A GIRP note records a session in four parts: the treatment plan goal it worked on, what you did, how the client responded, and the plan. Copy the free template, see a teen anger and school attendance example and an adult intensive outpatient example, and check what goes in each part.
Blank GIRP note template
FreeGIRP NOTE Client: [Name or ID] Date of service: [Date] Start and end time: [Times and total minutes] Service: [Individual counseling, family session, case management contact, or skills session] Location and format: [Office, home, school, community site, or residential unit; in person, video, or phone] Others present: [Name and relationship, or none] Provider: [Name, credentials, role] GOAL Treatment plan goal: [Goal number and wording from the current plan] Objective: [Objective number, its measure, its target, and its target date] Status at start: [Last score, count, or rating on this objective, and its date] Client's words: [What the client said about the goal, or wanted from today] Session focus: [The part of the goal this session worked on] INTERVENTION Techniques and services: [Each one by name: skills teaching, rehearsal, motivational interviewing, problem-solving, psychoeducation, linkage to a resource] Link to the objective: [How each one serves the objective above] Materials and contacts: [Worksheets, handouts, calls made, or referrals given in the session] RESPONSE Engagement: [Participation, openness, and understanding] Presentation: [Brief mental status: appearance, behavior, mood in the client's words, affect, thought process] Measured result: [Today's score, count, rating, or skill shown, beside the previous one] Progress on the objective: [Met, progressing, no change, or setback, with the evidence] Risk screen: [Suicidal thoughts, self-harm, harm to others, substance use: what you asked, the answers, and any action] PLAN Client steps: [What the client will do before the next contact, specific enough to count] Provider tasks: [Calls, referrals, or coordination, with consent and a due date] Next focus: [The goal and objective for the next session, and why] Plan status: [No change, objective updated, plan review due, or level of care change] Next contact: [Date, time, location, and format] Signed: [Name, credentials, date and time]
Use it for
Each one follows the template. Use them to judge how much detail every part needs.
Community youth program, home-based session, 60 minutes
Session 7 of home-based counseling in a community youth behavioral health program, at the family home. 14-year-old boy; his mother joined for the last 15 minutes. Diagnosis on the treatment plan: adjustment disorder with mixed disturbance of emotions and conduct, since his parents separated 6 months ago. Plan last reviewed 4 weeks ago.
Goal 1: “Stop getting suspended.” Objective 1b: use his cool-down plan, which is to step away, take 10 slow breaths, and go back when his anger thermometer is below 5, in at least 4 of 5 logged conflicts by December 15, by his log and teacher report. Goal 2: “Go to school every day.” Objective 2a: attend at least 4 of 5 full school days a week for 4 weeks in a row by January 30, by the school’s attendance record. Status at start: at the last session, the cool-down plan was used in 1 of 4 logged conflicts, and he had attended 2 of 5 days that week. In his words: “My math teacher is always on me. That’s why I skip Mondays.” Session focus: the conflicts in math, the first class on Mondays and Thursdays.
Reviewed his conflict log. Chain analysis of Thursday’s walkout: called on in math when he hadn’t done the homework; face hot and fists clenched; the thought “he wants to make me look stupid”; walked out and went home. Showed how one walkout set back both goals at once. Role-played asking for a step-out pass instead of leaving, twice. With his mother, problem-solved Monday and Thursday mornings: a phone alarm at 6:45, breakfast ready, and his cousin driving him on those days.
Arms crossed and short answers for the first 10 minutes, then engaged. Mood “annoyed”; affect irritable, brighter during the role-plays. Thought process logical. Log since the last session: cool-down plan used in 3 of 5 conflicts, up from 1 of 4. Anger thermometer rose to 7 out of 10 while going over Thursday, and fell to 3 after paced breathing. On the second role-play he asked for the pass calmly without a prompt. School portal: 3 of 5 full days last week; absent Monday, and left after math on Thursday. Objective 1b progressing: 3 of 5, target 4 of 5. Objective 2a not yet met: 3 of 5 days, up from 2. His mother reports one shouting match at home this week, down from most days. Risk: denies thoughts of suicide, self-harm, or hurting anyone. No firearms in the home, confirmed with his mother. Denies alcohol, vaping, and drug use.
He will log each conflict and use the cool-down plan, aiming for 4 of 5. Alarm and his cousin’s ride on Mondays and Thursdays. His mother will check the attendance portal each Friday and bring it to the next session. Provider task: call the school counselor by Wednesday to set up a step-out pass for math, under the release his mother signed and with his agreement. Next session: plan what to say to his math teacher, for objective 1b. No change to the plan; review due December 15. Next home visit Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
Adult mental health intensive outpatient program, individual session, 45 minutes
Individual session in week 3 of a 6-week adult mental health intensive outpatient program, in person. He also attends groups 3 days a week, 3 hours a day. 51-year-old man, a warehouse supervisor on medical leave for 5 weeks. Stepped up from weekly therapy when his PHQ-9 reached 23 and he had passive thoughts of death. Diagnosis on the program plan: major depressive disorder, single episode, severe, without psychotic features. Medication managed by the program psychiatrist.
Goal 2: “Get back to a normal day.” Objective 2a: complete at least 2 of 3 planned activities a day on 5 of 7 days by program week 4, by his activity log. Objective 2b: PHQ-9 below 15 by discharge at week 6. Status at start: 6 of 21 planned activities done in week 2; PHQ-9 19 last week, 23 at admission. In his words: “I plan things, and then I just sit there.” Session focus: why his afternoons stall.
