New Client Intake Packet Checklist for Therapists

What Is a New Client Intake Packet?

A new client intake packet is the set of forms a client receives before, or at, the first session: the consent to treatment and your practice policies, the privacy notice, contact and emergency details, a history questionnaire, the financial forms, and any forms that apply to this client's situation, such as telehealth or a minor's consent. Some of these forms are required by law, some by your ethics code, state board or payer contracts, and some simply give you what you need for a useful first session.

There is no single official packet. What belongs in yours depends on your state, your license, who pays for the client's care and how you deliver it. The checklist below covers what most US therapy practices include and why, with links to this library's template for each form where one exists. For the wider list of documents a practice needs, from business setup to termination, see the private practice documentation checklist.

When You Need It

• Before the first appointment with every new client
• When a former client returns after discharge and some of your forms have changed since they signed
• When a client moves between in-person and telehealth sessions, or from insurance to self-pay
• When you change a policy clients have agreed to, such as fees, cancellation terms or the use of AI note-taking tools
• When a new person joins treatment, for example a partner in couples work or a parent in family sessions
• When you open a practice or move to a new EHR or client portal

The Checklist at a Glance

Form	Who gets it	Why it is in the packet	Library template
Informed consent for treatment, with practice policies	Every client	Ethics codes and state rules require informed consent before treatment; it sets out confidentiality limits, fees, emergencies and client rights	Informed consent
Notice of Privacy Practices and acknowledgment of receipt	Every client of a HIPAA covered provider	Due by the date of the first service, or at the first request for services when the first session is by telehealth; a written acknowledgment is requested in good faith	HIPAA notice
Client information and contact preferences	Every client	Identity, contact details, and the ways you may contact them	No separate template; see below
Emergency contact	Every client	Who to call in an emergency, and what the client agrees you may share	No separate template; see below
Intake questionnaire with screening measures	Every client	History before the first session and baseline scores	Intake assessment, outcome measures
Fee, payment and cancellation policy	Every client	Fees, payment timing, missed-session fees, card on file	Part of informed consent; see also sliding scale policies
Insurance information and billing agreement	Clients using insurance	Claims, benefits, and what the client will owe	Superbill for out-of-network clients
Good Faith Estimate	Uninsured or self-pay clients (US)	Federal No Surprises Act requirement, due within 1 or 3 business days of scheduling, depending on how far ahead the session is booked, or within 3 business days of a request	Good Faith Estimate
Telehealth consent	Clients seen by video or phone	Technology risks, client location, emergency plan; some states require it separately	Telehealth consent
Minor consent, custody documents and assent	Clients under the age of consent	Who may consent, and how the minor's privacy is handled	Minor consent
Couples, family or group confidentiality	Couples, families and group members	How shared and individual disclosures are handled	Couples, group
Communication, recording and AI tool consents	Clients who will email or text, or whose sessions are recorded or transcribed by AI	Risks and choices, in writing	Social media and communication policy, AI consent addendum
Release of information	Only when you need to share or obtain records	Names what goes to whom, and why	Release of information
State-required disclosures	Depends on your state	Some states require a written disclosure at the first contact	Informed consent by state
Part 2 notice and consents	Federally assisted substance use disorder programs	42 CFR Part 2 requires a notice at admission	Release of information

The Core Forms and What Each One Does

Informed Consent for Treatment

The consent is the center of the packet. It explains what therapy with you involves, the limits of confidentiality in your state, fees and cancellation terms, how to reach you and what to do in an emergency, and the client's rights. Most practices fold their practice policies into it, or attach a separate policies document that the consent refers to. If you are pre-licensed, disclose your supervisee status and your supervisor's details. Sending the consent ahead lets the client read it at home, but it does not replace reviewing it with them at the first session and noting that review in your intake note. See the informed consent template and the state-by-state consent requirements.

