Is Therapist Appreciation Day a public holiday?

No. It is an unofficial observance, not a federal or public holiday, so offices, banks, and schools stay open and it is a normal working day.

Is it the same as National Psychotherapy Day?

No. They share the September 25 date, but National Psychotherapy Day is a separate, documented observance started in 2012 to reduce stigma around therapy.

Who created Therapist Appreciation Day?

It began as a community submission by a reader, Blake Sherman, and Holiday Calendar established it as an observance in 2025.

What is the difference between a therapist, a psychologist, and a psychiatrist?

Therapist is an umbrella term for counselors and clinical social workers, usually with a master's degree. Psychologists hold a doctorate, and psychiatrists are medical doctors who can prescribe medication.

How do you observe Therapist Appreciation Day?

People thank a therapist who has helped them, share verified mental health resources, or support better working conditions for clinicians. There is no official ceremony attached to the day.

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Therapist Appreciation Day

An appreciation observance on September 25 recognizing therapists and the role they play in mental health care across the United States.

Friday

September 2026

Last updated February 7, 2026 · by the Holiday Calendar Team

Have an update or spot an error?

YEARLY DATESeptember 25

OBSERVED INUnited States

CATEGORYCareers

SUBCATEGORYHealthcare

ORIGIN

Community Origin

FOUNDING ENTITY

Blake Sherman (community submission)

FIRST OBSERVED

2025

“A reader proposed the day; Holiday Calendar put it on the calendar in 2025.

HOW THE HOLIDAY CAME TO BE

A community submission the calendar adopted.

Therapist Appreciation Day began as a community submission by Blake Sherman, and Holiday Calendar established it as an observance in 2025. It shares its September 25 date with National Psychotherapy Day, a separate observance documented since 2012.

INTRO

The quiet profession behind a national treatment gap

PHOTO

In 2023, about 58.7 million American adults lived with a mental illness. Roughly half of them got no treatment at all.

Therapist Appreciation Day, observed on September 25, points at the people who work inside that gap. Not the headlines about a mental health crisis, but the clinician in a small office who sees the same client every Thursday at four.

The day itself is young and small. It began as a reader's community submission, which Holiday Calendar adopted as an observance in 2025. What it marks is real and easy to verify: a workforce of several hundred thousand counselors, therapists, and psychologists carrying a load the numbers say keeps growing.

ORIGINS

Therapist Appreciation Day history

INTRODUCTION

The job of "therapist" is far younger than the help it offers. Organized psychology in the United States is barely older than the telephone, and the license that lets someone hang a shingle is younger still.

The story does not start with a holiday. It starts with a profession deciding it was one.

CHAPTER 01

A study at Clark University

In July 1892, a small group of academics gathered in the study of G. Stanley Hall at Clark University and founded the American Psychological Association. Hall became its first president. At the start it was a scholarly society, not a clinical one. The idea that a psychologist might sit across from a paying patient came later.

Today that same body counts more than 172,000 members, the largest psychology organization in the country.

CHAPTER 02

Putting letters after the name

For decades, anyone could call themselves a psychologist. That changed in 1945, when Connecticut passed the first law in the United States to certify psychologists. A board of three, appointed by the governor, decided who qualified.

Other states followed slowly. The last holdout, Missouri, did not pass its own law until 1977. Only then did every state in the country license the field.

CHAPTER 03

The couch goes online

The next jolt was sudden. When the pandemic closed waiting rooms in 2020, mental health care moved to video almost overnight. Telehealth for mental health jumped roughly 16- to 20-fold in the first year, and unlike many pandemic habits, this one stuck.

A field that had spent a century building licensure and trust suddenly had to do all of it through a screen.

CHAPTER 04

A reader's idea, put on the calendar

Therapist Appreciation Day arrives at the end of that long arc, and it arrives quietly. It began as a community submission by a reader, Blake Sherman, and Holiday Calendar adopted it as an observance in 2025. It shares its September 25 date with National Psychotherapy Day, a separate observance started in 2012 to fight stigma, which is the likely reason this corner of the calendar leans toward therapy at all.

The day is new, but the work it honors is not.

WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

Why Therapist Appreciation Day Matters

ACCESS

The bottleneck in mental health care is rarely the patient.

Even among adults with serious mental illness in 2023, fewer than three in four received any treatment. The day spotlights a shortfall that policy reports describe as a workforce too small for the demand.

GROWTH

A field still scaling up

Federal projections show counseling and therapy among the faster-growing occupations in the country. Appreciation here is also recruitment, a signal to students weighing a field that needs them.

STIGMA

Naming the work normalizes it

Therapy spent most of the last century as something people did not admit to. Putting a date on the calendar treats seeing a therapist as ordinary, which is the practical aim of recognizing the profession at all.

AT A GLANCE

What a "therapist" actually is

Not one license: An umbrella term, not a single credential
LCSW: Clinical social worker, holds a master's in social work
LPC: Licensed professional counselor, holds a master's in counseling
LMFT: Marriage and family therapist, holds a master's degree
Psychologist: Holds a doctorate, a PhD or PsyD
Prescribing: None of these prescribe; that is a psychiatrist's role

BY THE NUMBERS

Therapist Appreciation Day by the Numbers

483,500: US counselors
204,300: US psychologists
$59,190: Counselor median pay
+17%: Counselor growth by 2034

GET INVOLVED

How to Observe Therapist Appreciation Day

Thank a therapist directly

If a counselor, social worker, or psychologist has helped you, send a specific note about what changed. Naming the moment lands harder than a generic thank-you.

LEARN

Learn what the letters mean

Read up on the difference between an LCSW, an LPC, an LMFT, and a psychologist before your next referral. Knowing the credential helps you find the right kind of help.

CHECK

Check on someone's access to care

Ask a friend whether cost or a waitlist has kept them from getting help. Point them to a free option rather than offering advice yourself.

Share a verified resource, not a hot take

Post a link to an authoritative helpline or treatment finder instead of a wellness opinion. Accurate information is the most useful thing you can pass along.

SUPPORT

Support a clinician's working conditions

If you manage or know therapists, raise pay, caseload, or burnout as a real topic. Appreciation that changes a workday outlasts a card.

GET INVOLVED

Resources and Support

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. free, confidential 24/7 support by call, text, or chat in the US

SAMHSA

SAMHSA FindTreatment.gov

SAMHSA FindTreatment.gov. official federal locator for mental health and substance use treatment

NAMI

NAMI HelpLine

NAMI HelpLine. information, referrals, and support from the National Alliance on Mental Illness

Test your knowledge

How well do you know Therapist Appreciation Day?

1 / 7

Which state was first in the US to certify psychologists?

Answer

It is observed annually on September 25 in the United States.

Related holidays

FRI

Sep 2026

Awareness

National Psychotherapy Day

Take time to show yourself some self-care this National Psychotherapy Day - talk to a professional, practice mindfulness, and take care of your mental health!

National Mental Health Provider Appreciation Day

On National Mental Health Provider Appreciation Day, let's take a moment to thank and honor those who support our well-being and emotional growth.

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