For clinicians
Example scripts for provider recordings
These examples are educational material for licensed clinicians. They are not clinical advice, a protocol, or a substitute for your professional judgment, and Conicia does not provide clinical care. You know your client; these scripts don't.
Adapt every script before you record it. Use your own words, your client's language, and the agreements you've actually made in session. Not every script fits every client: a response-prevention message may be wrong for a client mid-formulation in I-CBT work, and any recording can become a reassurance object for a client prone to compulsive replay. Whether and how to use a recording is a treatment decision that stays with you.
Recordings are not a crisis resource. If a client may be in crisis, follow your own emergency procedures.
Before you record
- Many clinicians open by saying what the recording is for. That framing tends to keep it a tool rather than a comfort object.
- Worth watching for: answering the obsession's question. Lines like "you're safe," "you didn't," or "it won't happen" can turn the recording into reassurance.
- Promises that the feeling will fade, or that listening will help, can work against the exposure. Consider letting it end with the uncertainty intact.
- Consider ending the recording before the moment ends, and saying so. One listen plus one line to carry from memory tends to serve better than inviting replays.
- If a script poses a question, a noticing usually lands better than a puzzle. Something to figure out after the audio ends can become new rumination material.
- Your own session phrases, and the shorthand you two already share, tend to land best. Thirty to ninety seconds is a comfortable range.
- Re-recording as the work shifts can help; a message tuned to the current theme usually does more than a generic one.
- If a client starts replaying it for comfort, many clinicians treat that as session material rather than a cue to record a softer one.
The scripts
Seven starting points, labeled by method. The copy button copies the script text; [name] stays literal, so you can swap in your own name when you record.
1. The urge moment
Hey, it's [name]. If you're hearing this, an urge showed up. Good, this is the moment we talked about. You don't have to figure out whether the thought is true. It may be. It may not be. We're not going to know right now, and you're not going to check. Let it sit there, unanswered. Notice where it lands in your body. Anxiety is a sensation, not an instruction. Now, this recording's going to end before the feeling does. That's on purpose. You don't need my voice for the next part. One listen is enough. Carry it from memory.
2. The agreement
It's [name]. We made a plan for exactly this moment, when the urge hits and I'm not there. Here it is. The thought gets to stay. The compulsion doesn't happen. And you don't wait for the feeling to leave before going back to your life. That's the whole plan. It's simple and it's hard, and I've watched you do it. I'm going to stop talking now, and the urge might not be done. It doesn't need to be. The plan doesn't change when the audio stops. Remember the plan. That's the whole job.
3. Caught in the debate
Hey, it's [name]. Right now there's probably a debate running about whether this one is real, whether it counts, whether this time is different. You don't have to win that debate. This debate isn't solving anything, and trying to be certain is the trap itself. So let the question hang. Don't finish it. I'll stop here. If the debate starts up again in ten minutes, you don't need to press play. You already know what I'd say. Let it hang, and keep living around it.
4. Sitting with the wave
It's [name]. The storm's here. You don't have to like it, and your job isn't to make it go away. Your job is to not act on it. Sit with it the way we've practiced. Let it rise. It'll do what it does. This message ends before the wave does, and that's on purpose. You don't ride it because I'm talking. You ride it because you know how. Remember it: let it rise, don't act. That's everything.
5. Which came first
Hey, it's [name]. Before anything else, one thing to notice: which came first, the doubt, or the sense information? Don't work it out. Just glance. Maybe something real set this off. A door handle, say. But did your senses actually show you anything about that handle this time, or did the doubt bring its own story to an ordinary thing? If the story came first, the doubt was probably already there, quietly waiting for its moment. That's how OCD works. So no arguing, no checking. I'll stop here. There's nothing to solve and nothing to replay. Just that one noticing, then back to what's in front of you.
6. Your life back
Hey, it's [name]. Remember why we're doing this work. It was never about making the feeling go away. It's about giving you your life back. So right now, say what you value. Out loud if you can. Once is enough, it's a reminder, not a chant. Now find one small step toward that value you could take in the next few minutes, and if one's available, take it, with the urge still along for the ride. If the urge is still loud when this recording ends, that's fine. You already said the why. Carry that.
7. After a slip
It's [name]. If the ritual already happened, okay. A slip is information, not a verdict. Don't spend the next hour reviewing how it happened. That review is the same loop in a new outfit. The next chance to practice is already on its way, probably within the hour, and that one's yours. You don't need to replay this to be ready for it. Just remember: information, not a verdict.
Provider recordings are part of the Conicia dashboard
Conicia is a step-by-step OCD program your client works between sessions. From the clinician dashboard, you can record a short message in your own voice, support to steady them, never reassurance that feeds the compulsion. These scripts are also built into the Recordings card on each client's page.
See the clinician dashboard The dashboard is $10 a month. Exploring it with the sample patient chart is free; billing starts when you invite your first patient.