The Science of Clinical Documentation with Dr. Maelisa McCaffrey Ep.62

Episode Overview

• Episode Topic:
  In this episode of Mastering Counseling, we dig deep into the crucial yet often overlooked aspect of therapy: documentation. Our host, Becky Copelan, welcomes Maelisa McCaffrey, founder of QA Prep, a licensed clinical psychologist renowned as the “Documentation Diva.” Maelisa has a wealth of experience from working in various agencies and now specializes in helping therapists manage their notes and confidential records. This episode sheds light on the importance of proper documentation in therapy, highlighting its impact on both legal compliance and client care. Listeners will gain insights into the meticulous world of therapy documentation and why it’s essential for every practicing therapist.
  
• Lessons You’ll Learn:
  Listeners of this episode will learn several valuable lessons. Firstly, the importance of thorough and accurate documentation in therapeutic practice cannot be overstated. Maelisa explains how proper record-keeping can safeguard therapists against legal issues and enhance client treatment. Secondly, the episode uncovers the practical strategies for maintaining confidentiality and managing client notes efficiently. Maelisa shares tips and tools that therapists can implement to streamline their documentation process. Finally, the episode underscores the evolving role of technology in therapy, providing listeners with insights into how digital tools can aid in maintaining accurate and secure client records.
• About Our Guest:
  Maelisa McCaffrey, also known as the “Documentation Diva,” is a licensed clinical psychologist with extensive experience in both clinical practice and administrative roles. After years of working for various agencies, Maelisa recognized a common challenge faced by therapists: managing their documentation effectively. This led her to establish QA Prep, a company dedicated to assisting therapists with their documentation needs. Maelisa’s expertise lies in helping therapists navigate the complexities of maintaining thorough and compliant records. Her passion for this niche has made her a sought-after speaker and consultant, empowering therapists to focus more on client care and less on paperwork.
  
• Topics Covered:
  This episode covers a range of topics related to the crucial aspect of documentation in therapy. The conversation begins with Maelisa’s journey into psychology and how her experiences shaped her focus on documentation. The discussion then digs into the importance of keeping accurate and detailed client notes, exploring both the ethical and legal ramifications. Maelisa shares practical advice on maintaining confidentiality and managing documentation efficiently. Additionally, the episode touches on the role of technology in modern therapy practices, highlighting digital tools that can aid in the documentation process. Listeners will also hear about common pitfalls and best practices for staying organized and compliant in their documentation efforts.

Episode Transcript

Becky Copelan: Thank you so much for returning to mastering counseling. We’re so excited today to have Maelisa McCaffrey with us. She is a licensed clinical psychologist who worked for various agencies in the past, but is now most known as the Documentation Diva.  As she has begun, QA Prep does a whole lot for therapists keeping track of all of those important notes and confidential things. Thank you so much for being on the show today. Maelisa.

Maelisa McCaffrey: Thanks so much for having me.

Becky Copelan: We look forward to talking about this side of therapy as I myself haven’t gone too deep into people’s personal notes, all of that.  I can’t wait to hear from an expert like you.  Why don’t we talk about the beginning of your life, mental health, how you chose to go the psychologist route,  then we’ll kind of talk about your company that you own now.

Maelisa McCaffrey:  Well, I know when I was in my bachelor’s degree program, I went in thinking, like, I’m going to do the least amount of work possible to get my master’s degree.  I realized very quickly how broad the field of psychology is.  I was like, you can get ten doctorates while still being learning. I was like, well, let me just do this doctorate thing straight off.  I became a psychologist.  Ironically, as the person who was just dying to get out of school,  went into the doctorate right away.  I was really young. I was like, doctor McCaffrey at, you know, age,  at age 25, 26,  when I was starting off I got lots, lots, lots of different types of experiences because my first full-time job was as a psychologist, you know, before that I was in school  working. But,  I think allowed me the flexibility that you have when you’re younger to try out different things  not worry so much about, like, , I was worried about making money, but, you know, when you’re 25, 26, you’re a little bit more with not making as much money just doing things to learn. Then,  you know, I wouldn’t necessarily have that flexibility at this point in my life. So. Right.

