At Rula, we know documentation is a vital part of your clinical work- and we also know it can be one of the most time-consuming and draining parts of your day. That’s why we’re excited to offer Recap, a notetaking tool designed to support you.
What Is Rula’s Recap?
Think of it as your documentation co-pilot: with your client’s informed consent, the tool captures your session content and generates a draft note aligned with your evidence-based practice and best practice as it relates to documentation. You review and revise the draft before finalizing, maintaining full clinical and ethical ownership of your documentation.
Why Therapists Love It: The Benefits
More Time, Less Burnout
Therapists often spend 10-15 minutes per note (O’Neill et al., 2021), adding up to hours of unpaid labor each week. This tool helps reduce that burden, giving you time back for rest, fun, learning, or growing your practice- the choice is yours!
Be More Present
Knowing your tool is capturing session content can free you to stay attuned to clients, particularly in high-emotion, trauma-focused, or otherwise complex sessions where split attention is costly to the therapeutic alliance (Norcross & Lambert, 2019).
Keep Your Clinical Voice
The tool’s drafts are a starting point- not a finished product. You remain the clinical author, shaping notes with your voice, judgment, and professional standards.
Promote Consistency and Quality
These generated notes utilize formats at Rula you may already recognize, like our intake note and progress notes. This tool generates notes that are in full alignment with Rula’s standards for completeness, accuracy, and clinical relevance, as detailed in our articles on Best Practices for Initial Assessments and Progress Notes. These templates are designed to capture information and document it in a way that supports continuity of care, meet payor requirements, and facilitate clearer communication in multidisciplinary settings (Wright et al., 2022).
Best Clinical Practices for Using Recap
Using Recap can strengthen clinical care when paired with thoughtful documentation. We highly recommend reading this article about how to talk to clients about this tool:
Before the Session
-
Obtain and document informed consent from the client before enabling Recap. Be sure to engage your client in an informed consent conversation related to the tool. Revisit the conversation as needed.
- Discuss the risks and benefits of using this tool and how to opt out
- Let them know that Recap supports your workflow, but you are still the sole author and responsible party.
- Review technical readiness: Ensure the microphone is working, your space is private, and no background noise or disruptions will compromise quality. It can be disappointing to realize that a whole session occurred and the notetaking tool didn’t capture any of it!
During the Session
- Monitor for rupture or discomfort: If a client seems uneasy about being recorded, consider pausing or revisiting informed consent.
After the Session
-
Read every draft thoroughly: Never accept a draft as-is. Look for errors, tone mismatches, or missing clinical nuance. Also review to ensure the note meets documental standard requirements, like capturing symptoms, interventions, and functional impairment.
- Personalize the language to reflect your style and the client’s story. Make it warm, specific, and client-centered, and revise to ensure that it protects the client’s confidentiality.
-
Include cultural, contextual, and identity-relevant factors- this is an ongoing opportunity for growth for all notetaking tools.
-
Ensure that diagnoses and risk assessments reflect your clinical judgment. Given the importance of effective documentation to reduce liability risk for the therapist, it is absolutely critical that these sensitive pieces are appropriately documented.
-
Double-check sensitive or legally relevant content (e.g., suicidality, clinical risk, child abuse reports, court-related content) for accuracy and clarity.
- Use the draft as a reflection tool- not just a record. Review what stood out in the session and what it means for your treatment plan.
Ethical Considerations
AI-driven tools are becoming more common in healthcare, and mental health is no exception. But unlike EHRs or HIPAA, which have decades of guidance, there’s not yet a consistent ethical standard for how therapists should use AI tools such as notetaking assistants in treatment. While we know several professional boards are currently in the process of defining their position related to AI, this is still a new frontier, which can generate feelings of both excitement and uncertainty.
So, where do we turn?
We look to our ethical foundations that protect our patients: transparency, informed consent, cultural humility, and sound clinical judgment. These principles guide how we use any new tool- especially one that touches something as sensitive as therapy.
A Quick Look at AI’s Role in Care
- In the 1950s–90s, early AI systems focused on diagnostics and structured decision-making in medicine- not therapy.
- By the 2010s, mental health researchers began using AI for transcription, symptom analysis, and self-guided support (e.g., chatbots).
- Today, AI is entering therapy rooms primarily through supportive tools, like notetaking assistance, chart reviews, risk flagging, and engagement tracking.
These tools don’t replace clinicians; they assist them. And while many are built with privacy and safety in mind, their ethical use depends on the human behind the tool: you.
Ethical Values at Play
Using AI in therapy calls for careful alignment with license-specific Code of Ethics, HIPAA, and best practices in digital mental health, even as formal AI-specific guidelines are still emerging.
1. Informed Consent and Transparency
Clients must consent explicitly to using the tool. You’re responsible for explaining:
- What the tool does
- What it captures (and doesn’t)
- That you review and revise everything
Informed consent isn’t just paperwork- it’s a series of conversations rooted in trust.
2. Privacy, Security, and HIPAA Compliance
Recap is HIPAA-compliant, and data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Still, you should use it only in secure settings and remain alert to your own device security.
3. Bias and Equity
AI systems can unintentionally reproduce language biases. As the clinician, it’s your role to ensure that documentation reflects culturally sensitive and equitable care.
Example: An AI might mislabel emotionally expressive behavior as “dysregulation” unless you contextualize it with clinical and cultural awareness.
4. Clinical Judgment Is Irreplaceable
No AI tool can detect subtle alliance ruptures, manage risk, or interpret meaning the way a human therapist can. Recap assists- you remain the decision-maker and clinical author.
A Step Toward Sustainable Practice
You choose when to use the tool, whether to use a draft at all, and how to shape the final record. Your feedback helps us refine it to better meet therapist and patient needs.
We see this tool as a support resource- one more way Rula invests in your sustainability, wellbeing, and growth. Because when therapists are supported, clients thrive.
Still Have Questions?
Check out our Rula Recap FAQ, or reach out to Rula’s Clinical Quality team. We’re here to support you every step of the way.
References
- American Psychological Association. (2017). Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct.
- Luxton, D. D. (2021). Artificial Intelligence in Behavioral and Mental Health Care. Academic Press.
- Norcross, J. C., & Lambert, M. J. (2019). Psychotherapy Relationships That Work. Oxford University Press.
- O’Neill, K. E., et al. (2021). “Therapist Burnout and Documentation Burden: A Call for Systemic Change.” Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research.
- Wright, J. H., et al. (2022). “Best Practices in Electronic Health Record Documentation for Mental Health Providers.” Psychiatric Clinics of North America.
Updated