Therapy Notes Template: SOAP, DAP & BIRP Snippets

Progress notes take up a big share of a therapist's time, and rewriting the same structure after every session adds up. Below are SOAP, DAP, and BIRP templates you can fill in quickly and adapt to your own workflow.

What is a therapy progress note template?

A mental health progress note template is a repeatable structure for documenting a clinical encounter. Depending on the format, it can separate client-reported information, observations, clinical interpretation, interventions, responses, and next steps.

A template can prompt for each section and flag blank fields, but it can't tell whether the finished note is accurate, clinically appropriate, or billable. Those requirements vary by profession, setting, service, payer, contract, organization, and jurisdiction.

Therapy progress note templates

The clinical sections start blank. Guidance appears while the Text Blaze form is open but doesn't become part of the inserted note. The completed examples use example details. For the full pack, including section phrases you can reuse every session, see the SOAP, DAP, and BIRP therapy note templates page.

Build a SOAP, DAP, or BIRP note from one template

This combined Text Blaze template puts SOAP, DAP, and BIRP behind one drop-down menu. Select SOAP and the form loads the SOAP fields. Select DAP or BIRP and it loads that structure instead.

The template collects a client reference, clinician, encounter date, encounter type, modality, and session focus. Optional sections can add session times, participants or a collateral source, and a treatment-goal connection. It checks the selected structure for blank fields and won't insert the draft until the review menu is marked Reviewed.

SOAP therapy progress note template

A SOAP therapy progress note separates the client's report from observable or verified information. SOAP stands for Subjective, Objective, Assessment, and Plan.

• Subjective: Information reported by the client or an identified collateral source, such as concerns, relevant context, changes since the previous encounter, and functional impact.

• Objective: Observable or otherwise verified information from the encounter. Measures belong here only when they were actually used and when this placement fits the approved workflow.

• Assessment: The clinician's interpretation of the Subjective and Objective information, including relevant progress, change, or barriers.

• Plan: Agreed next steps, follow-up, planned focus, tasks, referrals, or coordination when relevant.

Text Blaze also has a general SOAP notes template for broader medical use. This therapy version doesn't prompt for physical examinations, laboratory results, medications, or differential diagnoses.

Fictional SOAP note example

Subjective: Client A reported difficulty maintaining an evening routine after a recent schedule change and described frustration about several unfinished personal tasks.

Objective: Client A identified two barriers during discussion and completed a written planning exercise during the encounter.

Assessment: Client A demonstrated increased ability to identify barriers. Follow-through with the current routine remains inconsistent based on the information discussed.

Plan: Review the planning exercise at the next encounter. Client A chose to test one reminder routine before follow-up.

DAP therapy progress note template

A DAP therapy progress note combines relevant reported and observed information in one Data section. DAP stands for Data, Assessment, and Plan.

• Data: Relevant client reports, clinician observations, and encounter events. Some organizations also place interventions and the client's response in this section.

• Assessment: The clinician's interpretation of the Data, including relevant progress, change, or barriers.

• Plan: Agreed next steps, follow-up, planned focus, tasks, referrals, or coordination when relevant.

DAP is more compact than SOAP, but the clinician still needs to distinguish reported information, direct observations, and clinical conclusions within the note.

Fictional DAP note example

Data: Client B reported postponing two planned phone calls because of uncertainty about what to say. During the encounter, Client B listed the information needed for each call and practiced a brief opening statement.

Assessment: Client B identified a specific barrier and completed the planned exercise. Client B continued to report hesitation about making the calls without written prompts.

Plan: Client B chose to keep the opening statement available for the first call. Review the result and any remaining barriers at the next encounter.

BIRP therapy progress note template

A BIRP therapy progress note separates relevant behavior or presentation, the clinician's intervention, the client's response, and the plan. BIRP stands for Behavior, Intervention, Response, and Plan.

• Behavior: Client-reported and directly observed behavior or presentation relevant to the encounter.

• Intervention: Specific clinician actions actually completed and their connection to the session or treatment focus.

• Response: The client's actual response to the relevant intervention, including engagement, understanding, disagreement, change, or lack of change.

• Plan: Agreed next steps, follow-up, planned focus, tasks, referrals, or coordination when relevant.

Fictional BIRP note example

Behavior: Client C reported feeling nervous before work meetings and spoke quietly while describing the most recent meeting.

Intervention: The clinician guided Client C through a brief role-play focused on opening a meeting update and asked Client C to identify language that felt natural.

Response: Client C completed the role-play twice, revised one statement, and reported that the second version felt easier to use.

Plan: Client C chose to keep the revised statement available for the next meeting. Review the experience at follow-up.

Which therapy progress note format should you use?

