I've been an EMDRIA-certified EMDR therapist for years. And for most of those years, EMDR documentation was a workaround.
The standard note formats — DAP, SOAP, BIRP — weren't built with EMDR in mind. They weren't wrong, exactly, but they didn't map naturally onto how EMDR sessions actually move: target identification, SUD and VOC tracking, desensitization, installation, body scan, closure. Trying to shoehorn that into a single "Assessment" section always felt like a translation problem.
When I built Practice Pad, I built it to solve my own documentation headaches first. The handwriting canvas. The on-device OCR. The fact that your client notes stay on your iPad and in your own Google Drive — not on anyone else's server, including mine. Those pieces came together because I was tired of paying $79/month for a system that treated my data like its own asset.
But I knew the template problem was still there. And I knew I wasn't the only EMDR therapist working around it.
With v1.0.16, the Community Template Library is officially live.
Here's What That Means in Practice
Browse and install specialty templates directly inside the app. EMDR-specific documentation schemas are available at the Cloud tier ($22/mo), built to follow the actual flow of an EMDR session — separate sections for target, SUD/VOC, processing, installation, body scan, and closure.
More templates are on the way. The library is designed to grow. If you specialize in DBT, Substance Use, Child/Adolescent work, or Couples, those packs are in development. The EMDR templates are the first chapter, not the last.
Your notes still live where they should. Nothing has changed about the core architecture. Every note you write with your Apple Pencil gets converted to structured text on-device by Apple's Vision Framework — no cloud OCR middleman. Everything is encrypted with AES-256 on your device. When you sync to Google Drive, it goes into your Drive account — your data, your BAA with Google, your control.
A Few Things to Note
Practice Pad is still an iPad-only app. It's built around Apple Pencil and the PencilKit canvas, and that's intentional. If you're a handwriter — and a lot of us in EMDR land are — the iPad is the device that makes sense.
The free trial is 14 days on all tiers. No credit card games, no locked features during trial — you get the full tier you select. Cancel anytime through the App Store.
And if you've been waiting to hear about AI-powered note review: it's coming. The infrastructure is built. It'll arrive in the Pro tier when it's ready, and I'll be transparent about what it does and doesn't do when it ships.
If you're an EMDR therapist who's been working around your documentation tools, I'd genuinely like you to try this. Not because I'm a software company asking for your subscription — because I'm an LPC who spent years doing exactly what you're doing, and this is the tool I wish had existed.
Questions? Reach me at support@practicepadapp.com. I actually read those.
EMDR templates, built for how you actually work
The Clinical Power of an EHR. The Freedom of a Notebook. Secure tier: $15/mo. Cloud tier: $22/mo. 14-day free trial.
Download on the App Store →