Collaborative Documentation in Mental Health: Applications to Rehabilitation Counseling

Purpose: In this article, the emerging practice of collaborative documentation (CD) in community mental health care and its applications to rehabilitation counseling were explored. CD has the potential to promote greater client empowerment, clinical transparency, and documentation efficiency and quality; however, the CD process is not well validated through rigorous research.

Method: We provide a critical analysis of issues with current documentation systems, principles of creating collaborative paperwork, and the potential outcomes for rehabilitation clients, agencies, and counselors who use CD.

Results: The benefits of CD for rehabilitation educators, researchers, and practitioners will be provided for implementation in rehabilitation settings.

Conclusion: Rehabilitation practitioners may be increasingly exposed to CD and transparency of treatment records. CD is a developing practice that fits well with the rehabilitation counseling philosophy and the profession's history of client inclusion in treatment planning.