Becky Copelan: So you’re very glad you did it when you were young. Right away.

Maelisa McCaffrey:  Although I meet lots of people who have done the opposite.  like, you know, it all works at different times, right?

Becky Copelan: Right.

Maelisa McCaffrey: But thankfully, I’ve had a lot of different experiences from psychological testing working in community colleges to doing crisis response,  to working in mental health agencies. Right. Working with career assessments, you know, school-based counseling  now all of those various experiences that felt like a little bit at the time, I was just trying to figure myself out.  What I liked to do is invaluable now because I can work with so many different therapists.  because I likely have experience in whatever it is that they’re doing that has worked in that setting.

Becky Copelan: Right? When you say you could go to school forever,  that is certainly true, right? Because in this field there’s so many angles.  I would say the general population, a lot of people are lumped together social workers, therapists, counselors, school counselors, psychologists. Really they do all have their own,  special roles. So that’s awesome that you’ve gotten to participate in a lot of them.  When you were going for your doctorate, were you working in community agencies then?  in like practicing then while getting that further degree?

Maelisa McCaffrey: I was working in mental health agencies,  the community colleges,  not necessarily college counseling, but,  working in the disabled student center.   a little bit of college counseling with students there, but also learning disability assessments then my internships in the crisis response team and the school-based counseling.   I also worked at a psych hospital during that time, too. 

Becky Copelan:  wow.  You have been in a lot of places. So very cool. Tell us now about the vision behind QA prep. which I just want to read it specifically transforming the way therapists approach clinical documentation. That’s a little better word than I originally said. So how did you come to know this is where you definitely wanted to be?  What does that organization look like?

Maelisa McCaffrey: Well, ultimately I got kind of burnt out on doing client work. Took a little break. As I was studying for licensing as well,  I got a job doing QA. So quality assurance in an agency through that process, thankfully that particular agency was very, very heavy on training their clinicians.  It was a very large agency,  in California.  so it had, you know, dozens of locations. So they were able to have multiple full time QA people,  we were encouraged to spend a lot of our time creating training, actually talking with clinicians. So I wasn’t sitting there just auditing charts all day, you know.   so I found through that process that I really enjoyed it.  I was actually really good at,  creatively, like,  making new houts for people or, you know, giving these clinicians new ways to or easier ways to do things like their treatment plans and their progress notes.   I loved working with the supervisors to help their clinicians make things easier. As I was doing that  you know, I’d have therapists literally call me up in my office say, hey, I, you know, just had this scenario happen. How do I write this progress note, for example.

Maelisa McCaffrey:   I started thinking, you know, all my friends in private practice, like, what did they do? I’m sure they have these questions too. I started asking them, you know, took some of them out for coffee.  I was like, hey, like, I’m doing this now, is this something that you would be interested in?  all of them were like, oh my gosh, , I need this. There’s no one to help me with this. We never learned any of this in grad school. So I was like, , like this could be a thing.  My original idea was to,  maybe pitch universities to add this as a graduate school course, because the thing I consistently hear still hear is, why didn’t we ever learn this in grad school?   I was thinking about doing that. Thankfully, I talked with a business coach as I was thinking about this because I don’t know any entrepreneurs I like. I know nothing about starting a business, right?  I wasn’t even thinking of it from that angle. I was like,  I’ll just be like an adjunct professor.   I talked to this business coach and she was like, do not do that. This is so necessary. She was like, I work with therapists who need this help all the time, like, make this your own thing.

