FREE Paperwork Template: The New Client Inquiry Form You Need In Your Therapy Practice

New Client Intake Forms: Save Time in Your Private Practice

As a therapist in private practice - time is money.

Managing your time effectively? That’s peace. 

The reality of owning your own practice is you only get reimbursed for the time you spend face to face with clients. And most of the time those emails, consultation calls, and new intake coordination calls are minutes that pile up into hours that you're not getting paid. 

And honestly? Therapists need to see their time as valuable. Want to know more?  Check out why you need to start thinking like a lawyer about your notes. 

I wanted to share with you one of the major things that was taking up valuable time in my practice and how this one form has saved me hours AND made my intake process significantly better for my new clients! 

This win-win therapist organization and time management tip? It’s all about the new intakes! 

The Problem with New Intakes

I was noticing that I was feeling pretty fragmented in my practice with how to organize and respond to new intakes.  

I had new intake and new appointment requests coming in both through email and voicemail, and honestly it felt a little like herding cats to try to organize and respond to all of the requests while managing my full caseload.  

And you know the drill - some new intakes gave a detailed description of what they were looking for and what was happening in their child’s life.  Some it was just a name and a number. 

Both of those responses are absolutely okay BUT as a therapist you ethically need to screen clients to make sure they are a good fit before you start the first appointment. 

And to do that? You need some important and specific information. 

The Solution: New Client Inquiry Form

Before we dive into this admin shift that can save you TONS of time when you are open for clients, I wanted to share a resource for when you’re not. 

Grab my absolutely FREE email template that needs to be living in your Google Drive or on your desktop for how to automatically respond to referral requests when you are closed to new clients. 

Why the Intake Form Works: Why Every Therapist Needs a New Client Inquiry Form

So, when you actually are open you need to know a little bit more about the client to see if they would be a good fit for you.  If you take insurance are you in network with their plan? Is their child’s age or presenting concern a good fit for your skillset?

Instead of playing phone or email tag with clients to attempt to gather all the information, I now have a new client inquiry form that sits on my contact page. It has all the screener questions I would like to know before starting the therapy process. 

This way when I make an initial contact with a parent I can be more effective in my communication in way less time. This gets clients into their first session faster and more seamlessly, and if you don’t have an opening or aren’t a good fit based on age or presenting problem, it allows you to give them immediate resources to keep looking for a good therapeutic match. 

Free 10-Question New Client Intake Template for Therapists

I wanted to share my 10 Question New Client Inquiry Form template absolutely FREE if you wanted to set up this flow in your therapy practice and start saving time.

I also share the one legal disclaimer you absolutely need to have on your new client inquiry forms on your website! I’m all about making sure your forms are legit and ethical from intake to discharge! 

Grab your FREE Template HERE! 

The next consideration when creating a new intake flow for your therapy clients before the first appointment is how clients are directed to this form.  In my practice part of my voicemail instructs potential clients to go to my contact page and fill out a New Client Inquiry Form.  

These instructions also sit on the top of my Contact page so it is easy for potential clients to understand exactly how they start to initiate the therapy process. 

HIPAA-Compliant Intake Forms for Your Therapy Practice

One of the last essential pieces of having a new client form on your website is HIPAA.  You want to make sure that whatever technology you are using to capture and hold the information on these forms is HIPAA Compliant.

And… spoiler alert, the “contact me” forms that come stock as a plug-and-play with your website are likely not HIPAA compliant.  It is very difficult to get a BAA with your website provider, unless your website is hosted through your medical record system, like with the free websites offered by Simple Practice.

Some alternatives? If you have a HIPAA compliant Google Suite you can use a Google Form to capture potential clients' responses.  Since the data is held within Google (assuming you have a BAA) you are good to go! 

Why I Love Paubox for Email and Forms 

My favorite, and the one I use in my practice, is through Paubox.  I talk about Paubox when I shared my favorite hack for therapist time management to increase email boundaries with parents.

Paubox is what I use with Google to make my email HIPAA compliant.  It also happens to have other amazing features like HIPAA compliant forms.  I love these because you can add your business logo and other customizations.  You also can adjust the settings so you get an automatic email once someone submits an inquiry.

This also saves on major time so you don’t have to add checking the form to your to-do list or have client inquiries that are gathering dust because of an out-of-sight-out-of-mind program. If you don’t have Paubox and are looking for the easiest way to rest easy with a HIPAA Compliant email system you can sign up using this link HERE to get a $250 account credit! 

And how much time did it take for me to set it all up? 

Less than 30 minutes. 

Download Your Free New Client Intake Form Template

It has literally saved me hours in phone tag over the last year and helps me feel on top of my organization with coordination and call backs. AND it helps me get back to clients quickly to either get them set up with their first intake appointment OR allows them to continue on their search for the best-fit therapist! 

Don’t forget to grab your absolutely FREE template for new client inquiries HERE! 

AND if you were thinking about Paubox grab this link HERE for a $250 account credit!

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