Session notes are the part of the work that happens after the work: the third or fourth session of the day ends, and the progress note is still unwritten. Cloud AI scribes promise to help, and many therapists reasonably use them — but look at what the deal requires: a recording of the most sensitive conversation a person ever has, uploaded to a vendor's servers. Some clinicians are comfortable with that. Some clients, told plainly, are not. This guide is for the setup where the recording never leaves your computer at all — with the consent conversation first, because it always comes first.
Before anything technical: consent
Recording a session without the client's informed consent is, in most jurisdictions and under every professional ethics code this product's team is aware of, a serious violation — whatever tool captures the audio and wherever it's stored. So the workflow starts before any workflow: a written consent conversation covering what's recorded, why, how long it's kept, who sees it, and — the part this setup makes genuinely easy to answer — where it goes. Because here it goes nowhere. "The recording stays on this computer, transcribed by software running on this computer, and I delete it once your note is written" is a sentence you can say to a client with a straight back. Some clients will consent to that who would never consent to an upload. Some will decline, and then you don't record — same as ever.
An honesty section, because this use case deserves one: QuickSpeak makes no HIPAA-compliance claim and offers no Business Associate Agreement — there is nothing to sign, because the software never receives or holds your data on any server. Whether a tool with no data flow fits your obligations as a covered entity, what your state's laws and your board's rules require, and how your insurer reads your documentation practices: those are your calls to verify, with counsel if needed. This page is general information, not legal advice. And note what local processing adds as a duty: your laptop now stores session material, so disk encryption, device security, and a retention schedule you actually follow are part of the setup, not extras.
The setup
Install QuickSpeak — no account, no sign-up, nothing that knows who you or your clients are. The speech model downloads once and runs from your machine thereafter.
- Consent, documented. Written consent in the client's record before the first recorded session, per the conversation above.
- Pick the source for the room you're in. In-office sessions: Microphone (in-person room). Teletherapy on Meet, Zoom web, or Teams: Browser tab — nothing joins the call, so the client never sees a recording bot, and you're not running unvetted software inside the session. Desktop-app calls: Desktop.
- Tell it how many voices to expect. QuickSpeak asks the group size — two for individual work, three for couples, more for family sessions. Speaker separation is strongest with one or two clients; a lively family session is harder for every diarization model, this one included.
- Record, stop, label. After Transcribing and Identifying speakers, click each label and name it for your own reading — "Therapist" and "Client", or initials if you'd rather not have names in files. This is your document; label it the way your records policy wants it labeled.
- Draft the note from the transcript. Read the moments you half-remember, quote the client accurately — a transcript beats a 6pm memory of a 10am session. On Pro, an on-device brief (summary, key points, open questions) runs locally through a small language model as a starting frame. It doesn't know SOAP format and shouldn't: the clinical note, the assessment, the plan — those are yours to write in whatever record system you use.
- Delete on your schedule. When the note is written, delete the recording and transcript if your retention policy says so — and here deletion is what it looks like: a file operation on your own disk, not a request into somebody's cloud.
What this tool is not
Worth stating plainly, because therapists are exactly the people who get burned by fuzzy claims:
- Not an EHR. Nothing here integrates with your record system; transcripts export as .txt (free) or Markdown (Pro) and you carry them over yourself.
- Not a clinical note generator. The on-device brief is a summary of a transcript, written by a small local model. It has no clinical training, no templates, no treatment-plan logic. Treat it as a thoughtful trainee's first pass, never as the note.
- Not a compliance certification. "Nothing is uploaded" is a true statement about data flow. It is not a HIPAA determination, a board ruling, or an insurer's approval. Verify those where you practice.
- Not a sharing tool. If a supervisor, insurer, or co-therapist needs session material, that transfer happens through whatever secure channel your profession requires — QuickSpeak's job ends at your disk.
Why therapists specifically end up here
The cloud scribes work, and their convenience is real. What gives therapists pause is usually one of three things: the consent conversation ("where does the recording go?" is a hard question to answer well when the answer is a data-processing chain), the training question (some cloud vendors train models on session content under various de-identification schemes — one mainstream meeting tool does it by default), or simple proportionality: a solo practice that needs clean transcripts and a private drafting aid doesn't obviously need a vendor relationship for it. A local pipeline answers all three the same way: there is no vendor, no upload, and no second copy. The cost is doing more of the note-writing judgment yourself — which, for this profession, many consider a feature.
Cost in the money sense, too: unlimited sessions recorded and transcribed on the free tier, no per-minute meter, full history you control. Pro ($12/month or $99/year) adds the on-device briefs, search across your archive, and Markdown export, with 14 days free on every install and no card required.
FAQ
Is QuickSpeak HIPAA compliant?
There's no compliance claim and no BAA to offer — because no server ever receives your data. Whether that fits your obligations as a covered entity is a question for your own compliance process or attorney. General information, not legal advice.
Do I still need written consent if nothing is uploaded?
Yes. Consent laws and ethics codes govern recording, period. Local storage changes where the file lives, not whether the client agreed — and "it never leaves this computer" is a promise worth putting in the consent conversation itself.
Does it work for teletherapy?
Yes — tab capture for Meet/Zoom/Teams web sessions, the Desktop source for native apps, the Microphone for in-office. Nothing joins the call, so clients see no recorder.
Can it write SOAP notes?
No. It transcribes on-device and, on Pro, produces a private summary brief you can draft from. The clinical note stays your work, written in your record system — which is where a note legally and clinically belongs.
What about couples and family sessions?
Tell it the group size when you record (it asks). Two or three voices separate well; larger groups are harder for every speaker-identification model. Label speakers by role or initial rather than name if your records policy prefers.