Dr Siew Soon is a clinical psychologist based in Singapore, running her own private practice and seeing around 20 clients a week. After years of working in Melbourne, she continues to collaborate remotely with her Australian supervisors and colleagues.
Her mission is simple: to offer deeply attentive, emotionally present therapy, without administrative work getting in the way. Yet, even in a small private practice, documentation was taking up a huge amount of her time and mental space.
Challenges
Even in a small private practice, documentation can take up an enormous amount of time. For Siew, the biggest challenge was balancing presence in therapy sessions with the need for accurate, detailed notes.
Handwritten notes she couldn’t use
“I wrote horrible notes because I couldn’t read my own handwriting.”
Siew preferred writing on her iPad with a pencil — it felt warmer and less clinical than typing. But that choice came at a cost: hours lost transcribing illegible notes after sessions, trying to reconstruct what had been said.
Staying fully present in sessions
“Typing is very distracting in a therapy context.”
Every moment spent looking at a screen risked breaking the emotional connection with her clients. Yet, Siew needed to capture crucial clinical details without missing what was being said.
Complex, unstructured client stories
“New clients tell me about everything - their family, friends, work, symptoms. They go all over the place.”
Early sessions are often chaotic and information-dense. Sorting through pages of unstructured notes to write clear intake summaries and formulations was one of her biggest pain points.
Siew had tried many ways to streamline this, including using digital note-taking tools and templates, but found them either too rigid or too disruptive. That all changed when she found Heidi.
Solution
When Siew discovered the Heidi integration with our partnered EMR, Halaxy, she decided to give it a try. Although she currently uses Heidi separately rather than through the full integration, it has transformed how she handles documentation — particularly for complex cases and new client intakes.
“It organises the information into the right headings… even if the patient goes from A to D to F, back to B to C.”
Now, Heidi automatically structures her session notes, grouping insights under clinical headings and producing a first draft of the psychological formulation — the narrative that connects a client’s history to their current presentation.
Seamless adoption: Several of her colleagues have since adopted Heidi in their own practices.
More organised intakes
“Intakes are where Heidi saves me most time because it organises everything, even if the patient’s story is all over the place.”
Heidi transformed chaotic intake sessions into well-structured summaries, dramatically cutting her post-session admin time.
Streamlined supervision
“Notes that used to take 15 minutes now take less than five.”
Heidi’s transcription and structuring free her to engage fully during supervision while still producing complete records.
Improved documentation confidence
“It helps me feel safer that my patient information is kept separate.”
By managing transcripts and identifiers separately, she reinforces privacy and reassures clients about data protection.
Unexpected benefit:
“The formulation Heidi generates is sometimes even more detailed, including points I forgot about.”
Beyond efficiency, Heidi has become a clinical care partner - surfacing insights that enrich her understanding of each case.
What’s next
With Heidi, Siew feels confident growing her practice while maintaining the personal, attentive care that defines her work. The platform’s secure, compliant infrastructure, including PDPA-aligned privacy standards, gives her the confidence to focus fully on her clients, knowing their information is protected.
“I’ve recommended Heidi to colleagues, and a few of them have already subscribed to the paid version.”
As Heidi expands its presence in Southeast Asia, Siew and her peers are setting the example for how technology can support - not replace - human connection in mental healthcare.
