Using VLAP Context
Before Sessions
A practical guide for coaches and clinicians on finding, reading, and applying VLAP signal context in the Coach Portal ? before and between sessions.
Overview
VLAP surfaces two different levels of signal context depending on your role ? a simplified AI Client Insights view for coaches, and a full dimensional signal panel for licensed clinicians. Neither is diagnostic. Both are designed to inform your clinical judgment before you engage with a member, not to determine what you do.
VLAP signal context is one input into clinical judgment ? alongside your direct relationship with the member, their stated experience, and everything else you know about them. It can surface something worth exploring. It cannot tell you how the member is doing right now, what they're thinking, or what you should say. Those are yours to determine.
Coach ? AI Client Insights
The AI Client Insights panel appears in your Coach Dashboard. It gives you a summary view of signal patterns for your active members ? highlighting who may benefit from proactive outreach and surfacing changes in mood trajectory between your conversations.
Finding it
From any page in the Coach Portal, navigate to My Dashboard using the sidebar. The AI Client Insights panel appears in the right column of the dashboard overview, below your today's schedule.
The panel surfaces members with notable pattern changes first ? not all members in your caseload. A member with stable mood trends and consistent check-ins may not appear here at all. Presence in the panel means something has shifted worth your attention.
Selecting a member from the Insights panel takes you to their member detail view ? check-in history, message thread, your session notes, and a more complete picture of their recent engagement.
Reading the signals
AI Client Insights surfaces in plain language ? no dimensional codes, no clinical jargon. Here's what the different signal types look like and what they mean for your next outreach:
"Watch ? Mood Pattern" means VLAP has detected a sustained direction in mood data ? lower scores over multiple consecutive check-ins, or a significant drop from recent baseline. It's not a crisis flag. It's a pattern that warrants your attention before it becomes one.
"Watch ? First Signal" means a dimensional signal appeared for the first time in this member's history, or a new signal category appeared that hasn't been present before. First appearances can be more significant than recurring signals ? they represent a change, not a baseline.
"Improving" means the trend is moving in a positive direction. These appear so you have a complete picture ? not just flags. A member showing improvement after a difficult period is also worth a note in your session.
The AI Client Insights panel is designed to inform your decision to reach out proactively ? it doesn't require you to act on every signal it surfaces. Use your knowledge of the member and your relationship with them. A member with a "Watch" flag who you spoke with yesterday and who disclosed they were having a hard week doesn't need a second outreach today. A member you haven't heard from in four days with a sustained low-mood pattern likely does.
Clinician ? Pre-Session Signal Panel
When you're connected to a member as their licensed clinician, your pre-session view in the Coach Portal includes the full VLAP dimensional signal panel ? a more detailed surface than coaches see. It appears automatically before each session alongside the coaching context notes and engagement summary.
What the signal panel looks like
What each panel element means
The dimension line tells you which signal category and specific code fired. "ISO-01" means the first signal pattern within the Social Isolation dimension. The code lets you look up the specific pattern in the VLAP documentation if you need more detail.
The utterance is an illustrative example of the language pattern that triggered the signal ? not necessarily the exact phrase the member used. It's shown to help you understand the type of language that produced the signal, not to quote the member's messages back to them in session.
The interpretation note is VLAP's clinical annotation ? what the pattern typically indicates, why standard models miss it, and any contextual flags (first occurrence, third in 14 days, etc.) that affect how to weight it. Read this as a starting point for your own interpretation, not as a conclusion.
The utterances shown in the signal panel are pattern illustrations ? not transcripts of what the member said. VLAP does not store verbatim member language after processing. The examples reflect the type of language that triggered the signal so you can recognize the pattern; they are not direct quotes to be referenced in session.
Reading dimensional codes
Each signal in the panel is labeled with a two-part code ? a dimension abbreviation and a signal number. Here's a reference for all five dimensions and what each covers clinically.
The number after the dimension code (ISO-04, HOP-03) identifies a specific signal pattern within that dimension ? not a severity ranking. ISO-09 is not more severe than ISO-01. The full taxonomy with all 42 signal pattern descriptions is in the VLAP technical specification, available to licensed clinicians from the clinical team.