Maelisa McCaffrey: You could literally have a business doing this.  I was like, what? Really? You know,  I did,  I really,  hunkered down and joined this, you know, program where I learned about, like, how do you even start a business? Like, what do I even need to do?    then was like, well, let me put it out there.  I did an in-person workshop,  it sold out in like two days.  I was like , maybe there’s something there. So then I started, you know, putting more effort into building this business learning about things like online business.  because I was still working full-time.  At that time, I was also commuting,  three hours a day on certain days to go to my job.  so I had very limited time,   needed it to be an online, slightly more automated thing initially.  so I really set things up to be that way in the very beginning.  but it continued to, you know, just grow, grow.  the more that I poured into it, so it’s, you know, to where it is now this has now been ten years.

Becky Copelan: That I’ve had. I wanted to ask when this all evolves.  So since 2014 ish.  Wow, that’s so exciting.  Is it still you running the entire thing? , for the most part, you have to hire others.

Maelisa McCaffrey:  I have an assistant now,  I have a project manager.  You know, part of the thing with all of this is I have ADHD. I am not a naturally organized person. So I am not necessarily like this type of person that you would think might be training people on documentation. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Like I say, you know, I have to pay my project manager to be her to tell me, like, I have to pay her to tell me what to do, you know?  so that has helped a lot.  You know,  that’s like a whole other podcast, right? Talking about, like, the business strategy there, getting the support you need to run one.  but I do have support. I also have an accountant that I am again, I have to meet with her like, I won’t, I won’t get all the business y things done that I need to get done if I don’t actually sit down and meet with someone. I’ve invested in that,  that’s helped a lot with continuing to grow the business.

Becky Copelan: No, I love that you said you’re not an organized person that you’re doing because. , no, it’s in the charts all of that. You would think that. But if you have the right people helping you,  it doesn’t matter. So that’s very cool.  so because sometimes we do talk a lot about the business side of things here. Project manager, I have not heard as often that a lot of our guests, a lot of them have admin people, accountants for sure. Project managers, not as much. So why do they have that title? What projects, I guess, are they managing?

Maelisa McCaffrey: I mean she’s managing almost the whole business. Right. As far as she helps me with things like,  for example, I just met with her before this, we were recording. I’m writing a book like, I know the content I can. I’ve written so many blog posts, articles, YouTube scripts and all these things. You know, I have the content down, but I need someone to help me plan out all the things that you need to do to get a book done.   it’s a lot of steps,  it just would not. I have thought about writing a book for probably eight years. But now that I have her we’ve worked on things. It’s something I’ve talked to her about for so long that last year she was like , when are we writing this book? We’re nailing down dates. We’re putting this together. You know? We’re getting this done. She’s checking in with me. So it’s partly accountability.  but also letting me,  you know, think through things. So I will often have been known to think up a webinar idea, for example, like today then,  I’ll spend two hours creating this, you know, it’s an awesome webinar.  then I’m like,  I’ll just, you know, launch that next week.  she’ll be like, no, no, no. . What’s their timeline? Why are you doing this? What is this for?  She definitely keeps my ADHD in check helps me think through things strategically, really think through things like, do you realistically have time for both of these things?  Which one is important? I think for my model, because it is more program based you know, I do things like I run groups, but a lot of my business is fairly automated.  so when I do have projects, they’re bigger scale,  maybe more long term projects.  She really helps me think through all of that.

Becky Copelan: Very cool. Thank you for that explanation.  The pairing of those two types of careers together is really awesome. .  so how did you become known as the Documentation diva? .

Maelisa McCaffrey: Well, honestly, my late friend Roy Huggins,  who many people might know from,  person centered text. He was like a tech guy, a counselor.  It was no longer with us, but he and I met early on in both of our careers, starting businesses  doing these online things for therapists.   That’s what he started calling me. He would, you know, I would come in to do training for his community  he would say, here’s the documentation, diva.  I was like, I love this name.

Becky Copelan: That’s super fun. I like that.  let’s kind of talk about I know your project manager Hannah’s  it a lot, but  you said you run groups  I know you’re doing webinars.  Is there any typical type of week for you where you do things in one day or another, or is everything just always different all the time?  Based on what your clients need, how does your schedule look?

