Learn how therapists can use peer consultation to improve clinical decisions, reduce burnout, and grow professionally.
September 5, 2025
9 min read
Everyone needs a second opinion every now and then. That’s especially true of therapists, who make difficult and emotionally fraught decisions all day long — often without any colleagues to act as sounding boards.
Peer consultation gives therapists a much-needed opportunity to gain the wisdom and support of their fellow mental health professionals. Here’s how to make the most of it.
Peer consultation is just what it sounds like: an opportunity for therapists to consult with their peers about questions, issues, or challenges that have emerged in clinical practice.
These sessions can be informal or structured, large or small, face-to-face or virtual. Their common thread is the exchange of clinical knowledge between providers. Often, therapists seek out peer consultation when they’re dealing with a tough or high-risk case, treating someone outside their usual niche, feeling stuck in a therapeutic situation, or just need support.
Peer consultation is usually voluntary and non-hierarchal. In other words, the people involved are coming together as peers, regardless of who has more experience on paper. Those distinctions separate peer consultation from the clinical supervision typically required for early-career therapists working toward full licensure. And it’s not therapy, either — although it can be a valuable way to process difficult situations and get support from colleagues who just happen to be therapists.
Peer consultation may not be required for most clinicians — but Adriana Jodoin, a licensed clinical psychologist practicing in New York and Massachusetts, views it as an ethical responsibility. “You want to make sure you’re doing the right thing,” she says.
Peer consultation can give you new ideas for working through a tough case or validate that you made the right call in an ethically tricky situation, like assessing whether you needed to exercise your mandated reporting responsibilities. Hearing from other clinicians, especially those who specialize in different areas of treatment than you do, can also continue your learning as a therapist.
In addition to improving the quality of your client care, peer consultation can be an important self-care tool. More than 40% of psychologists reported feeling burned out in 2020, 2021, and 2022, according to the American Psychological Association. Providing therapy is an emotionally taxing job, and all therapists need a place where they can get support and encouragement from people who understand its demands.
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Peer consultations can vary based on need, or the people you’re consulting with. It can be as informal as a phone call between friendly colleagues, or as structured as a recurring group meeting.
Different styles suit different therapists and situations. Here’s a taste of the options available.
There are many professional organizations for therapists, some of which may organize support or peer consultation groups for providers. If you’re looking for a more formal and established option, these groups may fit the bill. One tradeoff: You may not know the other clinicians in your group when you first join, so it could take a while to build trust and ensure they have the expertise you’re seeking.
There’s nothing wrong with reaching out to fellow therapists you already know. In fact, talking to a familiar face can make it easier to share openly about challenges in your practice. Pick a professional contact you trust and respect, and ask if they’d be open to swapping wisdom on an ongoing basis. You can decide together whether you’ll meet at a pre-selected time or call each other as needed.
If you don’t currently have a circle of other providers you can call, that’s OK. Networking is an important skill for therapists for many reasons, including growing your practice and learning about new career opportunities. It’s also an excellent way to find peers who can provide support and consultation. Attending conferences, joining professional groups, or participating in online forums can all be great ways to network as a therapist.
There are active communities for therapists on sites like Reddit and Facebook. Headway runs a Provider Peer Support group on Facebook exclusively for Headway providers. If you’re in a pinch or need a quick gut check, you can turn to these groups. Just keep in mind that it’s extra important to maintain client confidentiality when you’re posting information online to a large group of people — and that you never truly know who’s on the other side of a screen.
You don’t want to entrust just anybody with your clinical questions. So how do you pick the right peers for consultation? First and foremost, it’s important to choose peers with whom you feel comfortable; those you trust to be both honest and constructive.
It can also be helpful to consult clinicians with personal backgrounds or practice areas different from your own, as they may approach problems from angles you hadn’t considered or have specialized expertise to share.
Jodoin often turns to peer consultation when she’s treating a client with an issue outside her usual wheelhouse. “If it’s not my bread-and-butter expertise, that’s when I’m jumping on the phone with colleagues,” she says.
To work well, peer consultation needs to feel safe for everyone involved. After all, it can feel scary to talk openly about professional challenges.
It sounds obvious, but make sure you respect your peers’ time and energy. If you have a scheduled meeting time, be punctual and show up ready to give the meeting your full attention. It can even be helpful to start the meeting with a mindfulness exercise or other activity that gets everyone into the same frame of mind, Jodoin says.
When it’s your turn to offer feedback, “lead with validation,” Jodoin suggests. Thank your colleague for trusting you and affirm their efforts before you dive into constructive feedback.
Before you call up a colleague or step into a peer meeting, think about what you’re trying to get from the session. Do you need advice about how to tweak a treatment plan? Are you looking for new resources you can share with a client or use for your own education? Do you just want emotional support?
Be clear about your goals, both with yourself and your colleagues, to make consultation sessions as fruitful as possible. Especially if you’re meeting in a more formal format, such as a recurring group, it’s a good idea to set an agenda in advance so everyone is on the same page.
Peer consultation sessions can take place in all kinds of ways. Jodoin, for example, is part of a group for dialectical behavior therapy professionals that meets weekly and creates down-to-the-minute agendas. But she also sometimes simply calls up a friendly colleague when she needs an outside perspective.
In short, there are many ways to structure a peer consultation session. But if you’ve never taken part in peer consultation before and are looking for a roadmap, here’s a rough outline of what your session might include:
Any time you share client information, including with other therapists, it’s important to maintain confidentiality. Only share what's clinically relevant. When presenting case details, remember to de-identify the person or people involved. Avoid sharing identifying details such as names, places of employment, or residential neighborhoods. Instead, use clinical descriptions, like “a 25-year-old female presenting with anxiety.” Also make sure you’re not mentioning any details that could be unnecessary. For example, the client’s profession may not need to be shared, depending on what the clinical issue is.
If you’re meeting in person, try to pick a location where you have privacy and won't be overheard. And if you’re meeting with peers online, make sure you’re using HIPAA-compliant versions of virtual meeting software.
When you join Headway, you become part of a network of almost 50,000 peers practicing across the U.S. — all of whom are committed to making mental health care more accessible by accepting insurance. That makes you part of one of the most robust clinical peer communities in the country. Expand your practice and your personal network today by getting started with Headway.
This content is for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute clinical, legal, financial, or professional advice. All decisions should be made at the discretion of the individual or organization, in consultation with qualified clinical, legal, or other appropriate professionals.
© 2026 Therapymatch, Inc. dba Headway. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission.
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