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Setting Up Client Journals and Reviewing Entries

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Practice Better Journals enable clients to track personal data like food intake, mood entries, physical activity, hydration, bowel movements, body measurements, and sleep.

Practitioners can review and analyze journal entries to guide client progress and build accountability. Give your clients access to Practice Better Journals by following the steps in this article.

đź“Ť Clients can refer to the help center section on Journals for Clients for additional guidance.

In this article:

Enabling Journals for New Clients

When manually adding a new client:

  1. Select the option to Create profile and invite client to join Practice Better

     
  2. Click the checkbox to Enable Journals.
     
  3. Update the entry types you want to provide access to.

     
  4. Click Add near the top-right to save the new client record.

The client will receive an account activation email. They must follow the steps to activate their account to log Journal entries.

Enabling Journals for Existing Clients

If you have active clients who don’t yet have access to Practice Better Journals:

  1. Go to My Clients and double-click on a client's name.
     
  2. Click on the Journals link in the left navigation bar.
     
  3. Choose the entry types to provide to the client:
    • Manually select: click the Add entry type button beside the desired entry types.
    • Start from preset: create a saved preset of Journal entry types to use as a common default or select from one of your already saved presets.
    • Add all entry types: select all entry types in bulk.

       
  4. Click the Publish button to create your client’s Journal.

Understanding Journal Entry Types

Journal entries create a structured communication channel between practitioners and clients, enabling real-time data collection and progress tracking that enhances therapeutic outcomes.

  • Food: Track meals, portions, eating patterns, and nutritional choices. Captures dietary habits, trigger foods, eating times, and meal satisfaction levels.
  • Mood: Monitor emotional states using scales or descriptive entries. Documents mood fluctuations, emotional triggers, daily patterns, and correlation with life events.
  • Activity: Log physical activities, exercise routines, and movement patterns. Records workout intensity, duration, activity types, and energy levels before and after, especially when synced with one of our wearables integrations.
  • Water: Track daily hydration through intake measurements. Captures fluid consumption patterns, hydration goals, and correlation with energy and wellness indicators.
  • Bowel: Monitor digestive health and bathroom habits. Documents frequency, consistency, timing, and any digestive symptoms or concerns.
  • Measurement: Record quantifiable health metrics like weight, blood pressure, or body measurements that sync with the client record. Tracks numerical progress toward health goals with date-stamped data points.
  • Sleep: Log sleep duration, quality, and patterns. Captures bedtime routines, wake times, sleep disruptions, and daily energy levels, especially when synced with one of our wearables integrations.

Updating Journal Entry Types for Existing Clients

When you need to adjust a client’s available Journal entry types, you can easily update the settings in the client’s Journals section.

  1. Go to your Clients list and open a client record.
     
  2. Go to the client’s Journals section. 
     
  3. Click the Journal Settings (gear) button near the top-right.
     
  4. Click the Add entry type button next to any journal entry types you want to include.

     
  5. To disable an entry type, click the More Options menu (3 dots) next to it and select Disable. 

Adding a Daily Focus

You can add a Daily Focus to a client’s Journals to give them encouragement and a reminder for specific goals or targets.

  1. Go to your Clients list and open a client record.
     
  2. Go to the client’s Journals section. 
     
  3. Click the Journal Settings (gear) button near the top-right.
     
  4. Click the Set Daily Focus button. 

     
  5. Type to enter the daily focus for your client and click Save in the pop-up.

     
  6. To update the client’s daily focus, return to the client’s Journal Settings page and click the Edit Daily Focus button. 
     
  7. The client will see the Daily Focus on their main Journal entry page in their client portal. 

Reviewing Journal Entries

You can add a widget to your Practice Better dashboard to be notified of new Journal entries.

Clicking on an item listed in the Review Journal Entries widget will open that client’s Journal overview page.

Client Record Journals Page

Journal entries are listed in the middle of the page, with collapsible sections on the left and right.

From this view you can perform actions like:

Use the pick list near the top-right of the entries view to filter entry types and quickly review your client’s Journal entries.

Click the Mark reviewed button near the top right on the entries for the date you are viewing.

Click the More Options menu (3 dots) at the top-right of a client's Journals page to flag a day for review, or mark all entries reviewed.

Flagging a day for review will add the entries to your Review Journal Entries widget on your Practice Better dashboard.

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