Breakthrough Moments
Learn how to record, manage, and track turning points in the therapy process. Visualize your clients' progress with breakthrough moments.
Overview
Breakthrough moments let you record significant turning points in therapy — an insight gained, an emotional awareness, or a behavioral change. These moments appear as special cards in the client flow, can be linked to goals, and are managed through a dedicated window.
What are Breakthroughs?
A breakthrough moment represents an observable point of progress or change in the client's therapy process. For example:
Recognizing a pattern
An insight moment like "I realized I do this in every argument"
Emotional awareness
The client naming an emotion for the first time or demonstrating emotion regulation in session
Behavioral change
The client reporting they applied a learned strategy in real life between sessions
Goal progress
Concrete progress recorded toward one of the therapeutic goals
Creating Breakthroughs
Breakthrough moments can be created in two ways:
Method 1: Mark Session as Breakthrough
This method has two entry points: the three-dot menu on a session card in the client flow with "Mark as breakthrough", or the "Breakthrough Moment" button at the top of the session detail page. Either records the entire session as a breakthrough. Only past sessions can be marked.
Method 2: Highlight Text in Notes
In the note editor, select the text representing the breakthrough and use the highlight tool to mark it. This method lets you record a specific sentence or paragraph as a breakthrough moment.
Follow-up Steps (Both Methods)
After creating a breakthrough, two optional steps appear:
Link to a goal (optional)
Pick a treatment goal from the list, or choose "Not related to a specific goal" to save without a link.
Add a note (optional)
Write your own reflection in the "Why is this moment significant?" field and confirm with Mark. You can skip this by leaving it empty.
Where They Appear
Recorded breakthrough moments appear in several places:
In Client Flow
Breakthrough moments appear as purple cards in the client flow, displayed in chronological order. Each card shows the source (session or note), quoted text snippet, and linked goal information if any. You can use the flow filters to display only breakthroughs and review all turning points at once.
In Session Cards
Sessions marked as breakthroughs show a lightning bolt icon on their card.
In Note Cards
Notes containing breakthrough moments are marked with a purple indicator. Clicking it opens the breakthroughs window.
In Summary Tab
The total breakthrough count is shown in the goal summary card.
In Page Header
A purple "Breakthrough Moments" button with a count indicator appears at the top of the client detail page.
Breakthroughs Window
Clicking the "Breakthrough Moments" button in the header or the purple indicator on a note card opens the breakthroughs window.
Source display
Each breakthrough shows which session or note it came from, with a symbol and clickable link.
Text snippet
The highlighted text from the note is shown in a quote box.
Therapist reflection
You can add or edit a personal note for each breakthrough. This field is private to you.
Linked goal
If the breakthrough is linked to a goal, the goal name and status label (Active/Completed/Archived) are displayed.
Delete
You can remove breakthroughs that are no longer relevant using the delete button.
Connecting to Goals
Breakthrough moments can be linked to therapeutic goals. This connection lets you see concrete evidence of progress toward specific goals.
When creating or editing a breakthrough moment in the note editor, you can select the relevant goal to establish a connection. Linked goals appear both on the breakthrough card and in the goal detail window.
Best Practices
Record immediately after session
Recording breakthrough moments right after a session ensures details are fresh and creates richer records.
Write therapist reflections
Add not just what the client said, but your own observation about why this moment matters.
Link to goals
Connecting to the relevant goal creates concrete evidence of progress and facilitates process evaluation.
Review periodically
Periodically reviewing breakthrough moments helps you assess the overall trajectory of the therapy process.