How to read a pre-session brief
The pre-session brief is the one thing to open before a session. It is a first draft of the week, written from what your client chose to share, and it is built to be read in about a minute.
Watch the 60-second walkthroughWhat the brief summarizes
The brief summarizes the week in plain language: the throughline of the mood, the habits that held or slipped, any cycle context, a few reflection snippets your client flagged, and a couple of places you might start.
Twice this week she wrote about feeling disconnected from David, both after her mom called on Tuesday. She skipped her morning walk the three days that followed. Yoga class Saturday was the first time she laughed all week, and last night she wrote that she's dreading Monday.
- The disconnection from David, and what Tuesday's call stirred up.
- Three skipped walks, then what made Saturday feel different.
Read patterns, not verdicts
Read it for patterns without over-trusting it. The brief is generated with a language model from the shared check-ins. It is good at noticing what recurred. It is not a diagnosis and it does not know your client the way you do.
Review, edit, trust, or ignore
Treat every brief as a draft you can review, edit, trust, or ignore. If a line does not match the person you know, set it aside. If it surfaces a thread worth pulling, bring it into the room.
What to look for before session
Before opening session, look for the shift: where the week turned, what got in the way, and what helped. That is usually enough to start warm.
You hold the judgment
You remain the clinical decision-maker. The brief informs the first few minutes. It never replaces your read of the person in front of you.
The therapist value, in plain terms: turn a week of client check-ins into a concise pre-session brief, and start session warm instead of cold.
Read article →The privacy model in plain terms: clients choose what is shared, private stays private, and you see shared categories rather than everything by default.
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