Notice of Privacy Practices and Acknowledgment

If you are a HIPAA covered entity, the privacy rule sets out when and how the notice is given. CMS describes covered providers as those who submit HIPAA transactions, such as claims, electronically, and lists psychologists among them, so billing any health plan electronically will usually make you one. You must:

• Provide the notice "no later than the date of the first service" for a client whose first session is in person (45 CFR 164.520(c)(2)(i)).
• Send it at the first request for services when the first session is by telehealth. When the first service is delivered electronically, the notice must go out electronically, automatically and at the time the client first asks for services, not at the first session (45 CFR 164.520(c)(3)(iii)).
• Make a good-faith effort to get a written acknowledgment that the client received it, except in an emergency, and if you cannot get one, document what you tried and why it failed.
• Make it available where clients can see it: posted in your office, with copies to take away, if you see clients in person, and posted on your website if your practice has one that describes its services (45 CFR 164.520(c)(2) and (c)(3)).
• Keep the notice and the acknowledgments, or your documentation of the effort, for six years from the date each was created or was last in effect, whichever is later (45 CFR 164.520(e) and 164.530(j)(2)). The later date matters for an old version of the notice that was replaced only recently.

The acknowledgment is a receipt, not a consent, so keep it separate from the treatment consent signature. Practices that are not covered entities may still choose to provide a privacy notice, and state confidentiality laws for mental health records apply either way. See the Notice of Privacy Practices template.

Client Information and Contact Preferences

Collect what you need to identify and reach the client: legal name and the name they use, pronouns if they want to share them, date of birth, address, phone and email. Then ask how you may contact them: whether you can leave a voicemail, whether a message can name your practice, and whether they want text or email reminders. HIPAA requires covered providers to accommodate reasonable requests to receive communications by other means or at other locations (45 CFR 164.522(b)), and a client who shares a phone or a mailbox may have good reason to ask.

Emergency Contact

Ask for at least one person you may contact in an emergency, their relationship to the client and their phone number, and what the client agrees you may tell them. Make clear that the contact is for emergencies, not routine updates. Pair the form with plain emergency instructions in the consent: call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department, and call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Intake Questionnaire and Screening Measures

A short questionnaire gives you the history before the first session: what brings the client in, prior treatment, current medications and prescriber, medical conditions, substance use, family and social background, and what they hope will change. Many practices add the standardized measures they use for baseline scores, such as the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 (see outcome measures). Keep it to questions you will actually use. The full clinical picture belongs in your intake assessment or biopsychosocial assessment, not in a 15-page form.

Decide in advance who reads completed questionnaires and how quickly. A client may answer questions about mood, substance use or safety days before the appointment, and an answer that suggests risk should not sit unread until the session. Say on the form that it is not monitored in real time, and give crisis numbers.

Fee, Payment and Cancellation Policy

Put your fees, when payment is due, the payment methods you accept, your cancellation notice window and fee, and how unpaid balances are handled in writing, either in the consent or in a separate financial policy the client signs. If you keep a card on file, use a separate authorization that says when the card may be charged. If you offer a sliding scale, describe how eligibility is decided. Some state Medicaid programs and insurer contracts limit or prohibit charging their members for missed appointments, so check your provider manuals before applying a no-show fee to those clients.

Insurance Information and Billing Agreement

For clients using insurance, collect the plan details and a copy of the card, and verify benefits before the first session. Most practices also have the client sign a billing agreement: permission to bill the plan, an assignment of benefits so the plan pays you directly, and an acknowledgment of what the client will owe in copays, deductibles and non-covered services. HIPAA itself lets you use and disclose information for payment without a separate authorization (45 CFR 164.506(c)), so for HIPAA purposes this form is a business agreement; some state mental health confidentiality laws are stricter, and some payer contracts and provider manuals ask for particular wording or signatures, so check yours. For out-of-network clients who want to claim reimbursement, explain how you provide a superbill.