Use the format required or approved for the clinician's setting. SOAP separates reported information from observed information. DAP combines both in one Data section. BIRP gives interventions and client responses their own sections.

None of these formats defines what every mental health record must contain. A practice should compare its chosen structure with its clinical policy and any legal, billing, payer, contractual, or jurisdictional requirements.

Are progress notes and psychotherapy notes the same?

No. Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule, psychotherapy notes have a narrower meaning than ordinary mental health documentation. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) defines psychotherapy notes as notes recorded by a mental health professional that document or analyze counseling-session conversations and are kept separate from the rest of the medical record.

The federal definition excludes medication information, session start and stop times, treatment modalities and frequency, clinical-test results, diagnosis, functional status, treatment plans, symptoms, prognosis, and progress-to-date summaries. HHS also explains that psychotherapy notes are kept separate from medical and billing records and receive special protections.

The SOAP, DAP, and BIRP templates on this page are progress-note structures. They aren't psychotherapy-note templates. See the HHS mental health privacy guidance for the federal definition and its exclusions. State law and other requirements may add obligations or protections.

How does Text Blaze turn the templates into a workflow?

Text Blaze opens the selected template as a guided form, checks designated fields, and inserts the completed structure into a supported text field. The clinician writes the note. Text Blaze controls which blank fields appear and whether the draft is ready to insert.

1. Choose SOAP, DAP, or BIRP.
2. Complete the encounter fields and the selected note sections.
3. Open optional sections only when they belong in the workflow.
4. Resolve blank-field checks and mark the draft Reviewed.

Text Blaze forms provide text fields, paragraph fields, dates, drop-down menus, and toggles. Text Blaze {note} commands display guidance without adding it to the inserted note. Rules and validation load the selected format and prevent insertion while designated fields are blank. Form commands are available on paid Text Blaze plans, and the Free plan provides a limited number of daily trials.

Validation catches blank fields. It can't catch false, unsupported, or clinically inappropriate content.

How should a practice customize these templates?

Treat each therapy note template as a starting structure. Review the fields, section placement, and validation rules before anyone uses it with clinical information. Test the finished version with fictional records first.

1. Confirm that SOAP, DAP, BIRP, or another format fits the practice's documentation policy and system.
2. Ask qualified reviewers to identify relevant state, license, setting, payer, contract, and organizational requirements.
3. Keep, remove, or rename the encounter fields and optional sections.
4. Decide where reported information, observations, interventions, responses, assessments, and plans belong.
5. Remove canned findings, diagnoses, risk determinations, interventions, responses, medical-necessity statements, and plans.
6. Test every format, optional section, error condition, and destination field with fictional information.

For a shared workflow, a practice can place reviewed snippets in a shared Text Blaze folder and assign owner, editor, or viewer permissions. Changes to a shared folder synchronize with its users. See sharing snippets and folders to learn more.

Frequently asked questions

Can one therapy progress note template switch among SOAP, DAP, and BIRP?

Yes. A Text Blaze drop-down menu can select SOAP, DAP, or BIRP, and rules can load the matching structure. The combined template keeps the three formats behind one entry point, so the clinician doesn't have to remember a separate shortcut for each one.

What should a therapy progress note include?

A therapy progress note should include the information required by the clinician's approved workflow and applicable requirements. Depending on the format, that may include reported information, observations, assessment, interventions, response, and next steps. A template can organize those categories, but it can't decide which details are clinically appropriate.

How long should a therapy progress note be?

There's no single word count for every therapy progress note. The appropriate length depends on the service, setting, organization, payer, contract, profession, and jurisdiction. The note should contain the required information without canned material added just to make it longer. Qualified reviewers should set local expectations.

Can Text Blaze insert a therapy note template into an electronic health record?

Text Blaze can insert snippets into supported text fields. Compatibility and field behavior vary, so the clinician or organization should test each template in its own electronic health record or documentation system. A fictional test can expose formatting or field limitations before clinical use.

Does a therapy note template make documentation compliant?

No. A template can organize fields and block insertion when designated fields are blank. It can't determine whether the clinician's content is accurate, complete, clinically appropriate, billable, or compliant with every applicable requirement. Qualified reviewers remain responsible for the final workflow.

Add the therapy progress note templates to Text Blaze

Add the SOAP, DAP, and BIRP templates to Text Blaze, then use the combined builder when one workflow needs all three formats. Before using them in a practice, review the fields and validation rules against the practice's documentation workflow. The therapy note templates page walks through the full pack, and there are more ready-made templates in Text Blaze for therapists.

Start with the format approved for the practice, complete the relevant fields, and review the note before inserting it. The templates organize what the clinician writes. They don't generate observations, assessments, diagnoses, interventions, responses, or plans.