It's 8:53 in the morning. Your 9:00 is already in the waiting room. You've got maybe six minutes, last week's note open on the screen, and you're trying to remember where you actually left things. What did you say you'd come back to? The session starts whether you're ready or not, and today you're walking in a half-step behind.
Last week we killed the phone tag around coordinating care. Today, the quieter way a day gets away from you: session prep. Not the note you owe afterward — the ten seconds of "okay, what are we doing here" you never quite get before.
Today's one idea: turn your own de-identified notes into a five-minute prep sheet. Themes to revisit, a few questions to open with, an intervention or two worth considering. Something you skim on the walk from the waiting room to your chair.
One thing sets this issue apart from the others. This sheet is for your eyes only. It never goes in a chart, never gets sent to anyone, never leaves you. So the stakes are lower than a progress note or an insurance letter.
Lower, not gone. Never put client names, records, or identifying details into an AI tool. Ever. The reason holds even here: the tool still keeps whatever you paste, and the habit is the whole point. If you only de-identify when it "counts," you'll slip on the day it counts most. Do it every single time and it stops being a decision — it's just how your hands move.
The redaction reflex
Honest read: this one's a medium tax, and here's the trick that makes it light. Don't paste last week's actual note. Work from a three-line summary you write yourself, in themes, not events.
"Marcus, 16, shut down again when his dad's deployment came up, said he isn't sleeping" becomes:
Adolescent client. Recurring shutdown around a parent's military absence. New this week: sleep trouble.
You're just jotting the gist — which is faster than scrubbing a document, and it's already most of the prep.
The workflow
In three or four lines, summarize where things stand — de-identified, themes over specifics.
Paste the prompt below.
Skim the sheet before you walk in. Keep what fits, ignore the rest.
You are helping a licensed therapist prepare for an upcoming session using de-identified shorthand. Based only on the notes below, build a short prep sheet with four parts:
1. Themes worth revisiting
2. Three or four open-ended questions to consider
3. A couple of interventions or approaches that might fit
4. One thing to gently keep an eye on
De-identified notes on where things stand:
- Recent focus: [...]
- What's shifted or come up new: [...]
- Approach I tend to use with this client: [...]
- My goal for the next session: [...]
Keep it brief and practical — something I can read in under two minutes. Use only the details I provided. Do not invent history, symptoms, diagnoses, or quotes.Finish it like the clinician you are
The sheet is a warm-up, not a plan. It doesn't know your client — you do. Cut the question that would land wrong. Drop the intervention that isn't where you two are yet. The name, the real story, what you actually decide to do in the room — those live in your head and your chart, where they belong.
You already know your client. The win is that you get to stop walking in cold — and they feel the difference in the first two minutes.
Try it this week
Pick one client you're seeing this week where the last session went a little blurry in your memory. Write the three-line summary, run it, read the sheet on your way to your chair. Notice whether the opening feels steadier.
Then hit reply and tell me: what's the part of prep that actually trips you up — remembering where you left off, or knowing where to take it next? Your answers steer what I build.
Talk soon,
Shaun
P.S. Know a therapist who's always prepping in the hallway? Forward this. Five quiet minutes before a session is a real gift.
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.