — that's your CE course content
• Consider the coaching and personal growth space — some content serves the general public

Step 2: Choose Your Audience and Format

Therapists typically serve one of three audiences with online courses. (1) Licensed professionals seeking CE credits — requires accreditation, higher pricing, clinical rigor. (2) Aspiring practitioners in training — may be part of a certification or supervision program. (3) General public seeking skills and personal growth — psychoeducation, workshops, self-help frameworks. Your audience determines your accreditation needs, pricing, and content depth.

Tips:

• CE courses for professionals: NBCC, state boards, or specialty certifications
• Training programs: may need to align with specific licensing standards
• Public courses: no accreditation needed, but scope-of-practice language still matters

Step 3: Design Your Curriculum

Structure your course around clear learning objectives. For CE courses, most accreditation bodies require specific learning objectives, assessment methods, and contact hour calculations. Even for non-CE courses, this structure helps: define what students will know or be able to do after each module, build progressively, and include both knowledge delivery and practical application.

Tips:

• Plan 4-10 modules depending on the depth and CE hours needed
• Include a mix of formats: video lectures, readings, case examples, exercises, discussion prompts
• For CE courses, document your learning objectives carefully — accreditation bodies review these
• Build in assessment at the end of each module, not just a final exam

Step 4: Pursue CE Accreditation (If Applicable)

If you're creating courses for licensed professionals, CE accreditation is worth the investment. The process varies: NBCC (National Board for Certified Counselors) has a provider application process. State licensing boards have their own requirements. Some practitioners start by partnering with an already-approved CE provider and later get their own approval. Kay Adams secured NBCC approval as an individual practitioner — it's not limited to institutions.

Tips:

• Research your target audience's licensing board requirements first
• NBCC provider applications require documented learning objectives, instructor credentials, and assessment methods
• Start with one accreditation and expand — you don't need every board at launch
• Keep meticulous records — accreditation renewal requires documentation of courses delivered

Step 5: Create Your Content

Record your course material with the same care you'd bring to a professional presentation. Video lectures work well for conceptual content. Screen recordings with slides work for frameworks and models. Downloadable worksheets and exercises give students practical tools. For CE courses, include both the instructional content and the assessment — quizzes, reflection questions, or demonstrated skill application.

Tips:

• A quiet room, good lighting, and a clear microphone are sufficient — you don't need a studio
• Case examples should be composite or fully anonymized — confidentiality applies even in educational contexts
• Create downloadable handouts: frameworks, worksheets, reference guides
• Record in segments (10-20 minutes) rather than long lectures — adult learners retain more in shorter sessions

Step 6: Choose Your Platform and Set Up

You need a platform that supports the structure and credentialing your courses require: sequential content delivery, assessment/quiz capability, completion certificates, community discussion, and live session integration. Ruzuku handles all of these with zero transaction fees — plus custom domains, tiered pricing, and Zoom integration for live components.

Tips:

• Set up completion certificates — essential for CE courses
• Test your course flow from the student perspective before launch
• Configure your sales page with learning objectives, CE credit details, and your credentials
• Use our free Therapy CE Revenue Calculator (/tools/therapy-ce-revenue-calculator) to project your earnings before setting your price

Step 7: Launch with a Pilot Cohort

Start with a small group of colleagues or trusted contacts. For CE courses, this pilot helps you refine the content and assessment before submitting for accreditation review. For public courses, it gives you testimonials and feedback. Maelisa Hall, a licensed clinical psychologist who teaches therapists on Ruzuku, launched her first high-end course and got 4 students — and iterated from there into a multi-offering business. Jodi Hardesty, LPC, started her Dating Wisdom Accelerator after migrating from LearnWorlds — she found that a simpler platform let her focus on the content instead of fighting the technology.

