FieldNotes does not generate “answers.”
It generates structured language that supports professional reflection.
Part Two helps you understand:
· what the app’s terms are pointing toward,
· how to read the outputs phenomenologically,
· where to be cautious,
· and how to integrate what appears into your own clinical judgment and style.
This section is not meant to be read all at once.
Many users return to it gradually, as certain outputs become more familiar.
1. Clean Narrative
The Clean Narrative is a clarified version of your raw session notes.
It aims to:
· preserve meaning while improving coherence,
· distinguish events from interpretations,
· make implicit sequences more visible,
· support continuity across sessions.
Read the Clean Narrative as:
· a re-telling, not a correction,
· something closer to a reflective clinical summary than a transcript.
· If something feels “too neat,” that is often meaningful.
It may point to places where:
· complexity was smoothed,
· tension was unresolved,
· or ambiguity deserves to be restored.
You are always free to reject or revise it.
2. Gestalt-Style SOAP Note
FieldNotes uses SOAP differently from medical or CBT contexts.
S — Subjective
This includes:
· what the client reports,
· and what the therapist experiences (sensations, feelings, assumptions).
· This reflects a relational stance:
the therapist is part of the field, not an external observer.
If you notice your own experience appearing here, that is intentional.
O — Objective
This section is deliberately restrained.
It includes:
· observable behaviour,
· posture, tone, timing,
· direct quotes,
· interventions or experiments actually done.
No interpretation belongs here.
If interpretation slips in, treat that as feedback about how hard it is to remain with description.
A — Analysis
This is process understanding, not diagnosis.
Here the app may reference:
· contact and withdrawal,
· interruptions of contact,
· field conditions,
· creative adjustments,
· relational patterns.
Language is intentionally tentative. This section is hypothesis, not truth.
P — Plan / Points to Consider
This is not a treatment plan.
It offers:
· possible directions,
· questions for awareness,
· invitations rather than instructions.
Nothing here is a requirement.
Many therapists use this section as a supervision proxy rather than a plan.
3. Supervisor-Style Questions
Questions asked are designed to resemble:
· what a thoughtful supervisor might ask,
· not what a protocol would demand.
They:
· return attention to therapist participation,
· keep responsibility with the clinician.
If a question irritates you, that is often diagnostically unimportant — but clinically interesting.
4. The Gestalt Contact Cycle Roadmap
The Contact Cycle table maps aspects of the session onto phases such as:
· pre-contact,
· mobilisation,
· contact,
· post-contact.
This is not a linear truth (or checklist) about the session.
Instead, it offers:
· a way to notice where energy gathered,
· where movement stalled,
· where something completed or failed to complete.
If several phases read “unclear,” that is not an error.
It may reflect fragmentation, dissociation, or complexity in the field.
4. The Gestalt Contact Cycle Roadmap
This section highlights:
· emotions that emerged but were cut off,
· relational movements that did not complete,
· moments of avoidance or rupture,
· therapist experiences that remained unspoken.
Unfinished business is not a flaw.
It is often the living edge of therapy.
Many therapists use this section to:
· prepare for the next session,
· notice what they themselves avoided,
· track recurring patterns over time.
6. Reflection / Supervision Output
When enabled, the reflection output adopts a supervisory tone.
It attends to:
· therapist counter-process,
· shame dynamics as relational phenomena,
· field resonance and atmosphere,
· cultural and intergenerational ground,
· possible experiments.
Important Boundary
This output is:
· not supervision,
· not an authority,
· not a verdict.
It is best used:
· alongside real supervision,
· or as a reflective journal companion,
· or as preparation for supervision.
If the reflection feels “too accurate,” slow down.
Strong resonance deserves grounding, not immediate action.
7. Shame, Field, and Therapist Participation
FieldNotes assumes:
· therapy happens between people,
· shame is relational before it is intrapsychic,
· the therapist is always participating in the field.
This is why outputs may refer to:
· atmosphere,
· pacing,
· silence,
· resonance,
· recruitment into roles.
These are not metaphors.
They are descriptions of lived therapeutic reality.
8. What to Do When You Disagree with the Output
Disagreement is healthy.
If you disagree:
· do not “correct” the app,
· notice what you are protecting,
· ask what feels misrepresented.
Many users find that disagreement itself becomes valuable reflective material.
9. Limits of Language (and of AI)
FieldNotes works with language.
Therapy exceeds language.
Some things will always remain:
· unsayable,
· embodied,
· atmospheric,
· relationally felt.
The app is designed to point toward these dimensions, not to capture them fully.
10. How to Integrate FieldNotes into Your Practice
Common integration styles include:
· post-session reflection,
· end-of-day consolidation,
· supervision preparation,
· training reflection,
· continuity across long-term work.
There is no “correct” frequency of use.
Many experienced clinicians use it less, not more, over time.