Maelisa McCaffrey: , I would say it used to be a lot more all over the place.   The project manager has helped me nail this down, which,  I really,  tried to revolt against.  it’s, you know, absolutely beneficial for me and the clients that I work with.   I run a couple of groups every week,  those are very consistently done, like every Thursday,  or Wednesday.  Those are groups for therapists who are behind in their paperwork.  It’s all like accountability  support,  both giving them the practical tools that they need, but also giving them a space to talk about what struggles they’re having   along with problem solving with them.  A lot of my time is spent,  you know, in those groups running the groups  then outside of that, being in the online community  responding to people as they have questions or even, you know, posting their wins  you know, just celebrating their wins with them along the way.   Then I do individual consultations. So those are,  a little bit in the room. But I have kind of, you know, set times in my schedule that are always available.  Then things like this, whether it’s collaborating, I’ve been doing a lot with these new AI tech companies that are coming out geared for therapists.  a lot of them. I’ve been doing a YouTube series on using AI for your progress notes. They’re all paying attention to contacting me. It’s not uncommon that I have at least one meeting with one of these companies a week now.   then a lot of my time is also content creation. Pretty much at least every other week I’ll need to kind of rearrange my entire living room and set it up to be a YouTube studio  recording videos.  then the weeks that I’m not doing that are typically spent doing research for those videos, creating the scripts  getting that kind of stuff ready.

Becky Copelan: This is also fascinating. I wanted to write down five questions as you were talking all about all the different things.  Let’s talk about my one thought was with the groups you do,  with it being all online. I’m imagining therapists possibly all over the nation  only know each other through your group.

Maelisa McCaffrey: Many of them. That is the point of the group. You know, about three years ago I did a lot more individual consultations,  it got to the point where I was seeing, you know, ten people in a week who all had the same problem  all were telling me they thought they were the only therapist in the world who has this problem.  I was kind of like, I really did not want to do groups because I didn’t want to lock myself into a schedule.   it is the best thing I’ve ever done because that’s what everyone needed. They needed to literally join a zoom room to see that there were 40 other people online who were there because they all had the same problem.   it helped me where, you know, now I can say this to all these people once a week instead of doing this through all these individual consultations with them.

Becky Copelan:  I would imagine 40 times over the same discussion that would make me crazy as a person of variety. So is that the cap of how big a group will be that, I mean, you know, a lot of like therapy type groups are what, you know, 8 to 10, but this is obviously different.  So what do those numbers look like around 40 usually?

Maelisa McCaffrey: We typically have about 100 in a group.  but I will have multiple meeting times.  Typically about 40 people will attend each meeting time that week.   I’ll do like Mondays, I’ll do training for the group.  I’ll have a weekly topic. But it’s all around all of the resources I’ve found, you know, over these last ten years that when people are behind what they need.  For example, a lot of times,  people are really behind in their paperwork because when they sit down to write a note, they don’t know what to write. It takes them half an hour to write a progress note. So if it takes you half an hour to write a progress note  you have 25 clients a week, you’re probably not getting all those notes done every week.  then it becomes something you avoid because it feels so stressful  you know, it takes you so long.   so a lot of it is around training on here’s a, here’s a note template. Here’s how to use checkboxes. Here’s how to save yourself time doing this.  along with things like creating a schedule,  time management strategies, that kind of thing.   then the other groups are,  so we do a training one part of the week,  then at the end of the week we do sharing. it’s a quick kind of accountability style like doing your check in and having everyone check in through those groups. So that’s how we’re able to have more members in a group.  but people also do get to know one another pretty well,  they frequently will go through the group a few times because they find the accountability so helpful.

