Therapy Intake Form

Because different patients will have diverse needs, it can be hard to know exactly what to include on a therapy intake form. There are some essentials that will assist in onboarding a client and ensuring the first appointment runs smoothly. These include:

• Client personal details including name, address, DoB, contact details, and emergency contact person.
• Insurance information
• Past medical history (including whether or not the client has previously received therapy services).
• Reason why the client is seeking therapy services
• Goals for therapy and what the client wants to achieve

Although there are various other kinds of information that you may choose to include in your intake form, including asking for more specific details about intervention preferences and treatment plan goals, it is a good idea to keep your intake forms as brief as possible. During your first session with the client, you can always ask follow-up questions to determine further information.

Although these forms differ from other kinds of clinical documentation, like progress notes, they still contain private patient information. As such, it is critical that they are stored in a secure way. You have a couple of storage options: you can either store them using a physical (and secure) storage place, or you can keep them online. We recommend the latter option, as most online platforms have high-quality safeguards in place to protect patient information.

Intake forms serve a variety of purposes but their biggest role is to provide therapy practices with the information required to treat a patient appropriately. In addition to medical history, this also includes insurance information and personal details, to ensure the care delivery process is as transparent as possible.