Behavioral activation. Went through the activity log hour by hour: mornings mostly done, but after lunch he lies down “for a minute” and stays in bed until dinner. Rated mastery and pleasure for each completed activity. Broke stalled tasks into smaller steps: 10 minutes of yard work instead of the whole yard, and a walk to the corner instead of 30 minutes. Moved the hardest task of each day to the morning, when his energy is best. Set a 2 p.m. dog walk as an anchor before any rest. Reviewed his safety plan.
Brought his log without a prompt and engaged throughout. Movements slowed, less than at admission. Mood “a bit lighter”; affect constricted but reactive, smiled when talking about his dog. Thought process logical. Log: 13 of 21 planned activities done this week, up from 6; 2 of 3 met on 4 of 7 days. Mastery ratings averaged 6 out of 10 and pleasure 3 out of 10, highest for a walk with his daughter. PHQ-9 16, down from 19 last week and 23 at admission. Objective 2a progressing: 4 of 7 days, target 5. Objective 2b progressing. Risk: C-SSRS screen positive for passive thoughts of death on 1 day, after a call from his employer about his leave; no active thoughts, method, intent, plan, or preparation. He used his safety plan that day and called his brother. No firearms at home; his wife holds his medications and gives him a week’s supply at a time. No alcohol since admission, by his report.
He will keep the activity log, do the hardest task before noon, and walk the dog at 2 p.m. before any rest, aiming for 2 of 3 activities on 5 days. Provider tasks: report the PHQ-9 trend and this week’s passive thoughts of death to the program psychiatrist at Thursday’s team meeting; with his consent, add a graded return to work to the week 4 plan review. Next session: start his relapse prevention plan for depression, with early warning signs and what he and his wife will do at each one. Safety plan stays in place, with 988, call or text, on it. Next contact: group tomorrow at 9 a.m.; individual session next Tuesday.
The facts of the contact: when, where, how long, who was there, and what service it was.
Avoid: Leaving out the times and location. In home, community, and residential services, they are often the first thing a reviewer checks.
The treatment plan goal and objective this session worked on, and where the client stood at the start. This is what sets GIRP apart: the note opens with why the session happened.
Avoid: A topic in place of a goal. “Discussed school” says what you talked about; “Goal 2, objective 2a: attend 4 of 5 days” says why.
What you did to move the client toward that objective, named so that another clinician or staff member could repeat it.
Avoid: “Provided support” or “reviewed goals” on their own. Name what you did and what it was for.
How the client responded, with at least one thing you can measure, and what it means for the objective.
Avoid: Repeating the intervention (“client took part in role-play”). Say what changed, and compare it with the last session or the target.
What happens next for this goal: the client’s steps, your tasks, and the next contact.
Avoid: “Continue per plan.” Name the next step for this objective, and who will take it.
Without a score, count, or rating, the note can’t show whether the objective is moving. Record the measure the plan names, and compare it with the last session.
GIRP’s four headings don’t prompt for risk, so it’s easy to leave out. Ask each session, and record the question and the answer under Response.
Naming the same goal week after week is expected. Copying last week’s status is not. Update the starting numbers, so the note shows change.
If sessions keep turning to a problem the plan doesn’t name, such as new drinking or a housing crisis, record it and add it at the next plan review.
Split the plan into what the client will do and what you will do, each with a date. In case management and residential programs, the next staff member works from it.
Vero Scribe writes the GIRP note in your template from the session, with the client’s consent, or from your dictation afterward. You review and edit every section, then copy it into your record or export it to Word or PDF. Vero works in 60+ languages.
Goal, Intervention, Response, and Plan. Goal is the treatment plan goal and objective the session worked on. Intervention is what you did. Response is how the client responded, with a score, count, or rating where you can. Plan is what happens next.
Name the goal and objective from the current treatment plan, and where the client stood on it. Then record each intervention and the objective it served, the client’s response with something you can measure, a brief risk screen, and the next steps for the client and for you.
All three are progress note formats. GIRP opens with the treatment plan goal. BIRP opens with the client’s behavior and presentation, then shares GIRP’s last three headings. DAP puts what was said and observed in Data, followed by your Assessment and Plan. GIRP suits programs where every session must tie back to a plan goal.
Yes. Name each goal and objective by number under Goal, and give each its own result under Response, so progress on one doesn’t hide a stall on another. Most sessions focus on one or two goals; name those rather than every goal in the plan.
Yes. Copy it, or download it as a Word or text file. No account needed.
One psychotherapy session: focus, interventions, client response, risk, and progress toward goals.
A CBT session in its own order: mood check, agenda, homework review, thought or exposure work, new homework, and feedback.
An EMDR session by phase: target, negative and positive cognitions, SUD and VOC, bilateral sets, closure, and reevaluation.
Data, Assessment, Plan: the three-part session note, with the line between facts and judgment made clear.
Behavior, Intervention, Response, Plan: a progress note that opens with what the client reported and what you saw.
Session examples in three common note formats, side by side.
Session notes drafted from your sessions, for you to review.
Note drafts and care plans from your conversations, for you to review.
The codes used most often in therapy and counseling.
Vero writes your notes and letters in the templates you choose, so you review instead of type.
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