Therapy Intake Form: What Mental Health Clinicians Should Include
February 15, 2026
A therapy intake form carries more weight than most clinical intake forms. You're asking someone to disclose sensitive information before they've even met you. The structure, tone, and flow of your form sets the therapeutic relationship before the first session begins.
Get it right, and patients arrive feeling heard. Get it wrong, and they arrive feeling interrogated.
Demographics and Emergency Contacts
Start with the familiar: name, date of birth, address, phone, email. But for mental health practices, emergency contacts aren't optional. They're clinically essential. Collect at least two emergency contacts with their relationship to the patient and permission to contact.
Include preferred name and pronouns. This isn't a courtesy. It's clinical data that affects how you build rapport.
Presenting Concerns
This is the most important section on your form. Give patients space to describe why they're seeking therapy in their own words. An open text field works best here. Don't try to reduce the reason someone seeks therapy to a dropdown menu.
Follow up with structured questions:
- How long have these concerns been present?
- What prompted them to seek help now?
- What they hope to get from therapy
- Previous therapy experience (when, how long, what was helpful or unhelpful)
Standardized Screening Tools
Embed validated screening instruments directly in the intake:
- PHQ-9 for depression screening
- GAD-7 for anxiety screening
- PCL-5 if your practice sees trauma presentations
- AUDIT-C for alcohol use screening
These give you baseline scores before the first session and make progress measurable over time. Structure them as scaled rating fields (0-3 for PHQ-9 and GAD-7) with automatic scoring if your platform supports it.
Medication and Treatment History
Current medications (psychiatric and otherwise), prescribing provider, and dosages. Previous psychiatric medications and why they were discontinued. This history prevents repeating what hasn't worked.
Include questions about current or past substance use. Frame these neutrally and explain why you're asking. Patients are more honest when they understand the clinical purpose.
Safety Screening
This section requires care. You need to assess:
- Current or past suicidal ideation
- Self-harm history
- History of hospitalization for mental health
- Access to means (firearms in the home)
- Current safety concerns (domestic violence, abuse)
Use clear, direct language. Euphemisms create ambiguity. "Have you had thoughts of ending your life?" is better than "Have you had any dark thoughts?" Use conditional logic so follow-up questions only appear when clinically indicated.
Psychosocial History
Capture the context that shapes treatment:
- Living situation and household members
- Relationship status
- Employment and education
- Support system
- Significant life events or stressors
- Family mental health history
- Legal involvement (if relevant to treatment)
Consent and Practice Policies
Mental health consent is more involved than most specialties. Cover:
- Informed consent for treatment
- Limits of confidentiality (mandatory reporting, duty to warn)
- Cancellation and no-show policy
- Telehealth consent (if applicable)
- Communication preferences and boundaries
- E-signature for all of the above
Structuring the Form for Comfort
Multi-page forms work better for therapy intake. Break it into logical sections: demographics first, clinical content in the middle, consent at the end. Progress indicators help patients know how much remains.
Formisoft's multi-page form builder handles this naturally, and conditional logic means patients with simpler histories aren't forced through irrelevant sections. The built-in e-signature and consent fields handle the legal requirements without bolting on a separate signing tool.
Send intake forms via secure magic-link email before the first session. Patients complete them privately, on their own time, without a waiting room audience, which matters more in mental health than almost any other setting.
Start building your therapy intake form with Formisoft, free to try.