Becky Copelan: . No, I’m glad you were. The next thing I was going to ask was the actual content. So that’s good to hear. Like,  you’re really breaking down, you know, in the moment. How are you writing that note? What character are you using?   I imagine there’s a ton of, like, online printables that are presented to help people scale back their time. So very,  very cool.  Let’s talk a little bit. You mentioned they will share at the end some success.   you had talked about people celebrating their wins. Is there a certain client that you feel like you could share how they’ve had so much success over the long term?  a story like that we would love to hear.

Maelisa McCaffrey: Well, I have one client there, two clients that come to mind,  one is someone I worked with many years ago.  One is a lot more recent. The one for many years ago, you know, they came to me, they had moved states,  it was the type of thing where they said, I’d never used to have problems getting my notes done. But after I moved, something happened.  You know, this is a very common story where people tell me that,  some, some life circumstance changed or occurred, it sort of triggered this falling behind.  Then,  they were really struggling to get their notes done. I think it was like 11 or 1200 notes, progress notes that they needed to do. This felt extremely overwhelming.

Becky Copelan: Wow.

Maelisa McCaffrey: Then it’s a problem.  This is not an uncommon story. So if someone’s listening to this too.

Becky Copelan: 1200, I am shocked. I mean I guess I’m like, how do you even remember anything.

Maelisa McCaffrey:  That’s another one of the things that often comes up, right is like, , it’s not just a matter of making a plan to catch up. What do I do when I don’t remember what happened? Because,  you might be able to give me a summary of what happened with client A, but you probably can’t tell me what happened in a session on September 22nd of last year with client A, right? You know, you would have to even if you’ve taken notes to yourself, you might not remember that super. Well.  So anyway, I worked with this person to get them.  It took over a year and they had to take some breaks. But it was about making a sustainable plan, right? It’s not let’s get you caught up in a month because that’s just not realistic.   One of the things I find is that people will then focus on getting caught up,  then they’ll ignore this week’s notes,  then it’s just a problem that keeps getting pushed back,  then it becomes a recurring cycle.  I worked with them on , stop.  you know, continuing the pattern, like, let’s get you on a regular schedule of writing your notes. Now, what does that look like? How can you do it?  then creating a catch up plan? Like I said, it was long term, but now I continue to do coworking groups. People who I’ve worked with previously can still come to our monthly coworking groups that we do.

Maelisa McCaffrey:  That person will still come, you know, years later  be like, hey, I’m all caught up, but I’m just doing today’s notes, you know,  they’ll show up for an hour.  It’s so fun to see that.  That’s, I would say,  a more common story of someone who, you know, is willing to look at it more long term.   then a person who just joined this most recent group, we had a different strategy for them,  they were like, , I’m starting fresh right now.  Every week now they’ve been getting their notes done  they’re like, this is amazing because I gave them a template. They use the template  they’re like, I am writing a note in four minutes,  it used to take me 25 minutes.  Now this is something that I actually feel they’re more motivated to say, you know what? Let me not go home. Let me actually do these notes. Because if you know, it’s going to take you 15 minutes to get those notes done, you’re a lot more likely to follow through than if you’re like,  this is going to be a stressful hour and a half, so I’m just going to go home. Maybe I’ll do them tomorrow.   so this person, it’s really, really helped with their motivation  easily getting them done.

Becky Copelan: No, I love that. I think especially in this line of work where, you know, the people that are helping are in cycles  patterns that are very difficult.  then too often. Right. I mean, sometimes people might end the counseling or therapy, but often they might be back. It just doesn’t always feel like you’re checking a box like,  I fixed your car, now you’re good. It’s usually like that. So for the therapist to say, , this is something that I did complete, even if the person obviously still has more to work on, I at least have up to date notes. It must be a good feeling. That’s amazing. I can see why you were called the Documentation Diva. This is fascinating. Like I said, we haven’t really delved too much into this before.  Why don’t we think about are there some common misconceptions about clinical documentation that you feel like are out there?  What are some of those things?

