A progress note is written after every contact or shift. Unlike a one-off assessment, it is cumulative: its value comes from the sequence, because a series of progress notes is how anyone — a plan reviewer, a supervisor, a funder, a court — sees change over time. That makes consistency more important than length. A short note in the same structure every time beats an occasional essay.
What a progress note must contain
The requirements vary by setting, but the core is stable. In the Australian NDIS context, every note should record the date, start and end times, the worker, the participant, the location and the type of support, alongside an objective description of what took place. Registered providers are required to keep these records for at least seven years, and they may be reviewed during NDIS Commission audits or plan reviews. Mental health and community settings have less formal rules but the same expectations. A defensible progress note records:
- Identifiers — reference code, date, start and end time, location, worker.
- Purpose — what the contact was for, linked to the plan or goal.
- What was delivered — the support, intervention or activity, described factually.
- How the person responded — engagement, mood, any change from the usual presentation.
- Progress against goals — specific, comparative, tied to the plan.
- Incidents or concerns — anything reportable, with the action taken.
- Next steps — what happens before the next contact, and when that is.
Progress note example — NDIS community access support
A fictional example using a reference code, of the kind of draft CaseworkAI produces from a worker’s rough notes:
The note is under 250 words, every claim about progress is comparative and specific, and the next step follows from what was observed. That is what a plan reviewer is looking for.
Mistakes that undermine progress notes
- Task lists instead of notes. “Assisted with shopping” records that something happened, not how the person is doing.
- Opinions presented as observations. “Participant was unmotivated” is a judgement. “Participant declined two invitations to leave the house and said he was tired” is an observation.
- No link to the goal. A note that never mentions what the support was for cannot evidence progress toward it.
- Copy-paste from the previous note. Auditors look for it, and it suggests nothing was observed.
- Written at the end of the week. Notes lose accuracy by the hour. Same shift, or same day at the latest.
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Progress notes in mental health settings
Under Medicare Better Access and similar schemes, progress notes justify continuing care. They should record presenting concerns at the session, interventions used, the client’s response, risk (stated explicitly, even when absent), and the plan for the next session. The SOAP and DAP formats are both widely used; the format matters less than the discipline of separating what the client reported, what the clinician observed, and what the clinician concluded.
Free progress note template
PROGRESS NOTE TEMPLATE
Reference: [reference code only]
Date/time: [date, start–end]
Location: [where]
Support type / session type: [type]
Worker: [name, role, organisation]
PURPOSE
[Linked to plan goal]
SUPPORT DELIVERED
[What was done, factually]
RESPONSE
[Engagement, mood, change from usual]
PROGRESS
[Specific and comparative, against the goal]
INCIDENTS / CONCERNS
[None, or detail with action taken]
NEXT STEPS
[Before next contact; next contact date]
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
How long should a progress note be?
For a routine shift or session, 150–300 words. Length should follow what happened, not fill a template.
Do NDIS progress notes need to be written the same day?
Best practice is the same shift. NDIS Commission audits look at timeliness as well as content, and a note written days later is weaker evidence of what occurred.
Can I use AI to write progress notes?
As a first draft, yes. CaseworkAI takes rough notes and returns a structured draft in about a minute; the worker verifies every fact and takes responsibility for the record. Use reference codes, never full names.