AI scribe for therapists in Canada
SpecScribe is an AI scribe for therapists, counsellors and social workers in Canada. Once the patient's consent is recorded, it transcribes the session, or works from your typed session notes, and drafts a progress note in DAP, BIRP, SOAP or narrative format.
You review, edit and sign every note. Nothing becomes part of the record until you do.
Behavioural health is the first area SpecScribe is built for, starting in Alberta. The templates are drafts pending review by practising specialists.
How it works
From the session to a signed progress note
- 1
Consent, then record
Before transcription starts, SpecScribe checks that the patient's consent to recording and AI-assisted documentation is on file. Recording runs in the browser, so there's nothing to install.
- 2
Or write your session notes
If you'd rather not record, or your client declines, choose “Write session notes” and type what happened in your own words. SpecScribe drafts the note from your text. You can also document a session from an earlier day.
- 3
Draft in your format
When the visit ends, common identifiers such as the patient's name, health number, phone and address are removed from the text, and the AI drafts the note in your chosen template and format. AI-written text is highlighted in the editor.
- 4
You edit and sign
Correct anything that's wrong, add what only you observed, and sign. The session audio is deleted when you sign.
Templates
Behavioural health note templates
Each template has its own ordered sections, and the AI drafts each section from what was said in the session, so an intake reads like an intake and a progress note stays short.
| Template | Use it for | Sections |
|---|---|---|
| Intake | First sessions with a new client | Presenting concern; relevant history; mental status exam; risk assessment; clinical formulation and plan |
| Biopsychosocial assessment | A structured assessment across life areas | Biological; psychological; social; strengths and resources; formulation |
| Progress note (DAP) | Ongoing sessions | Data; assessment; plan |
| Treatment plan | Goals and how you'll measure them | Working diagnosis; treatment goals; planned interventions; outcome measurement; discharge criteria |
| Consultation | Answering a referral question | Referral question; findings; impressions; recommendations |
| Discharge summary | Ending care | Course of treatment; outcomes; discharge diagnosis; aftercare plan |
All templates are drafts pending review by practising specialists. Any note can also be drafted in BIRP, SOAP or narrative format, and SpecScribe remembers your preferred format and section order.
Risk and rating scales
Risk documentation, PHQ-9, GAD-7 and AUDIT-C
The intake template's risk-assessment section asks the AI to capture the suicide and homicide screening done in the session and, where risk indicators come up, the risk factors, protective factors and safety plan you agreed with your client. It's yours to complete and confirm. SpecScribe doesn't diagnose, triage or recommend treatment.
Enter the item responses and SpecScribe adds them up using each scale's published scoring, shows the standard severity band, and inserts the score and today's date into the note. If PHQ-9 item 9 is positive, the inserted line reminds you to complete a suicide risk assessment.
PHQ-9
Nine items scored 0–3, total out of 27, with the standard depressive-symptom bands.
GAD-7
Seven items scored 0–3, total out of 21, with the standard anxiety bands.
AUDIT-C
Three alcohol-use items scored 0–4, total out of 12, with the usual screening thresholds.
Example
What a DAP progress note draft looks like
- Data
- Ms. R. (fictional, 29) reports using paced breathing before a work presentation and rates her anxiety at 6/10, down from 8/10 last session. Sleep was disrupted the night before. GAD-7 today: 9/21 — mild anxiety.
- Assessment
- Partial progress toward the goal of managing performance anxiety. Anticipatory worry and sleep disruption persist. Risk status: clinician to confirm.
- Plan
- Continue paced breathing; introduce a thought record for anticipatory worry. Next session in two weeks.
Privacy
Designed to support your PIPEDA and HIA obligations
As the custodian, your clinic keeps its obligations under PIPEDA and provincial laws like Alberta's HIA. SpecScribe supports them: patient health information is stored in Canada, the app refuses to send it to storage or transcription services outside Canada, identifiers are removed before AI drafting on Anthropic's Claude API in the US, and access to patient records is logged.
Also included
Other tools therapy practices use
Patient Recap
A one-glance summary of relevant signed notes from the last 12 months, across the providers in your practice.
Format memory
SpecScribe remembers your preferred note format, section order and writing style.
Patient handouts
Plain-language visit summaries in English or French, drafted from your note and approved by you before sharing.
Who it's for
Built for therapists, counsellors and social workers
SpecScribe is for therapists, counsellors and social workers in private and group practices, and the clinics they work in. A practice signs up once and invites its clinicians, and each clinician reviews and signs their own notes.
We're based in Edmonton, so Alberta details come first: an Information Manager Agreement under the Health Information Act at sign-up. Clinicians elsewhere in Canada can use the same templates and note formats. Registered psychologists have their own templates; see the psychologists page.
FAQ
Questions therapists ask
Yes. SpecScribe won't transcribe a visit until the patient's consent to recording and AI-assisted documentation is recorded. Your clinic, as the custodian, decides how consent is obtained; SpecScribe stores the record and checks for it before recording. If a client declines, you can write session notes instead.
Yes. Choose “Write session notes” when you start a session and type what happened; SpecScribe drafts the note from your text. It's useful when a client declines recording or when you're documenting an earlier session. You review and sign the draft the same way.
Yes. You can draft in DAP, BIRP, SOAP or narrative format, and SpecScribe remembers your preferred format and section order. A BIRP note is organised as behaviour, intervention, response and plan, and a DAP note as data, assessment and plan.
No. SpecScribe drafts documentation for you to review and sign. It doesn't diagnose, triage or recommend treatment, and the templates ask the AI to use only what was discussed in the session. The drafting instructions also tell the AI not to add clinical details that weren't in the session or your notes.
We haven't published an accuracy study, so treat every note as a draft. AI-written text is highlighted in the editor, and nothing becomes part of the record until you review and sign it. Read each draft against what happened in the session, correct anything that's wrong, and add what only you observed.
Solo Scribe is $99 per provider per month with 50 encounters included, then $2 per extra encounter. Clinical Command Center is $149 per provider per month with unlimited encounters. Every plan starts with a 30-day free trial, and no credit card is needed to start.
Keep reading
Related pages
The templates are drafts pending review by practising specialists. SpecScribe drafts documentation for clinician review and signature; it is not a diagnostic or treatment tool. The sample note on this page uses a fictional client. General information, not legal advice.
Last reviewed: 2026-10-22
See a progress note drafted live
Book a 30-minute demo and we'll draft a DAP note from a fictional counselling session.
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