You're reading another installment of Practice, Liberated, my bimonthly(ish) email where I share actionable tools, tips, insights, and strategies for growing a thriving, values-aligned private practice.

Hi Reader,

If you're using the default intake form that came with your EHR, you're not alone (that was me for longer than I'd like to admit!). Those forms are a fine starting point, but they're rarely designed with trauma-informed care, client-centered language, or retention in mind.

The intake form is one more place in your client journey where you can communicate collaboration, transparency, nonjudgment, choice, and autonomy (all of which help with client retention, which supports long-term, meaningful behavior change).

In nutrition counseling, intake forms can become unintentionally activating, overwhelming, or emotionally loaded. Our forms often ask people to revisit weight history, eating behaviors, body image concerns, medical experiences, and deeply personal information all at once.

Plus, many people feel pressure to complete intake forms “correctly” or “perfectly”, which can lead to overthinking, over-disclosure, or overwhelm. Intake forms often ask for a comprehensive history upfront, and your clients may feel an unintentional pressure to fully explain or organize years of experience - including sensitive or painful ones - before trust and safety (with you) have had a chance to develop.

More than once, I’ve had a client show up to our first session overwhelmed and anxious after spending just 10 minutes reliving years of history while filling out my own (now retired) intake form.

The issue is not whether we ask questions. It's how we ask them.

Here are a few ways to make your intake form feel less like a medical questionnaire and more like a first step toward a collaborative relationship:

• Normalize choice and autonomy. Make it clear that your clients can skip questions, answer later, or share only what feels relevant or comfortable.
• Explain why you are asking certain questions. The more transparent, the better! Transparency can reduce any anxiety and support trust and collaboration.
• Avoid checkbox overload. Pages and pages of questions and checkboxes can be really overwhelming, and cause someone to unintentionally shut down before you even start your work together.
• Be intentional with weight-related questions. The way these questions are asked can significantly impact a client’s sense of safety and trust before the first session even begins.

The most important question you can ask yourself when designing or revising your intake form isn’t “What do I need to know?” It’s “What does my client need to feel to show up?”

A shorter, warmer, more intentional intake form is almost always more effective than a comprehensive one. The information you genuinely need will emerge over time, in the context of a relationship built on trust.

If you want a done-for-you starting point, my Client Retention Toolkit includes a trauma-informed intake form guide you can adapt for your own practice, with clinician notes on how to approach sensitive questions and language you can use or modify. It's one less thing to build from scratch.

Your intake form is one of the first places your clients experience your care. It's worth being intentional with it.

I'd love to know if you've made any changes to your intake form that felt meaningful? Or if you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out.

Warmly,

Alissa

Alissa Rumsey, MS, RD, CDN, CSCS

CEO & Founder, The Liberated Clinician Business Training

Empower Your Practice: www.theliberatedclinician.com​