Sophrology session report: template, example and rules

A sophrology session report is the note a sophrologist writes after each session to keep track of what happened: the aim of the day, the techniques practised, what the client says they experienced and the exercises they will repeat at home. Filed in the follow-up sheet, these reports show progress and help you plan the next session.

Client sheet, session report, follow-up sheet: what each one is for

The client sheet is filled in at the first session and rarely changes. The session report is written after every appointment. The follow-up sheet puts it all together: client sheet, reports in order, then the end-of-programme review.

What to note after every session

• How the client feels on arrival, in their words ("I've been sleeping badly since Monday"), with their 0 to 10 rating if you use a scale.
• Feedback on home practice: exercises done, skipped, found difficult.
• The aim of the session, linked to the overall goal of the programme.
• Techniques practised, in order, with the names your school uses (first-degree dynamic relaxation, basic sophronisation, controlled breathing…) and what you adapted.
• The experience the client reports: what they say after the exercise, or what they write in their phenodescription. Keep their words, in quotation marks.
• Your observations, kept apart from what the client reports: posture, breathing, restlessness. What you see, not what you assume.
• Home practice: which exercise, how often, when, with what support.
• Progress: what has changed since the previous session, measured against the goal.

Follow-up sheet template to copy

Delete the lines you do not need, but keep two separations: what the client says and what you observe; what belongs to sophrology and what does not.

Part 1: client sheet (first session)

• Identity: surname, first name, date of birth, phone, email.
• How the client came: on their own, recommended by someone close, referred by a health professional (which one).
• Request, in their own words: …
• Relevant context: personal or work situation, any deadline (exam, competition, birth, surgery).
• Goal of the programme, agreed with the client, concrete rather than vague ("be less stressed").
• Points of caution the client mentions: medical care, medication, pregnancy, difficulty with some postures. No comment.
• Outside scope: what does not belong to sophrology and who the client was encouraged to see.
• Planned programme: number of sessions, frequency, techniques considered.
• Starting point: for example a client self-rating from 0 to 10.
• Consent: date of written consent, information on retention period and right of access.

Part 2: session report (every appointment)

• Session no. … / date / length / place
• State on arrival: client's words, 0 to 10 rating.
• Feedback on home practice since the last session.
• Aim of the session
• Techniques practised and adaptations.
• Experience reported by the client (phenodescription).
• Sophrologist's observations
• Home practice until the next session.
• Progress compared with the previous session and the goal.
• To plan for the next session.

Part 3: end-of-programme review

• Goal and starting point
• Where the client stands, in their view, on the same scale.
• What they can now do alone: the techniques they keep.
• Suggested next step: end of programme, booster session, referral.

Other templates (intake, assessments, letters) are on our page of clinical document templates.

Filled-in example: stress before an oral exam, over four sessions

Entirely fictional case. Inès, 24, is preparing for the oral part of a civil service exam in six weeks. Last year she failed the same oral.

Client sheet

• Request: "Last year I fell apart in front of the panel. I don't want to go through that again."
• Context: studying full time. Says she has been sleeping less well for a month, especially the night before mock orals.
• Goal: go into the oral feeling able to answer, and know how to calm down if she freezes on a question.
• Points of caution: no medical care or medication mentioned.
• Outside scope: nothing at this stage. Agreed that if her sleep gets worse, she will talk to her doctor.
• Programme: four one-hour sessions, one a week.
• Starting point: stress when thinking about the oral, 8 out of 10 in her view.
• Consent: signed, kept five years after the last session, right of access explained.

Session 1

• State on arrival: "tense, my stomach knots up as soon as I think about it". Stress 8 out of 10.
• Aim: discover controlled breathing and notice where the tension sits.
• Techniques: guided abdominal breathing, then basic sophronisation relaxing the body area by area.
• Reported experience: "I felt my shoulders drop"; "at first my mind kept going to the panel's questions".
• Observations: shallow breathing at first, fuller by the end. Jaw clenched.
• Home practice: three minutes of abdominal breathing every morning and before each study block. Sophronisation audio every other day.

Session 2

• Feedback on home practice: "breathing almost every morning, the audio only twice".
• State on arrival: 7 out of 10. Took a mock oral: "I froze on one question but I got back on track".
• Aim: set up a discreet calming gesture she can use in front of the panel.
• Techniques: first-degree dynamic relaxation standing up, then controlled breathing paired with a gesture (thumb against index finger).
• Reported experience: "standing, I feel steadier than sitting"; "the gesture reminds me to slow down".
• Home practice: the gesture and three breaths before every mock oral or presentation. Shorter audio, easier to fit in.
• Progress: from 8 to 7. A first freeze experienced and overcome.

