Software for CBT therapists: sessions, homework and records in one calendar

Thursday, 5 p.m. Marta arrives for session six of a twelve-session treatment for panic disorder. Before she takes her coat off, she pulls the week’s thought record out of her bag: three attacks noted with the time, what she thought during each one and what she did afterwards. You start by reviewing the homework, two exposures on the underground, one of them completed. Then you set the agenda for the session, look at how her score has changed on the questionnaire she filled in at the start, and agree on next week’s practice. That is how cognitive behavioral therapy works: structured sessions, a roughly planned number of appointments and work in between. Software for CBT therapists has to fit that rhythm, not the other way round.

In this guide we go through what CBT needs from practice management software, with examples of how My Psico Agenda handles it and the names you will see on screen. At the end we also tell you what it doesn’t do, so you can decide with all the facts.

What cognitive behavioral therapy needs from practice software

The American Psychological Association dictionary describes cognitive behavior therapy as a form of psychotherapy that brings together theories of cognition and learning with techniques from cognitive and behavior therapy, to identify and change the thoughts and behaviors that keep a problem going. The NHS adds two practical points: people usually have between 5 and 15 sessions, depending on what they are being treated for, and practising between sessions is important for CBT to work, often by recording progress in a worksheet or diary. If you want to brush up on the techniques, see our guide to cognitive behavioral therapy.

For running a practice, that translates into very specific needs:

• A planned number of sessions from the start, usually one a week.
• Homework between sessions: thought records, restructuring worksheets, exposure hierarchies, psychoeducation handouts.
• Repeated measures: a questionnaire at the start, another halfway through and another at the end.
• Sessions of different lengths. Prolonged exposure can take 90 minutes.
• Follow-up once treatment ends, with appointments spaced further apart to prevent relapse.
• And the admin every practice has: consent, invoices and reminders.

What software for CBT therapists should do

Before you compare programs, it helps to have the checklist in front of you. Good software for CBT therapists should let you:

1. Schedule a whole course of treatment in one go, with its number of sessions, and know which session you are on.
2. Move to monthly appointments when the follow-up phase starts.
3. Share worksheets with the patient without sending them over WhatsApp or email.
4. Keep questionnaire scores and the treatment phase in the patient record.
5. Write notes for each session and export the clinical record when someone needs a report.
6. Remind patients of their appointments, because in CBT every missed session breaks the rhythm.
7. Invoice session by session or with session packs.
8. Show in your statistics how many sessions you spend on each type of therapy.

Let’s go through them one by one, with what you will see in My Psico Agenda.

Courses of 8, 12 or 16 sessions with “Recurring therapy”

When you create an appointment, the “🔁 Recurring therapy” option books the patient a fixed slot. You pick the frequency, which for most protocols will be “Every week”, and choose whether the series has “A set number” of sessions or runs “Forever”. With a set number, the program books every date at once; if one clashes with another appointment, it skips it and tells you which. When you open each session you can see where the treatment stands, for example “Session 6 of 12”.

When you change one session in the series, you choose whether the change applies only to that one or to that one and all the following ones. The length is whatever you use: 50 minutes for a regular session, 90 for prolonged exposure. If you already use Google Calendar, your schedule syncs with it.

Follow-up sessions in a CBT therapist’s calendar

Once the treatment phase is over, you can open another series with “Every 4 weeks” or “Once a month” for follow-up and relapse prevention. Each appointment also has its therapy type, and the list includes “Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT)”, “ACT (Acceptance & Commitment)” and “Mindfulness”, in case you also work with third-wave therapies. That field feeds the “Therapy Types” chart in your statistics, where you can see how many sessions you spend on each approach. It is a simple way for your CBT therapist calendar to show you how your work is split.

Homework between sessions, in the patient’s space

In CBT, homework is part of the treatment. Each patient record has “📁 Patient files”, where you can upload PDFs, Word documents, Excel sheets, images and videos: the thought record, the exposure hierarchy or a psychoeducation handout. Everything you upload is “🔒 Hidden” by default. One tap switches it to “👁 Visible”, and the patient finds it in their space, under the “📁 Documents” tab, where they can open it if it is a PDF or an image and download it. It always reaches them in the same place, and you know when they have opened it because the file shows “Seen” with the date.

Patients log into their space with a code and a PIN, with nothing to install. From there they can also book a slot in your free hours or cancel an appointment. If you want ideas for setting homework, we have a guide to therapy homework assignments.

