Session notes are best written right after the meeting or the same day, following a consistent structure: what the client brought in, what happened during the session, what you did, how the client responded, your working hypotheses and the plan for the next meeting. Record facts separately from interpretations, keep the client's words brief and in quotation marks, and frame your conclusions cautiously, as hypotheses. Below you'll find a structure, example phrasings, a sample note and a checklist.

Why a therapist needs notes after every session

A therapist's memory is unreliable storage. When you see ten to fifteen clients a week, the details start to blur within a few days: who talked about the conflict with their boss, whose medication changed, whom you promised to come back to the topic of their father. Notes take that load off and give you several practical things.

  • Continuity of therapy. Before the next session you can recall where you left off in two minutes, instead of reconstructing the conversation from memory.
  • You can see the trajectory. When notes follow a single structure, you can read ten sessions in a row and see what has changed and what is standing still.
  • Material for supervision. A supervisor needs concrete episodes, the client's words and your actions — not a vague "something's not working."
  • Professional protection. A careful record shows that you acted thoughtfully: you assessed risks, explained, and reached agreements.
  • Clearing your head. Once something is written down, you can let it go until the next session — that's part of a therapist's self-care too.

When to write notes: during the session or after

During the session most therapists jot down only a few words — a key phrase from the client, a score on a scale, an agreement. The full note is written afterward. If you write a lot during the session, your attention goes to the notebook, and the client can tell they're only half listened to.

The best moment is right after the meeting, while the client's phrasing and your own impressions are still fresh. Set aside 10–15 minutes between sessions: that's enough to capture the essentials. If that doesn't work out, at least write the same day. A note written a week later is already a reconstruction, not a note.

The structure of a session note: 7 sections

This universal structure works for any modality. If you work with a specific protocol (SOAP, DAP, BIRP), these same sections simply map onto its fields.

  1. The request and the session's topic

    What the client brought in today: an event from the week, a recurring concern, a topic you agreed to continue.

  2. What the client said

    Key events, thoughts, experiences. One or two important phrases — word for word, in quotation marks.

  3. What you observed

    State, emotions, physical signs, changes in speech or behavior during the session. No judgments — only what you can see and hear.

  4. What you did

    Techniques, exercises, interventions, psychoeducation. Not "worked on anxiety," but what exactly.

  5. The client's response

    How the client responded to the work: agreed, resisted, understood something, how their state changed by the end of the meeting.

  6. Assessment and hypotheses

    Your professional view: what is likely going on, what the dynamics are, whether there are any risks.

  7. Plan

    Agreements, between-session tasks, the focus of the next meeting, what to check on.

Not every session fills in all seven sections. But if the "Plan" section is empty three times in a row, that's already a signal: the therapy may have lost its direction.

How to phrase it: facts separate from interpretations

The most common mistake is mixing what happened with what you think about it. "The client is manipulating" is a conclusion. "The client changed the subject three times whenever divorce came up" is a fact you can draw different conclusions from. A fact can be checked; a conclusion can't.

Before
  • The client was depressed.
  • He resisted, didn't want to work.
  • We talked about her relationship with her husband.
  • Good work today.
After
  • The client spoke quietly, cried twice, and says that "for a week now nothing feels worth doing."
  • When I suggested a guided imagery exercise, he refused: "I don't see the point." We discussed what was holding him back.
  • We discussed Saturday's argument: her husband came home late, and the client stayed silent until morning.
  • At the end of the session he said that for the first time he understands why he's angry at his sister. Self-esteem-related anxiety — down from 8 to 5.

A few phrasing rules that make notes useful a month later:

  • Write in verbs and concrete events, not labels.
  • Quote the client briefly — one precise phrase is worth more than a paragraph of paraphrase.
  • Mark hypotheses as hypotheses: "possibly," "I suspect," "to check."
  • Record numbers when you have them: anxiety scale, number of episodes, hours of sleep.
  • Write as if the client themselves will read the note — no dismissive words and no judgments of their character.

A sample session note

Below is a made-up example created to illustrate the structure. It is not a record of a real session.

