Olive Grove guide
DAP, SOAP, BIRP and GIRP notes: the formats, with examples
Updated 23 October 2026
A progress note format is a fixed order for the same facts: what happened in the session, what you made of it, and what comes next. DAP (Data, Assessment, Plan) is the most common in therapy. SOAP splits what the client said from what you observed. BIRP and GIRP lead with the behaviour or the goal and record the intervention and the response to it. Pick the one your setting expects and keep to it, so any reader finds the same thing in the same place.
The four formats at a glance
| Format | Sections | Often used for |
|---|---|---|
| DAP | Data, Assessment, Plan | Individual therapy and counselling; short and flexible |
| SOAP | Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan | Settings shared with medical colleagues |
| BIRP | Behaviour, Intervention, Response, Plan | Behavioural health and programs that track what was done |
| GIRP | Goals, Intervention, Response, Plan | Goal-based treatment plans |
The client below is made up. Each example records the same 50-minute session, so you can see what changes from one format to the next.
DAP notes
Data is what happened: what the client said, what you observed and what you did, kept factual. Assessment is your clinical reading of it: progress, themes, risk and how the session relates to the goals. Plan is what comes next: homework, the focus of the next session, referrals and the next appointment.
- Data
- Sam, 34, session 6. Reported sleeping 5 to 6 hours most nights and two panic episodes before work meetings this week. Said "I could feel it building and I left the room." Reviewed the thought record from last week; completed 4 of 7 days. Practised paced breathing in session.
- Assessment
- Panic remains tied to work meetings; avoidance (leaving the room) maintains it. Engagement with homework is improving. No thoughts of self-harm reported when asked.
- Plan
- Paced breathing twice a day; stay in one meeting until the urge to leave peaks and falls. Next session: build an exposure ladder for meetings. Next appointment in one week.
SOAP notes
SOAP comes from medicine. Subjective is the client’s own account, often in their words. Objective is what you observed or measured: affect, presentation, scores on a questionnaire. Assessment and Plan are as in DAP. Use it when your notes are read by medical colleagues, or when you want the client’s report kept apart from your observations.
- Subjective
- "I could feel it building and I left the room." Two panic episodes before work meetings; sleeping 5 to 6 hours.
- Objective
- Alert, engaged, restless when describing meetings. Anxiety questionnaire score down 3 points from intake. Thought record completed 4 of 7 days.
- Assessment
- Panic cued by meetings and maintained by leaving; gradual improvement. No self-harm thoughts reported.
- Plan
- Paced breathing twice daily; stay through one meeting. Exposure ladder next session.
BIRP notes
BIRP puts what you did at the centre. Behaviour is how the client presented and what they reported. Intervention names the techniques you used. Response is how the client took them. Plan is what comes next. It suits programs that need to show which interventions were delivered and with what effect.
- Behaviour
- Reported two panic episodes before meetings and leaving the room; sleep 5 to 6 hours.
- Intervention
- Reviewed thought record; psychoeducation on how avoidance maintains panic; taught and practised paced breathing.
- Response
- Named leaving as "what keeps it going"; heart rate felt slower after breathing practice; agreed to try staying in one meeting.
- Plan
- Breathing twice daily; one meeting without leaving. Exposure ladder next week.
GIRP notes
GIRP is BIRP with the treatment goal first. Goals names the goal this session worked on, then Intervention, Response and Plan. It keeps every note tied to the treatment plan, which helps when progress has to be shown goal by goal.
- Goals
- Goal 1: attend work meetings without leaving, 4 of 5 weeks.
- Intervention
- Psychoeducation on avoidance; paced breathing taught and practised.
- Response
- Engaged; agreed to stay through one meeting this week.
- Plan
- Track meetings attended; exposure ladder next session.
Intake and couples notes
A first session usually needs more than a progress note: an intake or biopsychosocial note records the reason for referral, history, current functioning, risk, strengths and the initial plan. A couples or relational note records each partner’s view and the pattern between them, rather than one person’s symptoms.
What makes any note good
- Facts first, interpretation in the assessment, and the two kept apart.
- The client’s own words in quotes, rather than a label they never used.
- Risk asked about and recorded, including when nothing was reported.
- A plan someone else could act on if you were away.
- Written soon after the session, and signed by you.
How Olive Grove drafts them
Olive Grove writes a draft note after each session in the format you choose: DAP (the default), SOAP, BIRP, GIRP, a comprehensive intake or biopsychosocial note, or a couples and relational note. On Automatic it uses the couples format when two or more people are in the room, and your usual format otherwise. The draft is written from the session transcript by an AI that runs on your own computer, marked as an AI draft, and yours to correct and sign. Put the cursor in any sentence and the transcript lines it came from appear beside it, and a note can be rewritten in another format before you sign it.
Common questions
More guides
- Private AI for therapy notes: what “local” means, and what to ask any AI scribe
How AI note tools for therapists handle session audio, where the AI runs, cloud versus on-your-computer AI, and ten questions to ask any AI scribe before you record a client.
- Consent to record therapy sessions: what to explain, how to ask, how to keep the answer
How to ask a client for informed consent to record a therapy session: what to explain, how to ask, how to note the answer, and what to do when consent is withdrawn.
- Measurement-based care with the PHQ-9 and GAD-7: what they measure, how often, and how to read change
Measurement-based care with the PHQ-9 and GAD-7: what each measures, the score bands from the original papers, how often to give them, and how to read change over time.
- Documenting couples and family sessions: whose record, what goes where, and privacy between partners
How to document couples and family therapy: whose record it is, what goes in a joint note and what stays in an individual file, and privacy between partners.
- Writing a treatment plan with measurable goals: goals, objectives, interventions and review dates
How to write a therapy treatment plan with measurable goals: goals in the client’s words, objectives you can check, the interventions that serve them, and review dates, with an example.
- Keeping client records safe on your own computer: sign-in, encryption, backups and lost devices
Good practice for therapists who keep client records on their own computer: sign-in and screen lock, disk encryption, backups including off-site, and what to do if a device is lost or stolen.
- Using AI for clinical documentation responsibly: a checklist for therapists
A checklist for therapists using AI to draft clinical notes: client consent, where the data goes, reviewing every line, bias, and why the clinician signs.