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The whiteboard is a canvas you and your client can both see, drawn live during a session. You sketch a CBT triangle, write out a thought record, drop a polyvagal ladder, or just freehand a diagram while you talk. Your client watches it appear in real time inside the same window as the call. It’s the in-session equivalent of the paper pad you’d reach for in-room — but better, because the result is exportable as a vector PDF you can drop straight into the chart.

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When to use it instead of just talking it through

A whiteboard earns its place the moment a concept needs a picture to land. Talking through the window of tolerance is one thing; watching it widen on the canvas as you discuss what makes the client’s sympathetic system fire is another. The drawing becomes the artifact of the session — something the client remembers in week’s-worth of detail because they saw it built. Specific moments worth reaching for it:
  • Psychoeducation, where the diagram IS the teaching — polyvagal ladder, window of tolerance, upstairs/downstairs brain, attachment styles.
  • Cognitive work, where the client needs to see the loop — CBT triangle, hot cross bun, downward arrow, evidence for/against.
  • Formulation, where you’re mapping the client’s life onto a structure together — 5 Ps, cross-section formulation, trigger map.
  • Worksheets you’d normally do on paper — thought record, ABC model, stages of change.
When the conversation doesn’t need a visual, skip the whiteboard. A blank canvas hanging mid-session reads as “where are we going with this” — it’s a tool you reach for with intent.

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How it actually works

When you tap Share Screen → Whiteboard, an editable canvas opens in your session view. You draw on it; the canvas is sent to your client as the shared-screen video, exactly like sharing your desktop. They see your strokes appear in real time without installing anything or clicking through a permission prompt. The drawing is end-to-end encrypted, the same as the rest of the video session. It doesn’t cross Rivet’s servers. By default the client watches. When you flip Two-way ON they can draw on the canvas too — see letting your client draw.

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What ends, when

The canvas itself closes when the session ends — each session starts fresh, nothing carried forward from the last one. But a board with anything drawn on it doesn’t have to disappear with the canvas: tap Save to chart any time during the session, or just finish the call — a non-empty board saves to the chart on its own. Export to PDF or PNG is still there too, for a copy on your own machine. See exporting as PDF.
The whiteboard is interactive on web and desktop. On iPhone or Android, clients viewing through their browser see the whiteboard as a video stream — they can watch you draw, but the two-way drawing tools are designed for a real keyboard + pointer. Most clients are on a laptop or desktop for sessions; mobile-only clients still get the visual.

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What it isn’t

  • It isn’t a session recording. The canvas is live; the only artifact is what you export.
  • It isn’t a screen capture of your computer. When you pick Whiteboard from the Share Screen menu, your desktop stays private — only the canvas is shared.
  • It isn’t a resumable canvas. Each session starts with a blank board — what you drew last time doesn’t reload automatically. It’s still on the chart if you saved it, just not sitting there ready to keep drawing on.

Opening the whiteboard

The Share Screen picker, what the client sees.

Drawing tools

Pen, eraser, text, shapes, Apple Pencil.

Therapy presets overview

29 worksheets across 9 clinical categories.