Therapy in Singapore: 4 Simple Strategies to Track Your Progress

Last Updated on February 19, 2025 by Prath

Reviewed by April Justice, LICSW

Tracking progress during therapy in Singapore.

Have you ever wondered if you’re making real progress in therapy in Singapore?

It’s difficult for clients to understand this, and they often forget to mention it during therapy. As a result, they may have to rely on their own impressions.

This is where tracking your progress comes in. Self-tracking is an important skill that serves two purposes:

1) Identifying areas of improvement more quickly and accurately

2) Improves positive behaviours and reduces negative ones

Tracking involves actively monitoring changes throughout the therapeutic journey. It produces tangible evidence of change and helps you make informed decisions about your mental wellness.

So, what does progress in therapy even look like, and how can you track it? Here, we’ll share 4 simple strategies to evaluate your journey and explore how TYHO’s ‘Journal & Notes’ feature can make tracking progress in therapy easier.

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Why Tracking Progress Is So Important

Clients are usually oblivious to subtle changes in their thinking or behavioural patterns.

As we are constantly immersed in our way of thinking, we may miss any important shifts in behaviour.

For example, someone may have noticed that they’ve been feeling better for the past few weeks. While they may have brushed it off as a mood swing, they may have missed the lessons from therapy and the intentional changes therapy has made in their lives.

Perhaps the person started drinking more water or started tracking their moods. It could also be that they’ve learnt therapeutic skills to pay attention to little things in life that give them joy.

Although the small changes are actively contributing to a happy mindset, because these perspective shifts are minuscule in nature, the person may not have actively reflected on it.

Hence, it’s important to be alert to change. As you begin to track the progress of your therapy services, you will:

Identify the changes and have the opportunity to celebrate how far you’ve come

Objectively measure your progress and dismiss negative thinking (eg overcome thoughts like, “I’m not capable of change”, as you may have solid proof of growth already)

Develop self-awareness and become more attuned to your experiences

4 Tips to Track Your Therapy Progress

When you and your therapist in Singapore receive mutual feedback on progress, you may have better therapy outcomes.

One way of therapeutic tracking is for the professional to ask clients to complete symptom checklists before each session.

The checklist may evaluate panic attacks, mood swings, and self-harm behaviours or focus on specific signs based on your presenting problems.

Most checklists are developed based on each individual’s therapy goals.

However, you can also follow some simple steps to self-track your progress.

The more self-insight you gain, the more honest and vulnerable you become in therapy – and the better your therapy progress.

Let’s look into the 4 simple strategies of self-tracking.

1. Note Your ‘Starting Point’ of Therapy in Singapore

When did you first start therapy? Do you remember your presenting problems?

Take some time to reflect on and document your therapy goals. It’s important to know your emotional state from when you started therapy.

If you booked a session at TYHO, you can review your concerns in the “Areas for Discussion” section of the Intake Form.

If you’re yet to book your first session, try to:

Journal your thoughts and feelings as honestly as possible

Write down your therapy goals and reflections on your behavioural patterns currently

Reflect on all your presenting problems and what your ideal self would look like after therapy

Once you identify your ‘starting point’, it will become the baseline against which you can evaluate growth.

2. Track Your Mood

Tracking your mood can not only improve your mental health but also help you identify triggers and open space for a deeper conversation in offline or online therapy.

For people with mood disorders like anxiety or depression, a mood tracker can:

Help you notice patterns so you can discuss them with your therapist

Indicate triggers that might be setting you off

Create a genuine space to feel your feelings without rushing to repress or ignore them

Help you take better care of yourself (for eg, you can schedule your daily tasks based on your energy levels)

Remember to talk about your observations throughout therapy in Singapore.

Do you notice changes in your confidence or self-esteem? Do you feel low or anxious in the morning?

These important insights can help you track progress and personalise your therapeutic plan to serve you best.

3. Ask Your Therapist For Progress Records

Therapists are often the best judges of where therapy is going. These signposts (ie direction of treatment) lead to therapeutic success.

To establish these signposts, your therapist may talk to you about the following:

What do you want from therapy?

How will we measure progress?

What areas of life will we focus on?

How do we know when we’ve reached a milestone?

During these discussions, try to be as honest as possible. Think of your therapist as your collaborator who will help you improve your mental well-being.

Ask your therapist for your progress records and method. For example, some therapists may check in before and after sessions as an intervention.

If you have anxiety, they may ask how anxious you feel on a range of 1 to 10 before proceeding with the session. After the session, if your anxiety levels have gone down, your therapist will help you notice this change.

The professional may bring this change to your attention by saying, “You did great! You’re the type of person who can quickly change unhelpful behaviour.”

Assessing emotional levels is one method of progress records. It sets the tone that therapy is all about progress.

4. Maintain a Source of Truth on Progress

Keeping track of all therapy progress in one place – maintaining one source of truth – can be helpful for you and your therapist in Singapore.

Both of you being across all changes can provide a holistic picture of your journey.

The therapist might also find it easier to detect patterns and provide clinical insights on your progress over time.

At TYHO, we have recently introduced a new feature called ‘Journal & Notes’.

We’re aware of how difficult it can be to track our progress in therapy and our thoughts.

Have you ever thought of something truly life-changing during the shower but forgotten it the minute you stepped out? This experience is normal, but we want to help you overcome it.

This feature on the client Dashboard (note: sign in with an account to access the Dashboard) has two core functions:

Day-to-day journalling

Therapy session notes

The feature can help you:

Jot down thoughts during or after therapy (access Notes from your session card)

Track your moods, habits, and daily reflections

Set monthly goals and celebrate milestones

We also provide prompts to help you get started on the reflections.

You can also share your reflections and therapy notes with your Therapist, which can easily be maintained as your single source of truth to keep track of your therapy progress.

What Makes Therapy ‘High-Quality’ and Why Does It Matter?

Tracking therapy progress is important, but it might not work if you are not receiving high-quality therapy.

What’s ‘high-quality’ may depend on how well the therapy approach works for you. This means that the most essential indicators of quality in mental health support boil down to the following:

Improvement in functioning

Reduction of symptoms

1. Improvement in functioning

Are you focusing on improving a specific symptom, such as mood swings? Or are you taking a much broader view of improving overall quality of life?

Whatever the reason you go for therapy, check if your life has improved in that particular context. Your therapist may also help you analyse the quality of your functioning.

Focusing on your functioning may be the best way to track what truly matters to you.

2. Reduction of symptoms

The most common way to track therapy progress and success is to measure the reduction of symptoms. This measurement also indicates the quality of therapy received.

For example, if your presenting issues are anxiety or low self-esteem, reflect on these symptoms throughout your therapeutic journey.

Bring up these symptoms and discuss them with your therapist in every session. After 10-15 sessions, analyse if any of these symptoms have reduced significantly enough that you can live your life peacefully.

Conclusion

The secret to tracking therapy progress is planning. Talk to your therapist about measuring progress, reaching milestones, and achieving therapy goals.

Remember to create a baseline for yourself based on how you felt before starting therapy. That will serve as your ‘starting point’ and help you reflect on how far you’ve come after learning essential therapeutic skills.

Track your mood and emotions as and when you observe them. Maintain a single source of truth for all improvements related to therapy.

If you’re unsure where to start, sign up on our platform to access the Intake Form and Journal & Notes feature. While shortlisting Therapists in Singapore, you can also begin to journal your thoughts on the Dashbaord.

With the right support and progress, you will move toward recovery.