Tips:

• Offer your pilot at a reduced rate or free for colleagues in exchange for detailed feedback
• Ask pilot students specifically about pacing, clarity, and practical applicability
• Collect written testimonials — especially important for credibility in the therapy space
• Use pilot feedback to refine before pursuing CE accreditation

Kay Adams has spent over 40 years pioneering the field of journal therapy — the structured use of reflective writing for therapeutic growth. With 13 published books, 40,000+ clinical hours as a Licensed Professional Counselor, and endorsements from researchers like Dr. James Pennebaker and wellness leaders like Dr. Andrew Weil, she's one of the most credentialed practitioners in her field.

But for decades, her reach was limited to whoever could attend her workshops and training programs in the Denver area. When she launched Journalversity on Ruzuku in 2017, everything changed.

Journalversity now has over 7,000 enrolled students. Kay secured NBCC approval (ACEP #5782) so her courses award real continuing education credits to therapists. She built a faculty of 7 instructors across 6 countries — each teaching their own specialty within the journal therapy framework. Her free introductory course, 'J is for Journal,' has enrolled over 2,100 people. Her paid CE courses range from $47 to $595.

What makes Kay's story instructive isn't just the scale — it's the model. She separated her clinical work (1:1 therapy) from her educational work (courses) cleanly. The courses teach frameworks, techniques, and skills. The clinical work applies them to individual clients. Neither replaces the other. Today, 80% of her work is online, mostly asynchronous and evergreen, running on the same Ruzuku platform she started with.

"When I started with Ruzuku in 2017 or 18, that I did my first evergreen classes. Just a game changer in my work."

— Kay Adams, LPC, Director, Center for Journal Therapy · Founder, Journalversity · LPC, PTR · 40,000+ Clinical Hours · Ruzuku Enterprise

Key Results

• 7,037+ students enrolled across Journalversity courses on Ruzuku
• NBCC-approved CE provider — courses award real continuing education credits
• 7 faculty members across 6 countries teaching on the platform
• 80% of work now online, mostly asynchronous — sustainable teaching model
• 13 published books and endorsements from Dr. James Pennebaker and Dr. Andrew Weil
• Part of a community of nearly 500 therapy courses serving 23,000+ students on Ruzuku — with a 50%+ average completion rate

Read the full story →

Confusing Teaching with Treating

Creating a course that blurs the line between psychoeducation and therapy. A course titled 'Heal Your Trauma' sounds like treatment. A course titled 'Understanding Trauma Responses: A Psychoeducation Course' is clearly educational. Licensing boards and clients both notice the difference.

How to fix it: Frame every course as education, not treatment. Use language like 'learn about,' 'develop skills in,' 'understand frameworks for' — not 'treat,' 'heal,' or 'overcome.' Include a clear disclaimer that your course is educational and not a substitute for individual therapy.

Skipping CE Accreditation for Professional Audiences

Creating courses for licensed professionals without pursuing CE approval. Therapists need CE credits to renew their licenses, and most will prioritize accredited courses over unaccredited ones — even if your content is excellent.

How to fix it: If your audience is licensed professionals, invest in accreditation early. Start with NBCC or your state board. The application process requires documentation (learning objectives, instructor credentials, assessment methods) but is achievable for individual practitioners. Kay Adams did it. GERTI did it. You can too.

Underpricing CE Courses

Pricing CE courses at $19-29 because you're comparing to free CEU webinars. Free and ultra-cheap CE content exists, but therapists know the quality is often poor. A well-structured, accredited course from a credentialed expert is worth more.

How to fix it: Price based on CE hours and depth: $40-60 per CE hour is reasonable for quality content. A 9-hour CE program at $249 (Kay Adams' pricing) is competitive. A 30-hour CE bundle at $250 (GERTI's model) serves a different market. Know what your audience is comparing against and price for value.

Building Too Much Before Validating

Spending six months building a comprehensive 30-hour course before testing whether anyone wants it. Maelisa Hall, a clinical psychologist on Ruzuku, hoped for 10 students with her first course and got 4. She iterated from there — but she started small.

How to fix it: Start with a focused offering: a 2-4 hour workshop or a single CE module. Teach it live to a small group. Gather feedback. Then expand into a full course or certification program. Validate before you scale.

