For School Counselors ·
What you'll accomplish
By the end of this guide, you'll have a workflow where you speak a 60-90 second recap of a counseling session into your phone immediately after the student leaves, and get a professionally formatted DAP case note back in under 2 minutes — eliminating the end-of-day case note pile-up.
What you'll need
This process has three steps that happen in under 3 minutes total:
The key is doing step 1 within 5-10 minutes of the session ending — before your brain moves on to the next student.
What you should see: A clear workflow that fits in the 3-5 minutes between student sessions.
iPhone: Open the Voice Memos app (comes standard on all iPhones). Record a test memo. After recording, tap the three-dot menu → Create Transcript. The phone converts audio to text automatically.
Android: Open the Voice Recorder app (or download "Recorder" by Google from the Play Store). Google Recorder auto-transcribes in real time as you speak.
Test this now: Record yourself saying "This is a test of my session recap workflow" and verify that the transcript appears. Practice until you can start a recording within 10 seconds of sitting back down at your desk.
What you should see: Your spoken words appearing as text in the app's transcript view. Troubleshooting: If transcription isn't working, check that your phone's language is set to English, and ensure the phone has a clear microphone (speak toward the bottom of the phone).
Develop a consistent verbal format for your recaps. This makes the transcript cleaner and the AI case note more accurate. Use this structure:
"Student presenting concern: [what they came in about]. What we discussed: [interventions, topics covered]. Student response: [how they engaged, emotional state, any notable moments]. Plan: [follow-up, referrals, homework given, next meeting]."
Practice this format twice with a fictional session before using it with real cases.
Go to claude.ai and sign up for a free account using your email. The free tier of Claude handles case note formatting well and doesn't require a paid plan.
What you should see: The Claude interface with a conversation window. Test it with a simple message: "Hi, I'm a school counselor and I'll be using you to format case notes."
Save this prompt template somewhere easy to access (a note on your phone, a pinned email to yourself, or a saved document):
Please format the following session recap as a professional DAP case note. Use third person. Do not include any real student names — use "the student" throughout. Organize into three labeled sections: Data (observable facts and what was presented), Assessment (clinical interpretation and observations), Plan (next steps and follow-up).
Session recap: [PASTE TRANSCRIPT HERE]
You'll use this prompt every time — just swap in the new transcript.
Do one complete practice run with a fictional or de-identified past session:
Adjust your verbal recap style based on what the output misses. Counselors typically find they need to be more specific about the clinical assessment piece ("student appeared anxious but engaged" rather than just "we talked about anxiety").
Standard DAP format:
Format as DAP case note using "the student" throughout. Data / Assessment / Plan sections.
[paste transcript]
SOAP format (if your district uses it):
Format as SOAP case note. Sections: Subjective (student's report), Objective (counselor's observations), Assessment (interpretation), Plan (next steps). Use "the student" — no real names.
[paste transcript]
Crisis documentation:
Format as crisis documentation note. Include: presenting concern, risk assessment observations, safety plan discussed, parent contact (if applicable), follow-up plan. Use "the student."
[paste transcript]