Homework in Psychotherapy: Why, How to Assign It, and How to Discuss It

Homework in psychotherapy means short exercises between sessions: noticing your state, writing down thoughts and feelings, testing an assumption in real life. It carries the work out of the office and into the client's everyday life, and it gives you material for the next meeting. Homework works when it grows out of what the session was about, when the client understands why they're doing it, and when you make a point of coming back to it next time.

Below: what homework is for, what kinds there are, how to assign it so the client actually takes it on, and how to talk through what did and didn't get done.

Why do therapists use homework?

A session lasts an hour a week, and the rest of the client's life happens without you. What they noticed in the office easily slips away before the next meeting: emotions settle, the details of situations fade, and all that's left for the session is a vague "it was hard." Homework keeps a thread running between your meetings.

• Material instead of memories. A note made on the day of the event is more accurate than a retelling a week later: you can see what happened, what the client thought, what they felt, and what they did.
• Transferring skills. Catching an automatic thought in session is one thing; catching it in a conversation with your boss is another entirely. Between sessions the client practices in real conditions.
• An active role for the client. The client explores their own experience rather than just bringing it to the therapist. This supports the sense that change depends on them too.
• Patterns become visible. Several notes in a row reveal what a single episode can't: which situations keep recurring, which feelings come up most often.

What kinds of homework are there?

The form of the task depends on the approach and the presenting issue, but most exercises can be grouped by what they direct the client's attention toward. Below are nine areas, with examples of tasks from the Praxis library.

• State and reactions — "What was happening with me," "Moments that got to me," "My week."
• Thoughts — "Thoughts I keep returning to," "What I know and what I'm assuming," "My inner dialogue."
• Emotions — "What I'm feeling right now," "What touches me emotionally," "My anger," "My anxiety."
• Relationships — "What's going on between us," "My expectations of the other person," "What I don't talk about in the relationship."
• Boundaries — "When I wanted to say no," "How I share responsibility."
• Needs — "My needs," "I want it — I do it," "When I need help."
• Resources — "My support," "What I did for myself."
• Behavior — "My vicious circle," "Doing it differently than usual," "Behavioral experiment."
• Reflection — "A letter to myself," "Things I find hard to talk about," "What I want to bring to the next meeting."

Some tasks are a running log: the client adds a new entry each time something happens — for instance, when they notice anxiety or a flash of anger. Others are filled in once, like a summary of the week or a plan to try acting differently.

How do you assign homework so the client actually does it?

Undone homework is more often tied not to "resistance" but to how the task was given: at the end of the session, in a rush, with no explanation and no agreement about when exactly to do it. A few steps clear away most of these obstacles.

1. 01

   Connect the task to the session's theme

   The task should carry on from what you were just talking about. If the client was describing fights with their partner, "What's going on between us" makes sense, whereas a random values exercise does not.

2. 02

   Explain why it matters

   One or two sentences: what you want to see together. For example: "It's important for me to understand when your anxiety peaks. These notes will help us see that."

3. 03

   Start small

   One or two entries a week is better than a daily journal the client abandons by day three. You can scale it up once the format feels familiar.

4. 04

   Try it together in session

   Fill in the first entry together, using a situation the client just described. That way they'll see what each field means and won't get stuck at home on the very first question.

5. 05

   Agree on the moment

   When exactly the client will make the entry: in the evening, right after a difficult situation, on Sunday as a summary of the week. A specific time works better than "sometime this week."

6. 06

   Talk through the obstacles

   Ask: "What might get in the way?" Lack of time, shame, fear of writing it "wrong" — better to hear this now than a week later.

7. 07

   Give the task in writing

   Spoken instructions get forgotten. A form with questions that the client can open anytime removes the "I couldn't remember exactly what I was supposed to do."

This week, try to notice the moments when anxiety shows up. You don't need to do anything about it — just write down what was happening, how it showed up, and what you did next. If you can't remember something, leave the field blank. We'll look at this together at our next meeting.

Example: a behavioral experiment

A behavioral experiment is a good illustration of how a task carries on the work of the session. The client tests, in practice, an assumption that limits them — for example: "If I ask a colleague for help, they'll think I'm incompetent." The entry is made in two parts — before and after.

1. What am I assuming?
2. How strongly do I expect this to happen?
3. How will I test it?
4. What do I feel before the experiment?
5. What actually happened?
6. What did I feel during and after?
7. How does the outcome compare with my assumption?
8. How do I see my assumption now?

In session, any outcome is valuable. If the fear didn't come true, there's an experience to set against the belief. If it came true in part, there's more to explore: what exactly happened, how the client lived through it, what helped.

How do you discuss homework in session?

The key rule: if you assigned a task, you come back to it. When the therapist forgets to ask, the client quickly concludes it was optional.

1. 01

   Come back to it at the start of the session

   Don't leave the task for the last five minutes. The entry is ready-made material, and it's often where the main work of the meeting begins.

2. 02

   Start with the experience of doing it

   Ask what it was like to do: easy, hard, unfamiliar. Sometimes the process of writing says more than its content.

3. 03

   Look for recurrences

   What do several entries have in common? Which situations, thoughts, or feelings come up most often? Show the client a pattern they may not have noticed themselves.

4. 04

   Pick one entry to go deep

   It's better to work through one situation in detail than to skim through them all.

5. 05

   Decide what comes next

   Continue the same task, change the format, or move on to another. The next task, again, flows from what you saw.

Common mistakes with homework

What if the client doesn't want to show their entries?

Not every task has to be read by the therapist. A letter to oneself, or notes about what's hard to say out loud, are sometimes written precisely because no one else will see them. It's worth agreeing with the client in advance: these entries are for them, and whether to bring them to the session is their own call. Even if the text stays private, you can ask what it was like to write and what shifted afterward.

How it works in Praxis

In the therapist's workspace there's a "Additional assignments for the client" section, and within it the "Homework" module: 33 ready-made tasks across 9 areas. A task's page shows its purpose, format, and when it's used, and the “Send to a client” button opens the client picker. During a session, a paper-plane button next to the main button on the session page leads to the library.

• The client sees the task in their own workspace and adds entries. Until they tap “Save and send for review”, the entries stay drafts and the therapist doesn't see them.
• Once sent, you get a notification in the bell icon, and the entries open as a table in the “Summary (table, charts, other)” tab; next to it are "Filled in only" and “As a questionnaire”.
• To each entry you can add "Your note" and a “Discuss in the next session” flag. The client doesn't see your notes.
• In "Reflection" tasks, the client chooses for each entry who will see it: "Only me" or "Share with therapist." Private entries never reach you — you only see a line showing how many entries the client kept for themselves.
• A task can only be sent to a client who has registered in their own workspace. If they haven't, Praxis will show an invitation link.

Checklist: homework in 5 minutes

• The task flows from today's session theme
• The client understands why to do it
• The amount is realistic: one or two entries
• You made the first entry together
• You agreed on when exactly the client will make the entry
• You talked through what might get in the way
• The task is available in writing
• You'll come back to it at the next session