Ignoring the Coaching Opportunity

Thinking of courses only as standalone products rather than part of a therapy-coaching-courses ecosystem. Many therapists also offer coaching (which has different scope of practice). Courses can serve as the educational foundation that feeds both coaching programs and clinical referrals.

How to fix it: Design your course portfolio to complement your other offerings. A CE course trains other clinicians. A coaching program helps clients apply frameworks. A self-paced course serves people who can't access 1:1 work. Each feeds the others — course graduates become coaching clients, coaching clients refer to your CE training.

Not Addressing Confidentiality in Course Design

Including case examples that are too specific, asking students to share clinical details in discussion forums, or not establishing ground rules for peer interaction in live sessions.

How to fix it: Use composite or fully anonymized case examples. Set clear guidelines for what can and can't be shared in course discussions. For CE courses with peer consultation components, establish confidentiality agreements. Your students are clinicians — they expect and respect these boundaries.

Trying to Serve Every Audience at Once

Creating one course that tries to serve both licensed professionals and the general public. These audiences have different needs: professionals want clinical depth, CE credits, and evidence-based frameworks. The public wants accessible language, practical tools, and clear relevance to their lives.

How to fix it: Choose one audience per course. You can create multiple courses for different audiences from the same expertise — but each course should be designed for its specific learner. Kay Adams serves both therapists (CE courses) and the public (personal growth courses) on Journalversity, but as separate course offerings.

Each of these guides explores a specific aspect of creating and running therapy & counseling courses in more detail.

• How to Create an Online Course as a Therapist (Step-by-Step Guide) — A practical guide for therapists and counselors to create their first online course — from identifying teachable content to launching a pilot cohort. (9 min read)
• Why Therapists and Counselors Should Create Online Courses — How online courses complement therapy and coaching — packaging repeatable knowledge, building CE programs, and creating a sustainable teaching practice alongside clinical work. (7 min read)
• How to Create and Sell CE/CEU-Approved Online Courses — A guide to creating CE-approved continuing education courses — NBCC accreditation, state board requirements, and real examples from practitioners who've done it. (7 min read)
• Best Platforms for Therapists to Create Online Courses (2026) — Comparing course platforms for therapists: Ruzuku, Teachable, Thinkific, and more. Real migration stories from licensed practitioners. (8 min read)
• How to Price Your Online Therapy Course or CE Program — Pricing strategies for therapist-created courses — CE course pricing by hour, public course pricing, and how to avoid the race to the bottom with free CE content. (11 min read)
• Teaching vs. Treating: Scope of Practice for Online Therapy Courses — How to create online courses as a therapist without crossing scope-of-practice boundaries — the teaching/treating distinction, HIPAA, and ethical guidelines. (10 min read)
• How to Get Your First Students as a Therapy Course Creator — How to fill your first therapy course — starting with colleagues, professional networks, and CE directories. Practical strategies that work for licensed professionals. (12 min read)
• Online vs. In-Person Therapy Training: An Honest Comparison — What works better for therapy training — online, in-person, or hybrid? Comparing CE workshops, certification programs, and organizational training across formats. (10 min read)
• Keeping Therapist-Students Engaged in Online CE Courses — How to keep licensed professionals engaged in online CE courses — assignment-gated certificates, peer discussion, and course design that respects clinicians' time. (10 min read)
• Using Online Courses for Organizational Therapy Training — How organizations use online courses for staff training, compliance, and professional development — with real examples from nonprofits and healthcare organizations. (10 min read)
• Building a Continuing Education Membership for Therapists — How to build a CE membership program alongside your courses — recurring revenue from ongoing professional development, live workshops, and a growing content library. (11 min read)
• State of Online Therapy & CE Courses: 2026 Data Report — Original research from 533 therapy and counseling courses: CE pricing benchmarks, completion rates, course structure, and growth trends. Based on Ruzuku platform data. (12 min read)