Applying context in practice
VLAP signal context is most useful when you treat it the way a good colleague's handoff note works ? it tells you something worth knowing before you walk in the room. It orients you. It doesn't script you.
Before the session
Read the VLAP signal panel and the coach's context notes together ? not separately. The coach's qualitative notes often explain why certain signals appeared: "She mentioned her mom's been sick" gives you the context that the ISO signals don't. The combination is more useful than either alone.
A signal appearing for the first time in a member's history represents a change from their baseline ? even if the pattern itself seems mild. First occurrences of HOP, ISO, or CCM signals are worth a gentle open-ended question early in the session, before the member has had a chance to set a different agenda.
Cultural Context Modifier signals tell you about the frame the member is using to communicate. A pre-disclosure minimization pattern (CCM-04) paired with an ISO signal means the withdrawal may be more significant than it appears. A spiritual deflection pattern (CCM-12) may signal either genuine resilience or an area the member has decided not to open ? both are worth exploring.
VLAP reads patterns in language. The member in front of you is a full person whose current state may or may not match what the pattern data suggested. Signal context should make you more curious, not more certain. Use it to inform your opening, then follow the member's lead.
Session openings informed by signal context
You're not required to reference VLAP signals in session ? and you shouldn't. The signal panel is for your clinical preparation, not for the member to hear about. But signals can shape how you open a session:
"I know we talked last week about things feeling heavy at home. How's that been this week?" ? opens the thread without referencing the signal directly. The member gets to choose how much to share.
"Before we get into anything specific ? how's your week been, honestly?" ? simple, open, creates space without leading. The "honestly" does quiet work without pressure.
"You've mentioned leaning on your faith through a lot of this. Has that been feeling like enough, or is there stuff it hasn't been able to reach?" ? honors the coping while gently opening the door to what's underneath.
What signal context cannot tell you
VLAP reads patterns in language the member shared through the platform over a period of time. It has no access to what happened between check-ins, how the member is feeling right now, what they've been thinking since their last message, or what's changed since the signal was generated.
It cannot distinguish between a member who is genuinely in distress and a member who is venting in a way that sounds like distress. It cannot read the difference between a dark joke and a genuine expression of hopelessness without the relationship context that you have and it doesn't. It cannot account for the member who communicates distress in ways the model hasn't been trained to recognize yet.
It also cannot tell you what to do. VLAP produces interpretive context, not recommendations. The signal panel has no "suggested response" output ? because the appropriate response is a clinical judgment that requires your relationship with this specific person in this specific moment, not a pattern match against a training corpus.
VLAP does not conduct clinical risk assessment and should not be used as a substitute for one. If you have clinical concern about a member's safety based on your direct relationship and session observations ? regardless of what the signal panel shows ? proceed with your standard clinical risk assessment protocol. VLAP may support your awareness before you begin; it does not replace your clinical judgment once you're in the room.
Crisis signals ? CRS flags
CRS-category signals ? Crisis Risk Signals ? receive separate handling. When a CRS-level signal is detected, it is surfaced to Vasl's licensed clinical supervisor team for human review, with a 90-minute response SLA. The clinical supervisor determines the appropriate action. No automated contact is made with the member.
In your pre-session panel, CRS signals appear separately from other dimensional signals and are labeled with a priority indicator. They will also appear in your AI Client Insights view as a "Requires review" flag for the relevant member.
By the time you see a CRS flag in your panel, the Vasl clinical supervisor team has already received the signal for review. You do not need to trigger a separate notification ? but you should be aware that your session with this member may already be in the clinical supervisor's awareness.
If you have direct clinical concern about a member's safety based on your session or your relationship with them ? irrespective of what appears in the signal panel ? act on your concern using your standard clinical protocol. VLAP is not the primary safety mechanism. Your clinical relationship and judgment are.
The member's app includes direct access to 988 and the Crisis Text Line (741741). These are surfaced in the Member App at all times ? members do not need to wait for a coach or clinician to connect them to crisis support.
Follow your standard clinical emergency protocol. Contact emergency services if appropriate. Do not wait for confirmation from the signal panel, the clinical supervisor, or any platform response. Your clinical judgment and your duty of care take precedence over any platform process.