Why the format matters more than you think

A progress note has three readers: you in six weeks, when you need to remember what happened; a colleague or supervisor, if you ever hand over or ask for advice; and, occasionally, the client, who in most European countries can ask to see their record under the right of access in Article 15 GDPR. A consistent structure serves all three. It makes your notes quicker to write, quicker to scan and easier to defend if a complaint or a professional body ever asks how you reached a decision.

A format is also a thinking tool. Each one nudges you to notice something different: SOAP separates what the client said from what you observed, DAP keeps things lean, BIRP and GIRP tie every session back to a goal. None is “correct”. The right choice depends on your modality, on what your professional body expects and on how much time you have between sessions.

The four formats at a glance

SOAP — Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan

Originally from medicine. Splits the client’s own account from your observations, then your clinical reading and next steps. Thorough and widely recognised.

DAP — Data, Assessment, Plan

Folds the subjective and objective parts of SOAP into one “Data” section. Shorter to write and popular with counsellors and coaches.

BIRP — Behaviour, Intervention, Response, Plan

Centres on what you did in the session and how the client responded. Useful when you want your interventions to be visible in the record.

GIRP — Goal, Intervention, Response, Plan

Opens every note with the treatment goal being worked on. Keeps goal-focused and time-limited work on track.

One fictional session, four ways

To make the differences concrete, here is the same short session written in each format. The client is entirely fictional — “Client A”, an adult who came to therapy for work-related stress and is in their fifth session. The examples are deliberately brief; your real notes may be longer or shorter depending on your setting.

SOAP

Subjective: Client A reports sleeping better since last session but describes two evenings of “not being able to switch off” after late emails.
Objective: Arrived on time, spoke at an even pace, became visibly tense when describing a meeting with their manager.
Assessment: Progress on sleep routine; work boundaries remain the main stressor. Engaged and motivated.
Plan: Practise a fixed “end of work” ritual; review in next session; continue weekly.

DAP

Data: Reports better sleep, two difficult evenings after late emails; visibly tense when discussing manager.
Assessment: Sleep improving; work boundaries are the current focus.
Plan: “End of work” ritual as homework; review next week.

BIRP

Behaviour: Calm on arrival, tense when describing manager; reports improved sleep with two exceptions.
Intervention: Explored the link between late emails and evening rumination; jointly designed an “end of work” ritual.
Response: Client A was receptive, suggested their own version of the ritual and rated confidence in trying it as 7/10.
Plan: Try the ritual on workdays; review next week.

GIRP

Goal: Goal 2 — protect evenings from work-related rumination.
Intervention: Mapped the trigger chain from late emails to poor sleep; designed an “end of work” ritual.
Response: Engaged, adapted the ritual to their routine, confidence 7/10.
Plan: Practise on workdays; measure evenings “switched off” for next session.

Notice how the content barely changes, but the emphasis does. SOAP keeps the client’s voice and your observations apart. DAP is the fastest to write. BIRP puts your intervention front and centre. GIRP makes it obvious, at a glance, which goal the session served. For a deeper walk-through of the first format, see our guide to SOAP notes for therapists.

Side-by-side comparison

Format	Best for	Watch out for
SOAP	Settings close to healthcare, multidisciplinary teams, work you may need to hand over	Can feel clinical for humanistic or relational work; takes longer
DAP	Busy caseloads, counselling and coaching, therapists who want short notes	Mixing what the client said with what you saw can blur the record
BIRP	Skills-based and behavioural work, showing what you did and why	Easy to under-document the client’s own account
GIRP	Goal-focused, time-limited or structured programmes	Needs clear, agreed goals; awkward in open-ended exploratory work
Free-form	Psychodynamic and exploratory work, process notes kept separately	Inconsistent over time; harder for anyone else to read

How to choose: five questions

What does your professional body or employer expect? Some associations, training institutes and referring organisations prefer or require a particular structure. Check before you decide — it settles the question quickly.
How goal-driven is your work? If you agree measurable goals at intake, GIRP or BIRP keeps them visible. If your work is open-ended, SOAP, DAP or free-form will feel less forced.
Who else might read the notes? If you work alongside a GP, a psychiatrist or a multidisciplinary team, SOAP is the most widely understood structure.
How much time do you have? With back-to-back sessions, DAP’s three sections are often the difference between writing notes on the day and writing them at the weekend.
Can you keep it up? The best format is the one you will use consistently for every client. A perfect structure you abandon after a month helps nobody.

You do not have to use one format for everyone. Many therapists use GIRP for short, structured programmes and SOAP or free-form for long-term clients. What matters is that each client’s record is consistent within itself.

Common mistakes, whatever the format

Writing notes days later from memory, so details and dates drift.

Recording interpretations as facts — “client is avoidant” instead of what was said or observed.

Including more third-party detail than you need, such as full names of family members or colleagues.

Mixing personal process reflections into the client record when your professional body expects them to be kept separately.

Keeping notes in a generic note app or an unencrypted document on a shared laptop.

The last point is not just good practice. Progress notes are health data, a special category under Article 9 GDPR, and Article 32 requires security appropriate to that risk. Our GDPR guide for therapists covers what that means in day-to-day practice.

Writing structured notes in PRAXINGO

PRAXINGO includes note templates for SOAP, DAP, GIRP and BIRP, plus a free-form option, so you can pick a structure per note rather than committing your whole practice to one. A few practical details make the habit easier to keep:

Templates per note

Choose SOAP, DAP, GIRP, BIRP or free-form when you open a new note; the section headings are already there.

Pin and tag

Pin the note that holds the current treatment goals, and tag notes by theme so you can find them again.

Pin and tag notes

Pin and tag notes so you can find what you need when you answer an access request or prepare a handover.

Notes are end-to-end encrypted with a key derived from your own encryption password, so PRAXINGO cannot read them — see security for how that works. Compare plans on the pricing page or browse all features.

Frequently asked questions

Is one progress note format required by law?

GDPR does not prescribe a note format. Some national rules and professional bodies set out what a record must contain, so check what applies to your profession and country; any of the formats here can meet those content requirements.

Can I switch formats with an existing client?

Yes. Add a short line in the next note saying you are changing structure, and keep the earlier notes as they are. Consistency from that point on matters more than the switch itself.

How long should a progress note be?

Long enough that you, or a colleague, could understand what happened and what comes next. For most individual sessions that is a few sentences per section.

Which format is best for coaches?

Coaches often prefer DAP or GIRP, because coaching is usually goal-led and sessions benefit from a short, action-oriented record.

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SOAP, DAP, BIRP or GIRP: choosing a progress note format