Session Sidekick is an AI-powered feature within Care Aide that helps you prepare for appointments and access relevant information during telehealth sessions.
It includes tools such as Session prep, Session reminders, Quick replay, and Session recap, which surface information from the client’s record at different points before and during your appointments.
Note: Session Sidekick is part of Care Aide. For more information, see Introducing Care Aide.
In this guide, we'll cover:
- Viewing Session prep
- Loading your last progress note
- Using Session reminders
- Accessing the Client chart
- Understanding Quick replay
- Generating a Session recap
- Using the post-session transition screen
- FAQs
Important: If your state requires specific consent for AI use in client care, you can customize the Consent for Use of AI Tools with De-Identified Transcript Retention form. For more information, see Preparing to use Care Aide.
Viewing Session prep
Session prep provides an overview of key information you can review before an appointment, including reminders and a summary of your last session.
Session reminders are a component of Session Sidekick, which is a Care Aide feature. Your last session summary is a component of Note Taker, which is also included in Care Aide. For more information, see Generating pre-session summaries with Note Taker.
You can access Session prep from the appointment flyout, the client’s appointment page, or the telehealth warmup screen.
To access Session prep from the appointment flyout:
- Navigate to your calendar
- Select the upcoming appointment
- Click Prepare to open Session prep in the client’s appointment page
- Click Draft prep
Note: Progress notes and psychotherapy notes are now accessed from a single Note tab within your appointment page. We’re in the process of updating content to reflect this change.
After a few seconds, Session reminders and your Last session summary will appear.
To view Session prep materials before a telehealth session:
- Join the telehealth session
- Before starting the appointment, click Sidekick
- Click Session prep
Session reminders and a summary of your last session will appear in the sidebar.
You can also view your previous progress note from the sidebar. For more information, see Loading your last progress note.
After reviewing the summary, click Start appointment in the top right to begin the session.
Note: Session prep isn't available for a client's first appointment and can only be generated for the next upcoming appointment. If a client has multiple future appointments, you'll need to wait until the earlier one has passed before generating prep for the next.
Loading your last progress note
While preparing for a telehealth appointment, you can view the client’s last progress note.
Note: This option isn’t available if this is your first session with the client or if no previous progress notes have been saved.
To do this:
- Join the telehealth session
- Before starting the appointment, select Sidekick
- Click Last progress note
The previous session's progress note will appear in the sidebar.
Using Session reminders
Session reminders surface key details from a client's previous sessions. These reminders are AI-generated using information from the client's record, such as previous progress notes and pre-appointment summaries.
Reminders may include:
- Homework or assignments
- Upcoming important dates
- Key topics or themes from recent sessions
- Treatment goals documented in the client record
Note: Reminders aren’t available for a client’s first appointment, as there’s no previous session history.
Session reminders appear at the top of the Sidekick sidebar. To view reminders:
- Before starting the telehealth appointment, select Sidekick from the telehealth warmup screen
- During a session, click the Sidekick button in the bottom toolbar
To edit a reminder, click directly into the text of an item to update it.
To add a reminder:
- Click the + icon in the top right corner
- Enter your reminder
- Press Enter or return, or click anywhere else on the screen
The new reminder will appear at the bottom of the list. You can scroll down within the side panel to view it.
Managing reminders
- Mark complete: Click the circle next to the item
- Undo completion: Click the circle again to undo the completion
- Delete: Hover over the item and select the trash icon
- Reorder: Click and drag the item
- Collapse sidebar: Click the X in the top right corner
Accessing the Client chart
The Client chart within Session Sidekick lets you view key client information during individual or couple telehealth sessions without leaving the call or switching between tabs. You don’t need to be recording using Note Taker to access the Client chart.
Note: The Client chart feature is being released in phases. If you don't see this feature in your account yet, it'll become available as the rollout continues.
To open the Client chart:
- During a telehealth session, select the Sidekick button in the bottom toolbar
- Click Client chart in the top-right of the panel
An additional panel will open directly in your telehealth session, visible only to you.
Tip: You can click and drag the pop-out anywhere on screen.
At the top of the panel, you'll see the client's name, sex, pronouns, date of birth, age, and next scheduled appointment. To update this information, see Editing a client's information.
Under the client’s basic information, you’ll also be able to access other sections, which we’ll cover below.
Administrative
The Administrative section shows incomplete tasks associated with the client.
When you create a task in the Tasks page and associate it with a client, it’ll appear here during their session, if incomplete. This allows a quick view of outstanding items without leaving the telehealth appointment.
Note: For more information, see Managing tasks through the Tasks tab.
If your task has a due date, it will display beside the task. Although you won’t be able to mark tasks as complete during the session, you can do so in the Tasks page.
Treatment plan
The Treatment plan section displays the client's most recently added treatment plan, including:
- The client’s active diagnoses
- Treatment goals, if using a Wiley treatment plan
- A progress indicator will reflect the current status for each goal
- You can also hover over a goal to preview additional details
Documents
The Documents section displays all pending and completed client documents, including questionnaires, consent forms, and demographics forms.
