For therapists in new or changing practices

A brand that books clients
while you're in session.

The Brand Lab is a $5/month membership where you build a brand that's distinctly yours, speaking straight to the clients who need you, with none of the sales-y performance.

Join the Brand Lab — $5/month → Not ready? Take the free quiz first →

Cancel anytime · Instant access · Built by a designer who works in mental health

Self-paced trainings ✦ Personalized GPTs ✦ Expert feedback ✦ A Messaging Framework That's Yours ✦ A Visual System ✦ Trauma-informed design ✦
Sound familiar?

Years of clinical training,
and somehow you're also
the marketing department.

Nobody teaches branding in a counseling program, and the people who sell it tend to price it for companies, not practices.

Who built the Lab

I'm Melissa, and I work with people who help people.

Melissa L. Lawson

Nearly three decades of design, at both ends of the scale: large corporate brands with tight boundaries, and small nonprofits building an identity from nothing. These days my work is mostly in healthcare, mental health, and nonprofits.

I also research trauma-informed design: how color, motion, contrast, language, and pacing effect a nervous system that's dysregulated or neurodivergent brain. That research shapes everything inside the Lab, because the same principles that make a therapy space feel safe make a website feel safe.

Branding a private practice starts with who you are as a clinician. It's a process of discovery, honesty, and validation. Then it becomes a visual system and a way of talking about your work.

See my design work → Read the research →
What's inside

Five things you'll walk out with.

01

Clarity on what makes you the right therapist for the right people

Quizzes, journaling prompts, and a brand journal that tracks what you discover as you go.

A completed quiz result
02

A messaging framework you can reuse everywhere

One clear way of describing your work that holds up on your website, your Psychology Today profile, your intake email, and your socials.

A messaging framework worksheet
03

A visual system that feels like working with you

Palette, type, and imagery direction, built on trauma-informed principles.

A trauma-informed palette and type board
04

Personal attention to your specific questions

I'm actively engaged with the community and will answer any questions you have along the way.

The Brand Lab community feed
05

Tools you can continue to use

Every result, worksheet, and download is yours to keep, and the library keeps growing, so the Lab is still useful the second and third time through.

The downloadable resource library
What this actually looks like

Ten to twenty minutes at a time.

step 1

Find out what branding for therapists is

Branding for a therapist is very different than branding for a consumer product, find out the areas of branding I cover and why they are a good fit for therapists. 

step 2

Identify your greatest strengths

Through quizzes that will identify your Element and Therapist Archetype and reflection exercises you will identify at least 3 of your professional strengths that will highlight  your top traits and attract the clients you want. 

step 3

Understand your communication style

Pinpoint your verbal and energetic communication styles as a backdrop to building your brand statement (north star), define your brand voice, and build a framework as well as vocabulary bank that will make your communication consistent across your website, brochures, online profiles, intake forms, social media content, and more.

step 4

Build your visual identity

Jump start your visual identity by  learning what art movement or contemporary art styles communicate best exactly what you have to offer. Determine colors that best communicate who you are AND are pleasing to you; and create a workdmark.     

Plus: Fun extras along the way like building your sensory environment, figure out who your ideal clients are, learn about trauma-informed design, get info about writing a narrative bio. And keep access to resources, tools, and me for as long as you are a member!

Prefer not to do it alone

Or we can build it together.

The Lab hands you the process so you can work through it at your own pace. If you'd rather have me in it with you, we can do the same discovery work one on one — the workshop, the strengths quizzes, your voice and messaging — and then I design and build the thing.

  • A wordmark, custom icon, and submarks, drawn for your practice
  • A color palette and typefaces chosen on trauma-informed principles
  • A design system with guidelines for web and social, so posting stops being a design decision
  • Hands-on help writing your narrative bio
  • Website production, built and launched
  • Search setup done properly — titles, descriptions, local listing, and Search Console — rather than sold back to you later

Recent work includes Inward View, a couples and individual practice built from nothing — no name, no mark, no site.

Solo practitioners From $750 three tiers, up to a finished website at $3,500
Group practices From $5,000
See how it works →

Full process, tiers, and recent work on the next page.

After launch: ongoing care from $250 a month keeps the site current, secure, and monitored, so you're not the one who notices the contact form broke.

The price reveal

All of this for… drumroll, please.

Priced so "I can't afford it" officially retires as an excuse. Investing in your brand and paying your office rent can happily coexist.

$5
per month. Yes, really. At least for now.
  • ✓ Expert trainings on branding, communication, and more
  • ✓ A Trauma-informed visual system
  • ✓ One-on-one assistance 
  • ✓ Community of practicing therapists
  • ✓ Growing resource library
  • ✓ Upgrade to full service branding and website production
  • ✓ Cancel anytime, no awkward breakup required
Join the Brand Lab for $5/month →

Less than a latte. Less than a co-pay. Infinitely less awkward than cold-calling referral sources.

FAQ

Good questions.
Real answers.

Wait… is it actually $5/month?
Yes. Five American dollars, once a month. We made it this affordable because every therapist  deserves solid branding support at a price that feels like a rounding error.
I'm not "a marketing person." Will this actually work for me?
Perfect — you're exactly who this was built for. Everything inside is practical, jargon-free, and designed around your actual reality: limited time, a healthy allergy to self-promotion, and a genuine desire for the right clients to find you.
How much time does this actually take?
Each lesson takes 10-20 minutes. You can do as little or as much as you want. You'll be able to stop and jump back in at any point.
I already have a website/brand. Is this still useful?
Absolutely. Members join with a brand that exists but isn't working  or one that could stand to  be updated in this new marketplace of therapists.
Can I just hire you to do it instead?
You can. The Lab teaches you the process so you can work through it yourself, and plenty of members want exactly that. If you'd rather hand it over, I take on one-on-one clients for the full build — discovery, a custom icon, your narrative bio, and website production. Solo practitioners start at $750 for the strategy work and a wordmark, $1,250 for a full identity and design system, or $3,500 including your narrative bio and a finished website. Group practices start at $5,000. Details are here, or email me and I'll tell you what your project would involve.
What if I want to cancel?
Cancel any time, no questions asked. There's no contract, no penalty, and no guilt trip.
Is there a community component or is this just content?
Both! You get access to a private community of therapists who are actively building their brands. But there is no requirement to interact at all.

$5/month · Cancel anytime

Your ideal clients are
looking for you right now.

Help them find you. Join the Brand Lab, let your brand handle the heavy lifting, and get back to the work you actually trained for.

Join the Brand Lab for $5/month →

No contracts · Cancel anytime · Instant access