Maelisa McCaffrey: , I think the two most harmful ones that I have seen over the past decade,  is, is number one that no one gets behind in their notes.  I must be the only one.   That is a very devastating misconception, because if you’re the clinician,  there’s a huge sense of shame around it.   they often feel like there’s no one they can talk to. They’re terrified.  I mean, people are literally losing sleep over this.   I can’t tell you how many therapists I’ve worked with who have said, I’ve thought about letting my license go  just becoming a coach so that I don’t have to deal with the documentation.    you’re my last hope. Like, this is the last thing I’m going to try before I actually take that step. I think it’s a big misconception that other therapists must have it together and must know what they’re doing. No, most of them don’t.   related to that,  I always love working with supervisors, clinical supervisors, group practice owners because it’s not a matter of if. It’s a matter of when you will work with a clinician who has this issue.  if you’re someone who didn’t have that issue yourself, it can feel like, what? What’s wrong with this person? Why aren’t they getting their notes done? It’s also important for those therapists to know this is a common problem.

Maelisa McCaffrey: It’s not, it’s often not a basic time management issue that a clinician needs to work with. It’s more often about the confidence  documentation  helping someone with that. So I’d say that’s one of the most harmful misconceptions.  then the other one is that paperwork is punishment. I think many of us who started out in agencies had to do all of this documentation. That felt redundant.  it was, you know, it felt crazy making  it often was not realistic to do in your 40 hour work week. you would have to, you know, spend all this extra time.  It was very stressful.  documentation does not actually have to be painful. What often happens is that when I work with people, they start feeling better about the paperwork.  then the first thing they tell me is, am I doing it wrong? I must be doing it wrong because that felt too easy.  I’m like, no, it’s  for it to feel easy. It’s  to feel confident about it. But it’s a mindset shift that people struggle with. They think, I must have to this must be painful for it to be a good note.

Becky Copelan: It’s like a burden that they don’t want to let go of. Like it. They’re so used to it that they don’t know what to do without it. So. Exactly.  So what would be some of the,  on the actual forms or documents that you would use? Are there? How does it simplify from being a half an hour to five minute thing? Just like a couple ideas that you could give us.

Maelisa McCaffrey: . The quick thing is stop writing in full sentences. There’s no law or rule that you have to unless you have a particular supervisor who’s telling you you have to do that  then maybe have them listen to this.    The thing is, as an auditor, like, as someone who has audited lots of progress notes, I much prefer to read bullet points or little dashes  phrases than to read a huge paragraph of text.   Also, as an auditor, the more I read I  have to search through paragraphs to find what I’m looking for, the more I’m also finding other things that you don’t want me to find, right? Or the more I’m having to read details about your client that maybe you feel uncomfortable with other people reading. So when you use things like bullet points, quick phrases,  which you can do either through having a checkbox list that’s pre-created.  but also detailed. If you create that yourself, you can really personalize it to the way you work, to the way you are,  the type of clients you see.  or you can just use the bullet point strategy  not you could literally do that now, right? The next progress note you write stops using sentences  just use bullet points,  topics discussed included  then list them parenting strategies,  relationship issues.

Maelisa McCaffrey: Right? I mean, you can keep it that broad.    That does take a little practice. But that’s why people then are like, whoa, is this good enough? Is this really true ?  but I think that’s one of the biggest things that I did because I knew I would drown in the paperwork.   I always got huge compliments on my documentation,  I was like, I’m just doing this so I can make it doable, right?   then, like I said, as an auditor, that is so much easier to read.  you’ll find going back  looking at your own notes, it’s so much easier to review. You’re a lot more likely to find them useful if you write them that way.   then so I’d say as far as documentation goes, that’s the biggest thing.   related to that is,  end your sessions on time. So those are two things you can do for free  you could do right now.  no.

