Free template
Free SOAP note template
A clean, printable SOAP note template with prompts and a worked example. Free, no signup. Print it, or write SOAP notes in seconds inside Soap Notes.
SOAP Note
Client: ______________________
Date: ______________________
Session #: ______________________
Clinician: ______________________
Subjective
What the client tells you, in their own words, concerns, symptoms, history, goals, and how they feel they're doing.
Objective
What you observe or measure, behaviors, data, assessment scores, attendance. Facts, not interpretation.
Assessment
Your professional interpretation of the Subjective and Objective, progress, patterns, clinical or coaching impression.
Plan
The next steps, actions, homework, interventions, what you'll cover next session, and any referrals.
A filled-in example
S, Subjective
Client reports increased anxiety this week related to a work deadline; says sleep has been broken most nights.
O, Objective
Appeared restless, spoke rapidly. Completed 2 of 3 agreed coping exercises since last session.
A, Assessment
Situational anxiety linked to work stress; client is engaged and applying tools. No safety concerns.
P, Plan
Continue daily breathing practice; introduce a wind-down routine for sleep. Review progress next session.
Want the full breakdown? Read: What is a SOAP note?
Using the format well
Subjective and Objective have to stay apart
This is the split the format exists for, and the one most notes get wrong. Subjective is what the client reports, ideally close to their own words. Objective is what anyone in the room could have recorded: what you saw, measured or did. "Client seems anxious" reads like an observation and is actually a judgement, so it belongs in Assessment. "Spoke rapidly, declined water, sat forward throughout" is Objective. Keeping them apart matters because the two age differently: the observation stays true, while the interpretation may not, and a later reader needs to see which was which.
Assessment is the section that carries the note
It is also the one most often skipped, usually because it is the only part that requires a decision. Assessment is where you say what the Subjective and Objective add up to, whether that differs from last session, and what you think is going on. A note without it is a transcript. If you are ever short of time, write a thinner Subjective and keep the Assessment intact.
Choosing between SOAP, DAP and BIRP
All three record the same session and differ in what they force you to write. SOAP separates what the client said from what you observed, which suits work where the presentation itself is the subject. DAP merges those two into a single Data section and is the fastest to write. BIRP is built around the intervention and the client's response to it, which fits structured behavioural work and any setting where you must show a funder that a specific intervention was delivered and had an effect.
A Plan someone can act on
State the next intervention, the frequency, and what would make you change course. "Continue as before" leaves the next session starting from nothing, and a Plan that reappears word for word across six sessions is a sign nobody is reading it. If the previous plan did not happen, record that plainly along with what the client said about it, and adjust rather than repeat.
More free templates: Progress Note · Client Intake Form · Treatment Plan · DAP Note · BIRP Note · Informed Consent Form · Superbill · Discharge Summary · GIRP Note · PIRP Note
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