A mental health treatment plan sets out the problems you and the client agreed to work on, the goals, measurable objectives, and the interventions that will get there. Copy the free template, see a generalized anxiety and a PTSD example, and check how to write objectives you can measure.
Blank mental health treatment plan template
FreeMENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT PLAN Client: [Name or ID] Date of plan: [Date] Plan stage: [Initial plan, or review number] Diagnosis: [Working or established diagnosis] Based on: [Assessment date and the measures used] Responsible clinician: [Name, credentials] Care team: [Psychiatrist, primary care, family, or others involved, with consent] STRENGTHS AND PREFERENCES Strengths: [What the client brings that the plan can use] Preferences: [Approach, format, language, schedule, cultural or faith considerations, views on medication] PROBLEMS Problem 1: [What happens, how often, and its impact, in behavioral terms] Problem 2: [What happens, how often, and its impact, in behavioral terms] GOALS AND OBJECTIVES Goal 1: [The long-term change for problem 1, in the client's words where possible] Objective 1a: [Specific, measurable step: the measure, the target, and the target date] Objective 1b: [Specific, measurable step: the measure, the target, and the target date] Goal 2: [The long-term change for problem 2] Objective 2a: [Specific, measurable step: the measure, the target, and the target date] INTERVENTIONS For goal 1: [Approach and techniques, session length and frequency, and who provides them] For goal 2: [Approach and techniques, session length and frequency, and who provides them] Other services: [Group, psychiatry, primary care, peer support, or none] Safety plan: [In place, with the date last reviewed, or not indicated and why] MEASURES AND DISCHARGE Outcome measures: [Each measure, its baseline score, and how often it is repeated] Discharge criteria: [What will show the client is ready to end or step down care] REVIEW AND AGREEMENT Client participation: [How the client shaped the plan, and their view of it] Review date: [Date of the next plan review] Client signature: [Signature and date] Guardian signature: [For a minor: signature and date] Signed: [Clinician name, credentials, date and time]
Use it for
Each one follows the template. Use them to judge how much detail every part needs.
Outpatient therapy, initial plan after the intake
29-year-old woman with generalized anxiety disorder. Strengths: insightful, organized, keeps a journal, has a supportive partner, and is motivated to enjoy her new job. Prefers evening video sessions and practical skills to use between sessions. Does not want medication for now; open to revisiting it if therapy alone doesn’t help.
Problem 1: worries about work and health for 3 to 4 hours a day, most days, for 8 months, with muscle tension; rechecks sent emails several times each evening. Problem 2: takes 60 to 90 minutes to fall asleep on most nights because of worry, and feels tired at work.
Goal 1: “Spend less of my day worrying.” Objective 1a: GAD-7 from 15 to below 10 by week 12. Objective 1b: use scheduled worry time and a worry log on at least 5 days a week by week 4, by her log. Objective 1c: check each sent email no more than once on 4 of 5 workdays by week 8, by self-monitoring. Goal 2: “Fall asleep without lying awake for an hour.” Objective 2a: asleep within 30 minutes on 5 of 7 nights by week 8, by sleep diary.
Goal 1: CBT for generalized anxiety, weekly 50-minute video sessions with the responsible clinician: psychoeducation, worry time, cognitive restructuring, building tolerance of uncertainty, and reducing checking. Goal 2: techniques from CBT for insomnia: a fixed wake time, stimulus control, and a wind-down routine. Other services: none now; primary care review if sleep hasn’t improved by week 8. Safety plan: not indicated; no suicidal ideation at intake, and screened each session.
GAD-7 15 and PHQ-9 6 at baseline, both repeated every 2 weeks; sleep diary reviewed weekly. Discharge when GAD-7 has stayed below 10 for 4 weeks and the objectives are met, followed by 2 spaced booster sessions.
Written with the client in session; she chose the sleep goal and the wording of goal 1. Agrees with the plan. Review at week 12, or sooner if symptoms worsen. Client signature obtained electronically.
Outpatient therapy, initial plan after a trauma assessment
46-year-old man with PTSD after a highway crash 5 months ago. Strengths: steady work history, close family, attends physical therapy for his shoulder, and wants to drive his children to school again. Prefers in-person morning sessions and structured, practical therapy. Wants his wife to join one session to learn about PTSD.
