> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.getrivet.ca/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How documentation works in Rivet

> SOAP, DAP, and treatment-plan notes you author in the session — saved to the client's record, signed, and ready to copy into your EHR.

Rivet has three practitioner-authored note templates: a **SOAP note**, a
**DAP note**, and a **treatment plan**. You open them from the same
**Clinical templates ▾** button as PHQ-9, GAD-7, or any clinical worksheet. They render
inside the session, fill from the templates you've already used, and save
automatically as a draft on the client's record while you work.

When the session ends, the note stays. It lives on the client's record as
an unsigned draft until you're ready to sign it. Signing locks the note;
any later correction is an append-only addendum — the original entry stays
visible, the correction is marked as such. That's the shape colleges expect:
an immutable record with a visible correction trail.

## The three templates

### SOAP note

Four sections — Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan. The clinical
documentation format that originated in problem-oriented medical records
and crossed over into mental-health practice. Common in psychiatry,
hospital-based therapy, and any practice that grew up in a
medically-flavoured chart.

### DAP note

Three sections — Data, Assessment, Plan. Collapses Subjective + Objective
into one combined Data section. Common in psychology, counselling, and
social-work practice where the Subjective/Objective split feels
artificial. See [SOAP vs DAP](/documentation/soap-vs-dap) for the
detailed comparison.

### Treatment plan

Six sections — Presenting concern, Treatment goals, Objectives, Planned
interventions, Progress measures, Review schedule. Authored once at the
start of treatment, then revisited at review points. Same
practitioner-private posture as the session notes — you export it to
your EHR when you're done.

## What "practitioner-private" actually means

The note template runs separately from client-fillable templates. When
you open it:

* **Nothing is sent to your client's device.** Your client's browser
  literally doesn't know you've opened a note. There's no overlay, no
  notification, no flicker on their side.
* **No keystrokes are synced anywhere.** Client-fillable templates send
  a snapshot of every keystroke so your live preview updates as the
  client types. Practitioner-private notes skip that path entirely —
  you're typing into your own browser, so there's nothing to sync.
* **Saved to the client's record, not to the session transcript.** The
  note content is yours — stored against the client's record, accessible
  between sessions, not visible to anyone else and not part of any
  session recording or client-facing view.
* **Audit trail includes the note.** Rivet records when you opened a SOAP
  or DAP template, in which session, when you signed it, and any addenda
  added afterward. The content is part of that record.

## Getting the note out

Once the note is saved — signed or still a draft — there are three ways
to get it into your practice-management software:

* **Copy for Jane** — copies the note as plain text, formatted for
  pasting into a Jane chart note or similar free-text field.
* **PDF** — downloads the note as a PDF you can attach to a visit record.
* **Client export** — generates a full clinical-record document for the
  client: all notes (signed or draft, each labeled clearly), all completed
  assessment Q\&A and scores, with a date-range filter. Useful for
  referrals, clinical reviews, or your own records.

Because Rivet is the session layer — not a replacement for your system
of record — the handoff into Jane, Owl, or your paper chart is the point.
See [Getting notes out](/client-record/getting-notes-out) for the
step-by-step.

## Why this matters

**Privacy.** A 50-minute therapy session is among the most sensitive PHI
surfaces in healthcare. Your note content is stored on Canadian
infrastructure, designed to be consistent with PHIPA/PIPEDA, accessible
only to you and your practice. It's not used to train any model, not
surfaced to any third party, not retained beyond what you control.

**Clarity.** When you paste a note into Jane, Owl, or your paper chart,
you know exactly what's in it — because you authored it. There's no
"AI generated this part, then I edited it" provenance question. The
chart entry is your clinical judgment, with the structured
template-driven data (PHQ-9 score, SUDS curve, thought record) as
supporting context that auto-filled where it fit.

**Control.** The structured data is captured in the templates — scores,
target IDs, SUDS readings, worksheet content. The note is your
interpretation of that data. Rivet's job is to put the structured data
in your hands; your job is the formulation, the plan, the clinical
voice. That's the line we drew, and it's the line you reinforce every
time you author a note here.

## Where the note fits in the session flow

A practitioner-private note can be open at the same time as a
client-fillable template. They live in parallel — the client sees the
PHQ-9 overlay on their device, you see the SOAP note overlay on yours,
and the two don't bleed into each other. When you minimize the SOAP
overlay to take a break, the in-progress draft is saved. When you reopen
it, the partial draft is still there. When the call ends, the note
remains on the client's record as an unsigned draft.

The client list shows a count of unsigned notes so you can return to
them between sessions. See
[Progress notes](/client-record/progress-notes) for the full lifecycle —
draft, sign, addendum. The session-summary export — covered in
[Exporting notes](/documentation/exporting-notes) — bundles your notes
with every other completed template into a single PDF. Practitioner-
authored notes lead the summary; screening + worksheet content
follows as appendices. That ordering matches how clinical charts read:
the practitioner's note is the entry; the templates are evidence.

## Related articles

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="SOAP vs DAP" icon="scale-balanced" href="/documentation/soap-vs-dap">
    Picking the format that fits your style.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Progress notes" icon="file-pen" href="/client-record/progress-notes">
    Draft, sign, addendum — the full note lifecycle.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Getting notes out" icon="arrow-up-from-bracket" href="/client-record/getting-notes-out">
    Copy for Jane, PDF, and client export.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Notes and your EHR" icon="hospital" href="/documentation/notes-and-your-ehr">
    How the copy-into-Jane workflow lands.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>