Session 3

• Feedback on home practice: gesture used twice in mock orals, audio done four times.
• State on arrival: 6 out of 10. "I'm sleeping better, except the night before the mock oral."
• Aim: picture the day of the oral in a positive way.
• Techniques: basic sophronisation, then progressive sophro-acceptance. Inès pictures the day, from arriving to leaving the room.
• Reported experience: "I saw myself walk in without shaking"; "the question part is still blurry".
• Home practice: the visualisation audio three times before the next session, keep the gesture.
• Progress: 6 out of 10, better sleep in her view.
• To plan: work on the moment of difficult questions.

Session 4 and review

• State on arrival: 4 out of 10. "I can't wait for it to be over, but I'm not scared in the same way."
• Techniques: dynamic relaxation, then a visualisation focused on a trick question, with the gesture and three breaths.
• Reported experience: "when I freeze, I know what to do now".
• Review: goal reached in her view. Stress down from 8 to 4 out of 10 (self-rating). Can repeat the breathing, the gesture and the visualisation on her own.
• Next step: daily practice until the exam, optional booster session in exam week.

Each session returns to the starting rating and quotes Inès word for word: the review almost writes itself.

Confidentiality and retention: what the law says, what we recommend

This section follows French rules; elsewhere, check your own data protection law. In France sophrology is not a regulated health profession, but personal data rules apply to anyone who keeps information about clients.

Legal obligations

• Your notes may contain health data. The CNIL, the French data protection authority, defines it as data "relating to the physical or mental health, past, present or future, of a natural person". Other information becomes health data when something about health can be inferred from it, assessed case by case (CNIL).
• This data may only be processed in specific cases. The rule is a ban, with exceptions, one of which is the person's explicit consent. You also need a legal basis (article 6 of the GDPR), and the CNIL states that both must be justified. The processing must also appear in your register of processing activities (CNIL).
• You must set a retention period. Personal data cannot be kept indefinitely. When no text sets it, the controller decides it according to the purpose and documents the choice (CNIL).
• Clients have a right of access to their notes. The CNIL gives a deadline of one month at most for a simple request and 8 days at most for health data. If in doubt, reply within 8 days. The copy is free in principle. Data does not become exempt just because it sits in a document (CNIL).

Good practice

• Written consent at the first session, separate from the service agreement. It says what you note, why, for how long and how to see it.
• Five years after the last session, then deletion. This is the period we recommend: it is the general limitation period for personal claims in French law (article 2224 of the Civil Code), so a defensible benchmark if a dispute arises. Write this choice in your register and sort your files once a year.
• Confidentiality. Several former RNCP sheets stated that the profession is bound to professional secrecy as a matter of ethics. It is an ethical commitment. Nothing leaves the file without the client's agreement.
• Suitable hosting. The French obligation to use an approved or certified host covers health data collected during prevention, diagnosis, care or social and medico-social follow-up (esante.gouv.fr). Sophrology is not named. If your notes are online, we still recommend an HDS-certified host, which covers you if your work were seen as prevention.

Where the sophrologist status stands in 2026

None of the sophrologist RNCP sheets we checked is active. The most recent ones, including RNCP36147, expired on 26 January 2025. In an answer published in the Journal officiel on 9 June 2026, the ministry for vocational training states that six sophrology certifications listed before 2019 were not renewed by France compétences, though new applications remain possible. Your report describes support and training, not care.

The most common mistakes

• Writing a diagnosis. "Anxiety disorder", "burnout" or "depression" do not belong in your notes, except in quotation marks when the client quotes their doctor. Write what they describe: "says she wakes at 4 am".
• Not noting what is outside scope. When a request goes beyond sophrology (unexplained pain, dark thoughts, wanting to stop a treatment), note that you encouraged the client to see their doctor. Never comment on a prescribed treatment.
• Counting on "private" notes to escape the right of access. The CNIL states that data does not become exempt because it sits in a document. Write nothing you could not show the client.
• Sending an individual report to a third party (employer, school, insurer) without the client's written agreement, even to the doctor who referred them. For a group workshop paid for by a company, an overall anonymous review is enough.

How Delta helps with sophrology session reports

Delta is a clinical assistant that keeps the memory of each follow-up. During the opening conversation and while the client describes the exercise afterwards, Delta transcribes what is said. You can also dictate your observations after the session, or add written notes.

Delta then generates the report (short summary, detailed summary, topics for the next session) and updates the client file (follow-up summary, tracked goals): the whole programme and how it evolves in one place. Delta also drafts letters and certificates in your vocabulary and structure, learned from your existing documents.

Data hosted in France by an HDS-certified provider, AI processing in France, name and identifying details pseudonymised before the AI step, no audio file kept, no data used to train a model (details on the security page). Delta runs in the browser (computer, tablet, phone). For an overview, read What is Delta?. The trial lasts 14 days with no credit card, then the Pro plan costs €29 a month incl. VAT with annual billing (pricing).

Sources

• CNIL: What is health data? (in French)
• CNIL: Formalities for processing health data (in French)
• CNIL: Data retention periods (in French)
• CNIL: How to respond to a right of access request (in French)
• French National Assembly: written question no. 14899 on the professional framework of sophrology, answer published 9 June 2026 (in French)