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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 canvas itself uses the same end-to-end-encrypted WebRTC channel as the rest of the video session. The drawing never crosses Rivet’s servers — it travels peer-to-peer between your browser and the client’s. 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

Nothing about the whiteboard is saved server-side. When the session ends, the canvas closes and the drawing is gone. If you want to keep it, export it before you end the call — PDF or PNG, dropped straight into the chart. 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 saved between sessions. Each session starts with a blank canvas. Exporting to PDF is how you carry a diagram forward.

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.