Hi, and welcome to the first issue.
It's 7:15 on a Thursday. You've seen seven clients. There are five progress notes you still haven't written, the part of your brain that speaks fluent clinical logged off around client number four, and you already know these notes are riding home with you tonight.
That's the moment this newsletter is for.
Quick promise up front: I'm here as a fellow professional, not a tech company. No platform to buy, no ten new tools to learn. One thing only — practical ways to use AI to get your evenings back, client-data-free by design.
Today: how to turn a finished session into a clean, defensible progress note in about ten minutes, without a single piece of client information touching the tool.
First, the one rule that keeps this safe
Never put client names, records, or identifying details into an AI tool. Ever.
That's the whole rule. Everything here works without client data. You bring your clinical judgment and de-identified notes; the AI helps with wording and structure. The client's information never leaves your secure systems. (A full data-safety issue is coming — the kind you'll want to keep.)
The 10-minute note
Turn your session shorthand into a clean SOAP or DAP note, using zero client data.
Step 1 — Strip the identifiers. Instead of "Maria, 34, processed the divorce and her son Leo's school refusal," write "adult client; session focused on a relationship transition and parenting stress." Generic. No name. No PHI.
Step 2 — Paste this prompt:
You are helping a licensed therapist turn de-identified session shorthand into a clean, professional progress note. Format it as a [SOAP / DAP] note. Here are the de-identified details:
- Presenting focus this session: [e.g., relationship transition, parenting stress]
- Interventions used: [e.g., cognitive reframing, validation, psychoeducation on the stress response]
- Client response / observed presentation: [e.g., engaged, tearful when discussing co-parenting, receptive to skills]
- Plan / next steps: [e.g., continue weekly, practice one grounding skill before next session]
Write a concise note in clinical language appropriate for an insurance or audit review. Use only the details I provided. Do not invent history, symptoms, or quotes.Step 3 — Finish it like the clinician you are. The draft is a starting point, never a final answer. You add the identifying details back inside your EHR, you confirm every clinical statement is true to the session, and you own the result. The note carries legal and billing weight; your judgment is what makes it correct.
That's a note done in minutes instead of the drive home, and nothing private ever touched the tool.
The AI didn't write your note. It handed back the ninety minutes of note debt you were about to carry home.
Here's the part nobody says out loud: the real win isn't the saved time. It's that the stack of unwritten notes stops following you around all evening. That low background hum of "I still have to write those" is a tax this work charges you. This is how you stop paying it.
Try it this week
Take one note you have to write anyway. Run it through the workflow above. Notice how the evening feels afterward.
Then hit reply and tell me your heaviest documentation task — the one that eats your nights. I'm picking next week's issue from your answers. I'd rather build what actually helps than guess.
Talk soon,
Shaun
P.S. Know a therapist buried in notes? Forward this. It's free, and it might hand them an evening back.
A quick but important note: this newsletter is for general educational and informational purposes only. It shares time-saving ideas, not advice. The views here are the author's own and don't represent any employer, school district, or agency. Nothing here is legal, clinical, compliance, or supervisory advice, and AI can be wrong. Always follow your licensing board's rules and your employer's and state's policies (especially on AI use), along with your HIPAA and FERPA obligations, and check with the right person before acting on anything significant. You are the professional: review and finalize everything yourself. And never put client names or protected health information into any AI tool.