What to ask on an intake form before the first session

Someone new has booked, and you have a few days before you meet. You want to send a few questions first, but most lists of massage intake form questions read like a hospital admission form.

Here are seven client intake form questions to ask before the first session, each with a short "Why" line for you, the practitioner. Below them is a short list of what to leave off. The questions work for bodywork, reiki, coaching, tarot and whatever else you do one to one.

You already have the client's name and contact details from the booking, so the form can skip them.

Reword each "Why" line for the client, and you can put it under its question as a hint. Then the person can see why you ask.

How do you decide what goes on the form?

A question goes on the form when its answer changes what you do, before the session or during it. This can mean how long to book the session, what to prepare, where to start and what not to do. In the list above, each "Why" line says what the question is for.

Some things need a conversation instead. A text box rarely holds what brought someone to you, or how much they are looking for help. These things come out as you talk and as you work, so leave them for the first meeting.

Any question whose answer changes nothing can go. Take a question about their job: keep it only if the answer would change the session.

The same test sets the length of the form, so you never have to pick a number of questions.

If you already have a form, read each question and ask what its answer would change.

What questions should a massage therapist ask a client?

For a massage therapist, the health question (question 2) needs the most thought. It asks what in a person's body or health could change your work. It has two parts.

In my own practice, I ask about health both ways: an open question and a short list of examples. The list shows people what I mean. The open question catches what my list would never cover.

For massage, add what matters most to your work to the list, such as pregnancy, blood thinners or a recent injury.

Nobody has taken offence at the health question on my form. I think people who are well simply put a dash in the box.

Your training tells you what each answer means for your work. The form only makes sure you hear the answer before you begin.

If you are licensed in the US, your state board's rule may ask for more.

In Washington, a massage therapist's documentation for every session must include “Health history sufficient to ascertain if there are cautions or contraindications to safe application of massage therapy, and an update of the current health status at each session” (WAC 246-830-565, 2021).

Check your own board's rule before you finish the form. What other states ask is covered in a related question: do massage therapists have to keep notes? Include what your rule asks for and what you need to work safely, and stop there.

What if your work isn't hands-on?

Here only the questions about touch change. Questions 1, 3, 4 and 7 fit any session: what they want from it, their worries, their boundaries and anything else.

In energy work, ask whether the person is comfortable with hands on the body or prefers them held just above. A distance session has no questions about touch at all, so a distance reiki intake form can be very short.

In coaching, ask what the person hopes to get from coaching and what they have already tried. In tarot or astrology, ask what they would like the reading to be about.

The health question stays if something in a person's health could change your session. If nothing could, leave it off.

Your form may end up with four questions, and that is a complete form.

What not to ask on an intake form

Leave off anything that turns the form into a medical file. A list is not the problem: the health question above uses a list and an open question. What matters is the difference between what can change your session and what a medical file holds.

Unless your board requires them, these can usually come off the form:

• Family history and a full medical history. The health question (question 2) already asks what matters.
• A body-systems checklist (digestion, sleep, every organ in turn). Most of its boxes would change nothing you do.
• Every medication and supplement, with doses. The health question already asks what they take regularly, in their own words.
• Questions about trauma or mental health that people must answer. Let people skip these and tell you in person.
• ID, insurance or anything you would never use. Once you collect something, you have to look after it.

What you never collected, you never have to keep.

A form becomes part of the client's record, like your notes. Some state rules make you keep the form and your notes for the same number of years. For how long, see the records you didn't write.

If you need to ask about something sensitive for your work, make that question optional. The person can always tell you when you meet.

If your current form asks for some of this, you do not have to start over. Cross out what you would never use, and next time send the shorter form.

When should a client fill out an intake form?

Send the form as soon as someone books, so you have a few days to read it before you meet.

An answer can change how I go into a session. Sometimes a physical condition has made me rethink my approach. Sometimes an answer has made me take more time and go more gently, with the person's difficulty in mind.

After the session, write the note. In this session notes template, the first point carries over what the form told you.

Every session of mine begins with a written form. Between sessions, something can change, and the work has to allow for that. The full form goes before the first session, and a short one before each session after that:

• Has anything changed that I should know about?
• Are your boundaries still the same?
• What would you like from this session?

When someone new books, send the form the same day. The evening before you meet, read their answer to the first question — what they want from the session — and start there.

Where do the answers go?

In HoldSpace, the answers appear on the client's timeline, next to their sessions and notes.

There is no ready-made form: you build your own from questions like these. A question can take a short or long answer, yes or no, a choice or a scale. You can put your "Why" line under a question as a hint, and make a sensitive question optional.

You send the form from the client's page, and they get a link by email to fill in without an account.

If you do bodywork, there is a page on how it fits a bodywork practice.

Put these questions into your own formFree plan: up to 3 forms, sent to clients up to 10 times every 30 days.

FAQ

What should be included in a client intake form?

Include what the person wants from the session, anything in their health that could change your work, their worries and their boundaries. For hands-on work, add where not to touch and where to focus, and end every form with an open "anything else". The list above gives seven questions, each with its reason.

What are some good questions to ask during an intake session?

Ask in person what a form can't hold: what brought the client to you, and how much they are looking for help. The form gives you a place to start, and the conversation does the rest. There is more in your first session with a new client.

Do you need a different intake form for reiki or distance sessions?

No: the same rule applies, and only the questions about touch change. For a distance session they drop out altogether, and the rest of the list still works.