Becky Copelan: I love that.  As someone who is an elementary school counselor  you know, in a building of over 600 kids.  I am the king of Dash in bullet points. I’m glad to hear this because I like the idea of writing  full sentences. I don’t think it ever occurred. It was just not possible.  It’s really good to hear from you.  that that is. .  So my next question, how do you see the future of documentation maybe changing a little bit or  how does the whole AI affect these things ? You mentioned talking with different companies. I know some about AI, but like, what are they trying to do? Are they trying to give more software or. I don’t know, I can’t even phrase the question because I don’t know what to ask, but how am I going to help you, I guess .

Maelisa McCaffrey: There’s good  bad news here. Good AI.  I’m testing all of these different AI platforms,  thankfully a lot of them are giving me a free account to actually use it and try it out.  so I’ve played around with a lot of them. I don’t. I have yet to find one that actually saves anyone any time.  if you use this bullet point strategy I just talked about  kind of create for yourself these cheat sheets you could use with your notes, there is no way using a HIPAA compliant, HIPAA secure AI system is going to save you time because you have to tell the AI platform what the session was about,  then it produces a note for you or you log into an AI platform. So some of these platforms that are already around you log in. You do your session there, or it listens to a transcript of the session  then it creates a note for you.  they’re not like ChatGPT, which is not HIPAA secure. You cannot use it for your progress notes. There is no such thing as de-identifying a note enough to make it,  HIPAA secure  ChatGPT.   if you use one of these platforms, they’re not as quick and easy,  you have to enter the data somehow and you need to get permission from your clients as well. Right? So not all clients are going to be  with that.  so many are, I think more so than therapists think. But there’s still going to be clients that won’t be,  that won’t feel secure using an AI.   then the system produces a note for you. Then you have to review the note to make sure it’s accurate.

Maelisa McCaffrey: Every single one of these platforms, as awesome as they are,  as impressive as some of the feedback is, some of the way it writes the notes is,  every single time they make a somewhat significant mistake.  it’s something that needs to be corrected. So it’s not like you can just trust it. You have to read through the note to change something.  so I don’t know if that will improve over time or,  you know, as people get more comfortable with AI, I see that it it likely will become integrated with electronic health records, where you sign up for your electronic health record,  they’ve probably contracted with one of these AI companies,  so that when you do your note, you have the option of using this AI platform directly within your EHR.  that’s that’s what I envision. But I also even talked with one of these companies, the founders said, I don’t see how this saves any one time. I could see maybe a first the first few times, but after that, why wouldn’t you just use your own cheat sheet or your own notes?   That’s to say, you know, I think there’s some benefit to it. It it’s, it can be worth playing around with.  but it is not the magic bullet that a lot of clinicians want it to be. You’re much better off creating cheat sheets, keeping yourself succinct, feeling confident about your own skills.  because then you really can write a few-minute progress note,  then you don’t even really need an AI. An AI platform that might take ten minutes to write your note for you.

Becky Copelan: I mean, as I’m as you’re talking  I’m thinking it’s like this whole world we’re in is everything about people, how human they are, how everyone is so individual.  you know, I can give you the recipes or anything that’s super black-white, right? It can happen. But when it comes to the human story, everyone’s personal experience, nothing can really always be the same.   but, I’m so glad that we talked about that, that you kind of shared what you’re seeing on the platforms that you’re experiencing. So. .  well, we’ve talked about a whole lot today. I’ve just really been fascinated. I could probably talk for three more hours. Is there anything else that you feel like you’d want us to know about the work you’re doing?  or the clients that you’re helping?

Maelisa McCaffrey:  I think, you know.

Becky Copelan: Sorry about that. No.

Maelisa McCaffrey: No problem. But I have lots of free resources. There are so many resources out there. There’s no one perfect way to write a progress note. There’s no one perfect way to write a treatment plan. There’s no one perfect schedule. So if there’s anything I would want people to know, it’s that, um.  trust your gut. So gather resources. Whether it’s from me, from other people doing this type of stuff. Create your templates, create your systems,  then stick with it  let it be easy.  but don’t worry about trying to recreate the wheel every three months.  because it’s probably not necessary.

Becky Copelan:  That makes so much sense. Thank you for that.