Questionnaires and treatment phases in “Additional data”

CBT measures. Many therapists give a depression or anxiety inventory at the start, repeat it halfway through and at the end, and note which phase each patient is in. In Settings, under “Additional fields in patient records”, you can create up to 40 fields of your own with “Add field”. They then appear in the “Additional data” section of every record. There are seven types:

• “Number”, for a score, such as the baseline PHQ-9 or GAD-7.
• “Date”, to know when each questionnaire was given.
• “Dropdown list”, for the phase: assessment, intervention, relapse prevention or follow-up.
• “Multiple choice”, to tick the techniques you are using with that patient.
• “Short text”, “Long text” and “Yes / No” for everything else.

If you don’t want a field left empty, mark it as “Required”. Session-by-session scores, if you take them, fit in that appointment’s notes.

Session notes and clinical records

Each record has its own free-text clinical history, and each appointment a “Details / Notes” field for what happened in that session: the homework review, what you worked on and the new homework. The data is stored encrypted. In Spain, the Patient Autonomy Act (Law 41/2002) requires clinical records to be kept for at least five years from discharge, so having them in one place, in date order, saves work when someone asks for them.

If you need a report, for example for the psychiatrist or GP who referred the patient, “Download the record as PDF” lets you choose which data to include. With “Include Therapies”, a table of every session carried out is added at the end. Patients sign their informed consent on their phone, and it is saved in their record too.

What CBT practice software gives you over paper

With everything in the record, preparing session seven takes a couple of minutes: you see the baseline score, the phase, the notes from session six and the worksheet you shared on Tuesday. That is the practical difference between CBT practice software and a folder of photocopies, especially when you are running twenty treatments at once.

Reminders so sessions aren’t missed

In CBT each session builds on the last. If a patient misses the fourth, the third session’s homework goes unreviewed and the fifth starts behind. WhatsApp reminders go out 24 hours before to the phone number on the record, with buttons to confirm or cancel. The answer shows up in your calendar: a tick if they confirm and a free slot if they cancel, so you can offer it to someone else. If a patient would rather not get them, you switch them off in their record.

Invoices and session packs for a set course of treatment

A twelve-session course fits well with a session pack: the patient pays in advance, each session uses one up and they can see how many are left in their space. If you would rather charge session by session, the invoice comes straight from the appointment. In Spain invoices are issued with VeriFactu, with the healthcare VAT exemption and the income tax withholding that apply. The software for psychologists page explains the rest of the features with screenshots.

If several CBT therapists share a centre

In a centre with several cognitive behavioral therapists, each one has their own calendar and the centre sees all of them. Rooms count too: each appointment books its own room and the program warns you if it is already taken at that time. If a patient moves from one therapist to another, the centre can “Duplicate” their record into the colleague’s calendar: personal details, billing details, the photo and the consent forms stay the same in both records, while the clinical history remains each professional’s own.

What this software for CBT therapists doesn’t do

• It doesn’t administer or score questionnaires, or plot score charts: you enter the results yourself.
• Patients don’t fill in records inside the app or upload files: they download the worksheet and bring it to you.
• It doesn’t accept audio files. Relaxation recordings can be shared as video or through whatever channel you already use.
• It has no built-in video calls. If you work online, use the platform you already have.
• It isn’t designed for group therapy: each appointment is for one patient, a couple or siblings.

How much software for CBT therapists costs

My Psico Agenda is paid monthly, with no lock-in. VAT is added to these prices:

• Semilla, €4.99/month: to get started, with up to 15 patients.
• Junior, €19.99/month: unlimited patients, 100 invoices and 100 automatic reminders a month.
• Senior, €29.99/month: unlimited invoices and 250 reminders a month.
• Centre Mini, €99.99/month for up to 5 therapists, and Centre Super, €129.99/month for up to 15.

If you work on your own, the first month of the Junior plan is free with no card required, so you can try this software for cognitive behavioral therapy with your real patients before you decide.

How to get started without pausing your practice

1. Create your account and claim the free month from the welcome window.
2. Bring your patients over from an Excel or CSV file in Settings, or from Google Contacts.
3. Create your fields in “Additional fields in patient records”: questionnaires, dates and phase.
4. Schedule each course of treatment with “Recurring therapy” and its number of sessions.
5. Upload your worksheets to each patient’s record and make them visible when the time comes.