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5 popular types of progress notes for therapists

Learn about how to write SOAP notes, DAP notes, BIRP notes, and more therapy notes.

In addition to providing quality care to your clients, an important part of being a therapist is writing progress notes. As a mental healthcare provider who works with insurance, you need to document your clients’ sessions and improvements. Making this a natural part of your treatment and workflow, rather than an added stressor, is the key to staying on top of progress notes.

To help with writing them, many therapists use specific templates. Formats like SOAP notes, DAP notes, BIRP notes, and others can make writing progress notes easier and more efficient. Ahead, learn about five types of progress note templates you can use in your practice.

In this article:

SOAP notes

SOAP notes are a popular format for writing progress notes as a behavioral health clinician. Because SOAP notes are widely recognized and used in many different healthcare settings, other care providers can easily recognize and review your mental healthcare records to provide continuity of care for your clients. 

SOAP notes contain four primary sections, represented by its acronym: 

  • Subjective: Where you document what your client is telling you about how they feel, their perceptions, and the symptoms
  • Objective: Includes the therapist's observations, including measurable, observable data
  • Assessment: Your professional evaluation of the client’s condition, as captured in the subjective and objective sections
  • Plan: Your intended actions moving forward. This includes treatment strategies, therapeutic goals, recommended interventions, and any necessary adjustments to the client's treatment plan.


Learn more about SOAP notes and see an example here.

DAP notes

DAP notes provide a very simple through line that helps you reflect on your progress with a client. You might choose to use the DAP note format if you prefer to take a more straightforward and efficient approach to documentation.

DAP notes contain three primary sections, represented by its acronym: 

  • Data: Where you document information collected from your session, including any elements of the mental status exam such as observations about the client’s appearance, mood, affect, thought process, and cognition
  • Assessment: Your client’s diagnosis, and your professional interpretation of the data collected from the session
  • Plan: Where you chart a path forward for future sessions based on your assessment, including any interventions you want to explore, goals for future treatment, or information about the timing and frequency of future sessions


Learn more about DAP notes and see an example here.

BIRP notes

The BIRP note template might be a fit for your practice if you work with behavioral frameworks, due to the template’s focus on how the client appears to think and feel before and after your therapeutic intervention.

BIRP notes contain four primary sections, represented by its acronym:

  • Behavior: Contains direct observations of your client’s behavior during the session, including elements of the mental status exam such as details about the client’s body language, verbal communication, alertness, affect, mood, and motor activity
  • Intervention: Where you detail whatever clinical methods you used during the course of the session to address the client’s needs and support their progress, invoking specific techniques, training, activities, or tools
  • Response: The client’s reaction to the intervention, and if they feel you’re on track with their treatment goals. It’s the most critical section when it comes to assessing the effectiveness of the care you provided in session.
  • Plan: The outline of your proposed source of action for future sessions, including any adjustments you plan to make to the interventions you employed, as well as your intent to introduce new techniques


Learn more about BIRP notes and see an example here.

DARP notes

A DARP note is a templated four-part strategy for documenting therapy sessions and other client interactions. DARP notes contain an extra section compared to DAP notes, so they may take a little longer to complete for some providers. 

DARP notes contain four primary sections, represented by its acronym:

  • Data: Objective and subjective observations from the therapy session, such as what you talked about during the session and your general observations about the client’s mood and overall presentation
  • Assessment: Your clinical interpretation of the above information, reflecting on the client’s progress and areas that may require further intervention
  • Response: Your interventions and how the client reacted and responded, both in the session and in their overall progress
  • Plan: Next steps and follow-up actions based on your current intervention and the client’s response, including possible future interventions, client homework, or even referrals to other resources


Learn more about DARP notes and see an example here.

SIRP notes

SIRP notes cover both the present session and plans for future ones, providing a useful way to not only track patient progress, but also keep a treatment plan evolving and improving. 

SIRP notes contain four primary sections, represented by its acronym:

  • Situation: The client’s presenting condition, including details about the flow of the session, as well as the client’s symptoms, complaints, physical appearance, and affect
  • Intervention: Specific interventions, therapeutic approaches, or risk assessments used in the session, including any skills taught or advice offered
  • Response: How the client responded to the interventions used in the session, as well as any noticeable signs of progress (or a lack of progress)
  • Plan: Details plans or interventions that may be used in future sessions, summarizing a patient’s progress and how to tailor their treatment plan for continued improvement


Learn more about SIRP notes and see an example here.

Which type of therapy note should I use?

Therapists tend to use the format they were trained on, and whichever one feels most authentic to their style and modality. Any of these templates can be insurance compliant. Which one you use is generally a matter of personal preference.

Simplify note-taking with Headway.

While there are many options for documentation, Headway's in-product templates are designed to make note-taking fast and efficient, all while helping to take out the guesswork. 

Plus, our templates are included at no additional cost for Headway providers.

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