Best AI Scribe for Counsellors in Australia (2026 Comparison)

What Counsellors Need from an AI Scribe

Counselling documentation is fundamentally different from medical documentation. A GP consult note captures a diagnosis and treatment plan in a structured SOAP format. A counselling session note captures therapeutic process — the interventions used, the client's responses, relational dynamics, risk observations, and progress toward treatment goals. The AI scribe you choose needs to understand this distinction.

Therapy Model Specificity

Notes should reflect the therapeutic approach you are using. A CBT session note should capture cognitive distortions identified, behavioural experiments discussed, and homework assigned. An ACT session note should document values exploration, defusion techniques, and committed actions. A person-centred session note should reflect the therapeutic relationship, unconditional positive regard, and the client's self-directed process.

A SOAP note designed for a GP consult does not capture therapy process. If your AI scribe only produces generic SOAP notes, you will spend as much time editing as you would have spent writing from scratch.

Session Length Handling

Counselling sessions run 50 to 90 minutes — substantially longer than the 10 to 15 minute GP consults that many AI scribes were originally designed for. The AI must handle extended recordings without degradation in transcription accuracy or note quality. A platform that works brilliantly for a 10-minute consult but produces fragmented notes from a 60-minute therapy session is not fit for purpose.

Better Access Reporting

If you provide psychological therapy services under the Better Access initiative, your notes must support MBS item claims. For registered counsellors providing focused psychological strategies, item numbers 80100, 80110, and 80120 each have specific documentation requirements around session duration, intervention type, and clinical justification. Your AI scribe should understand these requirements and structure notes accordingly.

EAP Documentation

Many Australian counsellors do Employee Assistance Program work. EAP documentation has dual requirements: clinical notes for your own records and employer-facing summary reports that communicate outcomes without breaching client confidentiality. An AI scribe that can generate both formats from a single session recording saves significant time.

ACA/PACFA Compliance

The Australian Counselling Association and the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia both have record-keeping standards that members must follow. These include documenting informed consent, session content, risk assessments, referrals, and supervision discussions. Your AI scribe should produce notes that meet these standards without requiring extensive manual editing.

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The Contenders

Grounded Scribe — Best Overall for Australian Counsellors

Price: Free (10 sessions/mo) to $99/month | 14-day free trial, no credit card required

Grounded Scribe is built for Australian practitioners across health and education, with counselling as a core use case. The platform includes over 70 profession-specific note templates, including counselling-specific formats that go well beyond generic SOAP notes.

Counselling-Specific Features:

• Therapy model templates: DAP (Data, Assessment, Plan), BIRP (Behaviour, Intervention, Response, Plan), narrative therapy notes, solution-focused brief therapy notes, and person-centred session summaries. Six therapy model templates let you match your note format to your therapeutic approach.
• Better Access MBS templates: Templates aligned with MBS item numbers for focused psychological strategies, including documentation prompts for session duration, intervention type, and clinical justification.
• EAP documentation support: Generate clinical notes and employer-facing summary reports from the same session recording.
• Clinical assessments: Unlimited access to PHQ-9, GAD-7, DASS-21, K-10, PCL-5, and more on all plans including the free tier. Assessment results integrate directly into session notes.
• Looking for phone answering as well? Salutant, our sister product, is an AI receptionist with its own plans.
• Australian data storage: Clinical records stored in Australia, with transcription and note drafting run here too, compliant with Australian Privacy Principles.

Pricing:

For a counsellor seeing 15 to 20 clients per week, the Core plan ($39/month) at 60 sessions comfortably covers a full-time caseload. The Plus plan ($19/month) suits part-time counsellors or those just starting with AI documentation.

For full pricing details, visit Grounded Scribe Pricing.

Heidi Health — Strong Free Tier, GP Heritage (~$99/month)

Heidi Health has built a broad user base across Australian healthcare. Their interface is clean and the core transcription is solid. However, Heidi's origins in general practice mean that counselling-specific templates are less mature than their medical documentation.

Strengths:

• Limited free tier lets you test basic features before committing
• Clean, intuitive interface with growing profession support
• Solid transcription accuracy across most session lengths
• Expanding template library

Considerations for Counsellors:

• Originally GP-focused — counselling templates are improving but less specialised than purpose-built alternatives
• No built-in clinical assessment tools (PHQ-9, GAD-7, etc.) — you will need a separate platform
• Full feature access requires the Pro plan at approximately $99 per month

Best suited for: Counsellors who want a recognised brand with a free starting point and are comfortable with more general note templates.