Session 6. Client, 34, presenting concern — anxiety before work meetings.
Topic: Tuesday's meeting where the client was to present a report.
What she said: slept poorly the night before the meeting, in the morning thought about canceling. She presented — "my voice was shaking, but I made it to the end." For two hours after the meeting she replayed everything she'd said wrong.
Observations: spoke quickly, clenched her hands when her manager came up. By the end of the session she became calmer and was smiling.
What we did: broke the situation down using the "situation — thought — emotion — action" model. Identified the thought "everyone will see that I'm incompetent." Looked for evidence for and against.
Response: she noticed on her own that she hadn't received a single negative comment about the report. Her anxiety about the next meeting, by her own rating — 6 out of 10 (8 at the start of the session).
Hypothesis: the anxiety may rest on a belief about her own inadequacy; to check in other areas.
Plan: before the next session, record thoughts before work meetings. Next time — return to the topic of her manager.

A note like this reads in a minute and gives you everything you need before the next meeting: context, exact words, your work, a hypothesis and a plan.

What not to put in your notes

  • Unnecessary details about third parties. A colleague's name or details of someone else's life are rarely needed — their role is enough: "manager," "sister."
  • Off-the-cuff diagnoses. If there's no diagnosis from a professional qualified to give one, write about symptoms and observations.
  • Emotional judgments of the client. "Unbearable," "a manipulator," "whining again" — that's about your own state, and it belongs in supervision, not in the chart.
  • A full transcript. A note is the selected essentials. If you need a word-for-word record, that's what an audio recording is for (with the client's consent).

First session and the ones after: how the notes differ

After the first meeting the note is usually longer. It includes the presenting concern in the client's own words, their expectations of therapy, a brief history of the problem, what they've already tried, their resources, important life circumstances and an initial risk assessment. Some of this is worth moving straight into the client's chart, so you don't have to dig through session notes for it later.

Later notes are shorter and more about change: what happened between sessions, what's new, how the work toward the goals is progressing. It helps to answer one question each time: "What was different in this session compared to the last one?"

How to use your notes before the next session

  1. Reread the plan

    Five minutes before the session, open the last note and look at what you agreed to do and to talk about.

  2. Check on the tasks

    If the client was meant to try something between sessions, ask about it at the start — otherwise the tasks lose their value.

  3. Look at your hypotheses

    Did anything get confirmed over the past week? Hypotheses that go unchecked quickly turn into the therapist's convictions.

  4. Once a month — a review

    Reread several sessions in a row and compare them against the therapy goals. That makes it clearer what's moving and what isn't.

Where to store a therapist's notes

A paper notebook, a Word file, notes on your phone — people use all of these, but each option has a weak spot. A notebook can be lost or left in a café. Files on a laptop scatter across folders, and in a shared cloud a family member might see them. Notes on your phone get mixed in with personal ones.

Whatever you choose, check three things: the record is accessible only to you, it's easy to find by client and date, and all of one client's records sit together in chronological order.

How it works in Praxis

In Praxis each session is a separate page in the client's "Therapy Work Journal." On the left — a brief summary of the client, their therapy goals, and your "Hypotheses" and “Supervision request”. In the center — the “Free notes”, “Session audio” and "Protocol" tabs (SOAP, DAP, BIRP, GIRP or PIE), and below them “Key moments”: thoughts, emotions, behavior, physical reactions. On the right — a "Template" with the session structure for one of 17 approaches, the "Focus from the previous session" and the “Focus of the next meeting”.

  • Everything you write is saved a second after your last change — "Saved automatically" appears next to it.
  • Every field has a dictation button: you can speak your notes aloud right after the session.
  • The session view shows only the blocks you've filled in — “Blocks” or “List”, as a single document.
  • Only you can see the notes, protocols and hypotheses — the client has no access to them.

Checklist: a session note

  • Written the same day, while the details are fresh.
  • The session topic and what the client brought in are there.
  • One or two of the client's key phrases — word for word.
  • Observations are kept separate from interpretations.
  • It's clear what exactly you did in the session.
  • The client's response and the changes over the meeting are recorded.
  • Hypotheses are marked as hypotheses.
  • Risks, if there were any, are described precisely.
  • There's a plan and a focus for the next meeting.