Each document includes its title and the date when the document was last updated.
Completed documents will display a green checkmark. For more information, see Managing the client's Files tab.
Progress notes
The Progress notes section displays a list of the client's previous progress notes so you can quickly recall what was covered in prior sessions.
Both saved and signed notes are included. To view the full content of a note, click Read more.
Important: If you make changes to previous progress notes during the session, the updates won’t be reflected in the Progress notes section of the Client chart unless you refresh your page.
Understanding Quick replay
Quick replay provides a transcript of the last 30-60 seconds of conversation, which can help you confirm or recall what you or your client just said.
Quick replay is only available if the session is being recorded using Note Taker. To use Quick replay, make sure to select Record audio at the start of the session.
Important: It’s your practice’s responsibility to understand the legal requirements of your state, including whether consent from one or both parties is required when recording telehealth sessions. If you have any questions, we recommend consulting your legal counsel or licensing and/or governing body.
To use Quick replay:
- During a recorded telehealth session, select the Sidekick button
- Click Quick replay
The most recent part of the conversation will appear with timestamps and speaker names.
Note: Quick replay uses AI and the live session transcript to generate the readout. You can provide feedback using the thumbs up or thumbs down buttons.
Generating a Session recap
Session recap generates a clinician-facing summary of the key points discussed so far in the session. This can help you review what’s been covered and identify anything you may want to revisit.
Session recap is only available if the session is being recorded using Note Taker. To use Session recap, make sure to click Record audio at the start of the session.
Important: It’s your practice’s responsibility to understand the legal requirements of your state, including whether consent from one or both parties is required when recording telehealth sessions. If you have any questions, we recommend consulting your legal counsel or licensing and/or governing body.
To generate a Session recap:
- During a recorded telehealth session, click the Sidekick button in the bottom toolbar
- Click Session recap
A summary organized by themes or topics will appear in the sidebar.
Note: The recap reflects the conversation up to the moment you request it. At least 5 minutes of recorded audio is required to generate a recap. If the recording isn’t long enough, the recap won’t generate.
Using the post-session transition screen
After ending a telehealth session, you can use the post-session transition screen to review the session and prepare for upcoming appointments.
The post-session transition screen includes a Sidekick summary, opportunities to provide feedback, and your schedule for the remainder of the day. From this screen, you can directly access your Note Taker draft and view or prepare for upcoming sessions.
Viewing the Sidekick summary
If you record at least 5 minutes of your session using Note Taker, a Sidekick summary will be available. The summary includes a session recap and next steps.
This summary is for your reference and can be copied for your own use by clicking Copy note, but it does not replace your progress note or Client summary.
Accessing Note Taker
From the post-session transition screen, you can navigate to your Note Taker draft by clicking Go to Note Taker.
For more information, see Using Note Taker with telehealth.
Viewing your upcoming appointments
The right side of the post-session transition screen displays your remaining appointments for the day.
If you have an appointment scheduled to start within the next 10 minutes, you can click Start video appointment to go directly to your next session.
If your next scheduled appointment is more than 10 minutes in the future, you can click Prepare to go to Session prep where you can view reminders and the last session summary.
Click Full schedule to expand your list of remaining appointments for the day.
If you click View appointment next to any upcoming session, you can access the appointment Overview page.
FAQs
- Can clients see Session Sidekick features during an appointment?
- How are Session reminders generated?
- Can I turn off Session reminders?
- Why don't I see the Session prep or Last progress note buttons on the telehealth warmup screen?
- Why won’t Quick replay or Session recap generate?
- Do I need to be recording the session to use all Session Sidekick features?
- Can I use Session Sidekick on the SimplePractice for Clinicians mobile app?
Can clients see Session Sidekick features during an appointment?
No. Session Sidekick features are only visible to the clinician and don’t appear on the client's screen during a telehealth session.
How are Session reminders generated?
Session reminders are AI-generated using information from the client's record, including previous progress notes and pre-session summaries. You can also manually add, edit, and remove reminders as needed. For more information, see Using Session reminders.
Can I turn off Session reminders?
Session reminders only appear with the Session Sidekick sidebar. If you don’t want to see them during a session, you can collapse the Session reminders section or close the sidebar by clicking the Sidekick button in the bottom toolbar.
Why don't I see the Session prep or Last progress note buttons on the telehealth warmup screen?
These options won’t appear if it’s the client's first session or if there’s no previous progress note available.
Why won’t Quick replay or Session recap generate?
Quick replay may not generate if there hasn’t been enough conversation. If you try to use it too early in the session, you may see a message indicating that more conversation is needed.
Session recap requires at least 5 minutes of recorded conversation.
Do I need to be recording the session to use all Session Sidekick features?
Session prep, Last progress note, and Session reminders don’t require recording with Note Taker.
Quick replay, Session recap, and Sidekick summary are only available when the session is being recorded using Note Taker, as they rely on the live transcript. If you pause recording during a session, you won’t be able to use Quick replay or Session recap.
Can I use Session Sidekick on the SimplePractice for Clinicians mobile app?
No. Session Sidekick is currently only available on web browsers.