Therapy note templates (Word and PDF)
Updated October 20, 2026 by madebykamal
Download a SOAP, DAP, BIRP or general therapy progress note template below, as an editable Word file or a printable PDF in US Letter or A4. Each one starts with the client and session details and then gives the note's sections with short prompts for what goes in each, so a note is complete without being long.
General information, not medical advice. How these guides are made.
SOAP note template
Subjective, Objective, Assessment and Plan, with the prompts for a therapy session.
BIRP note template
Behavior, Intervention, Response and Plan, common in behavioral health.
Therapy progress note template
A general progress note: concerns, observations, interventions, response, risk, goals and plan.
Free to download, edit and print, no sign-up. The Word files open in Microsoft Word, Pages and Google Docs, so you can add your agency's own fields.
Which template to use
All four record the same session; they differ in how the information is grouped. Purdue's Online Writing Lab notes that the ideal format differs between fields and workplaces, so use the one your agency or payer expects.
- SOAP (Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan): what the client reports, what you observed or measured, your synthesis, and next steps.
- DAP (Data, Assessment, Plan): the facts of the session, your clinical judgment about them, and next steps, in three parts instead of four.
- BIRP (Behavior, Intervention, Response, Plan): presentation and client report, what you did in session, how the client responded, and next steps.
- Progress note: a general layout with concerns, observations, interventions, response, risk, progress toward goals and the plan.
Therapy Notes Keyboard NoteKey
Keyboard for therapy notes
On a computer? Scan this with your iPhone camera to open it in the App Store.What the prompts ask for
The prompts follow how each format is widely published, for example by StatPearls on NCBI Bookshelf and the Purdue Online Writing Lab for SOAP notes, and by SimplePractice for DAP and BIRP notes. A symptom the client describes belongs in Subjective, and a sign you observe belongs in Objective; every conclusion in Assessment should be supported by something you recorded above it.
Each template asks for risk screening and for progress toward a treatment plan goal, and ends with a signature and date line.
Progress notes and psychotherapy notes
Under the HIPAA Privacy Rule (45 CFR 164.501), psychotherapy notes are notes a mental health professional records about the contents of conversation in a counseling session and keeps separate from the rest of the medical record. The definition excludes medication prescription and monitoring, session start and stop times, treatment modalities and frequencies, clinical test results, and summaries of diagnosis, functional status, treatment plan, symptoms, prognosis and progress to date. Those are the items these templates record, so they are progress notes, not psychotherapy notes.
Making the Word templates your own
Open a Word file and add your practice name, your agency's required fields or your payer's wording, then save it as your own template. The prompts are plain text in gray, so you can type over them or keep them as reminders.
Writing notes on an iPhone
NoteKey is a therapy notes keyboard: type .dap and a whole progress note appears with fill-in fields you tap through, in any app, including your EHR. It has 15 note templates, including SOAP, DAP, BIRP, GIRP, intake summary, mental status exam, risk assessment, safety plan review, telehealth, group, couples and family, treatment plan review and discharge, and its dictation, part of NoteKey Pro, uses Apple's on-device speech recognition, so audio is never stored or transmitted.
Questions people ask
Is there a free SOAP note template in Word?
Yes. This page has a free SOAP note template as an editable Word file, and as a printable PDF in US Letter and A4, along with DAP, BIRP and general progress note templates.
What is the difference between a progress note and a psychotherapy note?
Under the HIPAA Privacy Rule, psychotherapy notes record the contents of a counseling conversation and are kept separate from the medical record. Progress notes, like these templates, record session times, modalities, symptoms, the treatment plan and progress, which that definition excludes.
Which note format is best for therapy?
There is no single best format. SOAP, DAP and BIRP record the same session in different groupings, and the right one is the format your agency, supervisor or payer expects.
Related
- DAP Note Example for Therapy, With a Template
- BIRP Note Example for Mental Health, With a Template
- SOAP Note Example for Mental Health, With a Template
- Therapy Notes Keyboard NoteKey
Sources
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482263/
- https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/healthcare_writing/soap_notes/index.html
- https://www.simplepractice.com/resource/how-to-write-dap-notes/
- https://www.simplepractice.com/resource/how-to-write-birp-notes/
- https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/45/164.501