ABSTRACT
Effective note-keeping is an essential skill for therapists, and keeping and maintaining clear and accurate notes is a requirement in the code of ethics of almost all professional counselling and psychotherapy organizations. All therapists develop their own method of keeping notes over time, but it is worth periodically reviewing how you keep notes to make sure that the method used is the one which is most helpful, both for refreshing your memory and for treatment planning and tracking a client's progress. Session notes are a reminder of the journey and process of the therapy. Notes keep track of the progress of your client, including improvements, deterioration or ‘no change’. Efficient notes should take no more than a few minutes to write up, and are best written up as soon as possible while the information is still fresh in the mind, ideally immediately after each session.