Problem 1: intrusive memories and nightmares about the crash on 4 to 5 nights a week, startles at car horns, and avoids driving; his wife drives him to work. Problem 2: irritable and withdrawn at home, with arguments on most days.
Goal 1: “Drive again without panicking.” Objective 1a: PCL-5 from 52 to below 33 by week 16. Objective 1b: complete his driving hierarchy up to a 20-minute drive on local roads by week 10, by his practice log. Objective 1c: nightmares on 2 or fewer nights a week by week 16, by sleep diary. Goal 2: “Be less snappy with my family.” Objective 2a: use the agreed time-out and return-to-talk plan in at least 3 of 4 arguments by week 8, by his and his wife’s report.
Goal 1: trauma-focused CBT, weekly 60-minute sessions for 12 to 16 weeks with the responsible clinician: psychoeducation on PTSD, processing the crash memory, and graded real-life exposure to driving once his physician confirms his shoulder allows it. Goal 2: one joint session with his wife on PTSD and irritability, plus arousal skills and a time-out plan. Other services: physical therapy continues; with his consent, his family physician is updated and can review his sleep. Safety plan: not indicated; no suicidal ideation at assessment, and screened each session.
PCL-5 52 and PHQ-9 11 at baseline. PCL-5 repeated monthly, PHQ-9 every 2 weeks, and distress ratings logged for each driving step. Discharge when PCL-5 is below 33, he drives his usual routes, and nightmares are down to 2 nights a week or fewer, for 4 weeks.
Built with the client; he set the driving goal and chose to start as a passenger. The joint session is at his request. Review at week 8. Client signature obtained.
What the client brings and how they want to work, so the plan fits the person.
Avoid: Skipping preferences. A plan that ignores how the client wants to work is less likely to be followed.
Each problem in behavioral terms: what happens, how often, and what it affects.
Avoid: Using the diagnosis as the problem. “PTSD” doesn’t say what you’re treating; “avoids driving since the crash” does.
A long-term goal for each problem, and short-term objectives that are specific, measurable, and dated.
Avoid: Objectives you can’t measure, such as “will feel less anxious.” Say how you will know: a score, a count, or a behavior.
What you and others will do to help the client reach each objective.
Avoid: “Supportive counseling” as the only intervention. Name the evidence-based approach and what it targets.
How progress will be tracked, and what will show that treatment can end.
Avoid: Measures taken at baseline and never repeated. Schedule them so each review has data.
A record that the client helped make the plan, and when it will be reviewed.
Avoid: A plan written alone and signed later. Write it with the client, and record their input.
Prewritten goals and objectives save time but read the same for every client. Edit each one so it describes this client’s problem and targets.
Without a date, you can’t tell at review whether the client is on track. Give each objective a target date or week.
Review it on schedule and whenever things change: a new problem, a crisis, or a goal met. Update the objectives, not just the review date.
Each progress note should name the goals it worked on. If sessions keep addressing something the plan doesn’t mention, add it to the plan.
When risk is present, name the safety plan in the treatment plan and say how often it’s reviewed, so it isn’t lost in a separate document.
Vero Scribe writes the treatment plan in your template from the session where you set goals together, with the client’s consent, or from your dictation. You review and edit the goals and objectives, then export the plan to Word or PDF to print and sign, or copy it into your record.
Make each one specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound: what will change, how you’ll measure it, the target, and by when. “GAD-7 below 10 by week 12” works; “less anxious” doesn’t.
A goal is the broad change the client wants, such as “drive again without panicking.” Objectives are the measurable steps toward it, each with a target date.
On the date you set in the plan, and whenever something important changes, such as a new problem, a crisis, or a goal met. Many organizations and payers set a review interval, so check yours.
Many organizations require it, and it’s good practice to record the client’s agreement. If you can’t get a signature in the session, such as by video, note how the client agreed and collect the signature later.
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.
SOAP for therapy sessions, with mental status observations and PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores.
The first session: consent, history, risk, mental status, screening scores, and recommendations.
Biological, psychological, social, and cultural factors, brought together in one formulation.
One note per member: the group’s topic and interventions, then that member’s participation and plan.
Session notes, client resources, and follow-up in one place.
Intake and progress notes, with shared goals, drafted for review.
How to show what changed since the last session, with a checklist.
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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