For a detailed comparison, see Grounded Scribe vs Heidi.

Upheal — Purpose-Built for Therapists (~$75-150 AUD/month)

Upheal is designed specifically for mental health therapists, which gives it a natural advantage in understanding therapy session dynamics. Their standout features include session analytics — speaking ratio detection, engagement metrics, and therapeutic process indicators.

Strengths:

• Built specifically for therapy and mental health documentation
• Session analytics provide insight into therapeutic dynamics (talk time, silence patterns)
• Therapy-specific note formats that understand interventions and process
• Engagement metrics that can inform supervision discussions

Considerations for Counsellors:

• Non-Australian data storage (EU/US servers) — this raises compliance concerns under Australian Privacy Principles, particularly APP 8 regarding cross-border disclosure
• Pricing is in USD, which means currency fluctuations affect your actual cost
• No Australian-specific templates for Better Access or MBS documentation

Best suited for: Counsellors who prioritise session analytics and are comfortable with international data hosting. Check the data residency details carefully before committing.

For a detailed comparison, see Grounded Scribe vs Upheal.

Mentalyc — US Mental Health Focus (~$60 AUD/month)

Mentalyc is built for mental health therapists with a strong US market focus. The platform generates therapy-specific notes and understands mental health terminology well.

Strengths:

• Purpose-built for mental health practitioners
• Decent therapy note generation with US clinical frameworks
• Affordable entry point in USD terms
• Cites a US healthcare privacy standard

Considerations for Counsellors:

• US data hosting — not compliant with Australian data sovereignty expectations
• A US privacy standard is not the same as Australian Privacy Principles compliance
• No Australian-specific templates (Better Access, MBS, EAP)
• Limited utility for practitioners who need Australian compliance documentation

Best suited for: Australian counsellors who want affordable therapy-specific notes and are not concerned about Australian data residency.

For a detailed comparison, see Grounded Scribe vs Mentalyc.

Freed AI — Template Learning, US Based (~$60 AUD/month)

Freed AI's distinguishing feature is auto-learning templates that improve with your edits over time. The more you use and refine your notes, the better the AI adapts to your documentation style.

Strengths:

• Template auto-learning adapts to your preferred note format over time
• Affordable pricing in USD terms
• Clean interface focused on efficiency
• Works across multiple healthcare professions

Considerations for Counsellors:

• US data hosting — same Australian compliance concerns as Mentalyc and Upheal
• No therapy-specific framework support (CBT, ACT, DBT template structures)
• No Australian MBS or Better Access templates
• No clinical assessments
• The auto-learning requires time investment before notes match your style

Best suited for: Counsellors who value adaptive AI that learns their style, and who are comfortable with US data hosting.

For a detailed comparison, see Grounded Scribe vs Freed.

Head-to-Head Comparison

Our Recommendation

For Australian counsellors, the choice depends on your priorities:

If Australian compliance and therapy model specificity matter — Grounded Scribe combines counselling-specific templates, Better Access MBS documentation, built-in assessments, and Australian data storage in a single platform. The pricing (from $19/month, with a genuinely usable free tier) is competitive with US-based platforms that lack Australian compliance features.

If session analytics excite you — Upheal is interesting. The speaking ratio and engagement metrics can provide valuable insight for supervision and reflective practice. However, check the data hosting arrangements carefully and consider whether the analytics justify the privacy trade-off of non-Australian data storage.

If you want a free starting point with a recognised Australian brand — Heidi's free tier lets you test AI documentation without financial commitment. The counselling-specific features are less developed, but the core transcription is reliable and the interface is approachable.

If budget is the primary concern — Freed AI and Mentalyc offer the lowest entry points, but both store data in the US. For counsellors handling sensitive therapeutic content, the data residency question deserves serious consideration.

Our pick: For most Australian counsellors, Grounded Scribe offers the strongest combination of counselling-specific features, Australian compliance, and value for money. The 14-day free trial (no credit card) lets you test it with real sessions before committing.

Start your free trial — 14 days, no credit card required.

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This comparison is based on publicly available information as of April 2026. Pricing, features, and availability may have changed since publication. We encourage you to verify current details directly with each provider.

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