How to write SOAP notes for therapy
What goes in each part of a SOAP note, with a worked example, and the habits that keep notes short, clinical and useful next session.
SOAP is the most widely used format for therapy progress notes. It splits each note into four parts, so anyone reading it later can see what the client reported, what you observed, what you made of it and what happens next.
The four parts
- Subjective: what the client told you, in their words or a close summary. Mood, concerns, what happened since last session.
- Objective: what you observed. Affect, appearance, behavior in session, scores from measures you gave.
- Assessment: your clinical read. How the session relates to the diagnosis and treatment goals, and whether things are moving.
- Plan: what happens next. Interventions to continue or try, homework, the next appointment.
A short example
- S: Client reported racing thoughts before work meetings and interrupted sleep three nights this week.
- O: Speech rapid early in session, slowed after grounding exercise. Affect anxious, congruent with content.
- A: Anxiety symptoms remain moderate; grounding practice from last session is helping mid-day spikes. Progress toward goal 1 (reduce avoidance of meetings).
- P: Continue CBT thought records; review sleep hygiene next session. Homework: two-minute breathing reset before meetings.
Habits that make SOAP notes better
- Keep observations in Objective and interpretation in Assessment. Mixing them is the most common problem.
- Tie the Assessment back to the treatment plan's goals, so progress is visible across notes.
- Write the Plan so the next session can start from it.
- Summarize instead of transcribing. A progress note is a clinical record, not a transcript.