Almost a Third of Young Adults Have Now Tried Therapy, BACP Finds

BACP's 2026 survey of over 5,000 UK adults found that 30% of 16 to 24 year olds have seen a counsellor or psychotherapist, up from 24% the year before. This includes practices like yours.

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Therapists are picking up a growing share of young clients, and that changes how those clients hear about them in the first place.

Original ResearchBACP's yearly public opinion survey shows a jump in young adults who have used counselling or psychotherapy
Sourcehttps://www.bacp.co.uk/about-us/about-bacp/bacp-public-perceptions-survey/
OverviewThe survey questioned over five thousand UK adults about their experience and views of therapy, and BACP runs it every year to track public attitudes.
Year2026
PublisherIndustry body, BACP
Relevance to WellbeingDirect evidence that demand among young adults is rising, though it doesn't say how those clients found their therapist.
Our VerdictToo early to tell Large sample, consistent annual methodology, and a plain self-report figure, though it stops short of explaining what's driving the rise.
Our Summary
  • Sample size is properly grown-up: over five thousand adults, fielded by YouGov.
  • The year-on-year jump, 24% to 30%, is a genuine trend rather than a one-off snapshot.
  • It measures whether someone has ever had therapy, not whether they're currently looking.
  • No detail on how these young adults actually found their therapist.
Our Geo ViewSurvey covers UK adults only; treat it as indicative rather than proof for practices outside the UK.
Abstract of wellbeing niches and revenue flow
Recognise how this might impact your practice

Why this might matter to you

  • Coaching: this matters because young coaching clients often arrive already primed by friends who've done therapy, so the conversation about what actually helps starts earlier.
  • Therapy: this matters because if nearly a third of under-25s have already sat on someone's sofa, therapists are less busy explaining what therapy is and more busy explaining why theirs is worth choosing.
  • Training: this matters because trainers working with a younger, more therapy-literate audience can stop treating mental health as an awkward afterthought in the syllabus.
  • Alternative Healing: this matters because young clients who've already had counselling turn up with firmer expectations of what "help" is meant to feel like.
  • Clinical: this matters because clinics seeing under-25s are dealing with people who already know the vocabulary of therapy, waiting lists included.
  • Retreat/Centre: this matters because centres marketing to families are now marketing into households where the teenager has quite possibly already had six sessions.

Where this came from

BACP says a growing share of young adults have tried counselling, up six percentage points on last year.

BACP Public Perceptions Survey, published 2026.

Credibility flags: fieldwork carried out by YouGov, sample of 5,058 UK adults, methodology disclosed on BACP's own site.

How we scored this

A relevance score out of 100, built from three things: how well it fits the six practice types, how recent it is, and how solid the methodology behind it is.

97%
Practice fit, 100How new, 100How solid, 90

Marked up for a solid sample and a named independent fieldwork agency, marked down a touch on how directly it maps to referral behaviour rather than plain demand.

Faces of satisfied clients
It's worth considering changes to your marketing practices

What this means for your marketing

  • Put the 30% figure on any page aimed at young adults or their parents.
  • Say to worried parents before they ask: yes, this is now common, not unusual.
  • Brief your admin team on how to answer "is this normal for someone my age?" without pausing first.
  • Retire any material that still treats a young client as a rare exception.
  • Mention the year-on-year rise when pitching to schools, universities or other youth-facing referrers.

Who this is most useful for

Practice typeRelevanceRecommended action
TherapyHighLead with this stat in youth-facing marketing.
Clinical PracticesMediumUse it to normalise early conversations with younger patients.
CoachingMediumReference it when pitching to under-25 clients.
Retreats/CentresMediumUse it in family-facing communications.
TrainingLowNote it as context in youth mental health curricula.
Alternative HealingLowConsider it when positioning against clinical options.

Best before

Best before: this is an annual survey, so revisit the figure when the 2027 BACP Public Perceptions Survey lands.

What next?

A therapist who relies on word of mouth is sitting on a growing pool of young clients whose friends haven't heard of them yet.

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