Good Faith Estimate for Uninsured and Self-Pay Clients

Under the No Surprises Act, uninsured clients, and clients with private or employer coverage who choose not to have a claim filed for your services, must receive a Good Faith Estimate of expected charges. The rules are in 45 CFR 149.610:

• The deadline runs from scheduling, or from a request. Booked 3 to 9 business days ahead: within 1 business day of scheduling. Booked 10 or more business days ahead: within 3 business days of scheduling. Requested by the client: within 3 business days of the request, and any conversation about cost counts as a request. Booked fewer than 3 business days ahead: the rule sets no deadline tied to scheduling (45 CFR 149.610(b)(1)(vi)).
• One estimate can cover ongoing therapy for up to 12 months, if it describes the expected frequency and number of sessions.
• It must be in writing, on paper or electronically as the client prefers, in a form they can save and print.
• You must tell people estimates are available, in writing on your website and in your office, and out loud when scheduling or when cost comes up.

Because of the deadline, the estimate often goes out with the appointment confirmation rather than with the rest of the packet. See the Good Faith Estimate template.

Forms You Add When They Apply

Telehealth Consent

If any sessions will be by video or phone, add a telehealth consent covering the platform, technology and privacy risks, what happens if the connection drops, and the emergency plan: where the client will usually be during sessions, the nearest emergency department and who to contact. Some states require telehealth consent to be obtained or documented in particular ways; check the telehealth rules by state. Confirm where the client is at each session, because your license, or an interstate compact privilege, has to cover the state the client is in at the time. See the telehealth consent template and telehealth documentation.

Minors: Consent, Custody Documents and Assent

For a client below your state's age of consent for outpatient mental health care, the packet goes to the parent or guardian with legal authority to consent. Ask for custody orders or guardianship papers when parents are separated or someone other than a parent is consenting, explain what the parent will and will not hear about sessions, and get the minor's assent in age-appropriate language. The age at which minors can consent on their own varies by state. See minor consent.

Couples, Families and Groups

Couples and family work needs a written policy on what you do with something one person tells you alone. Group members sign a confidentiality agreement because, unlike you, other members are not bound by professional confidentiality rules. See couples therapy confidentiality and the group confidentiality agreement.

Communication, Recording and AI Tools

If clients will email or text you, or you send reminders that way, explain the privacy risks of unencrypted messages, what you will and will not answer that way, and that messages are not monitored for emergencies; then record the client's choices. If you record sessions for supervision or use an AI scribe or note-writing tool, get specific consent for that. See the social media and communication policy and the AI consent addendum.

Release of Information, Only When Needed

Do not put a blank release in every packet. An authorization has to describe the information, who will receive it and the purpose, among other required elements (45 CFR 164.508(c)), so a form signed at intake "for whoever we need later" does not do the job. HIPAA lets you share information with another provider for treatment without an authorization (45 CFR 164.506(c)), but many clinicians ask for written permission anyway, state law may require it, and psychotherapy notes and records covered by 42 CFR Part 2 need their own specific consent. Add a release when the client names someone you will coordinate with, such as a prescriber, primary care provider, school or previous therapist. See the release of information template.

State-Required Disclosures

Some states require a written disclosure at the first contact on top of the consent. Colorado, for example, requires licensed, registered and certified mental health professionals to give each client written information at the initial client contact, including their credentials, the board that regulates them and certain client rights (C.R.S. 12-245-216). Check your board's current rules and the informed consent requirements by state.

Substance Use Disorder Programs (42 CFR Part 2)

If your practice is, or is part of, a federally assisted program that holds itself out as providing substance use disorder diagnosis, treatment or referral, 42 CFR Part 2 applies. At admission, the program must tell the patient that federal law protects the confidentiality of their substance use disorder records and give a written, plain-language notice of its privacy practices (42 CFR 2.22), and its consent forms must meet Part 2's requirements. A therapist who treats substance use as one part of a general caseload is not automatically a Part 2 program; check the definitions in 42 CFR 2.11 and 2.12, or ask a health care attorney.

State and Payer Variation

Federal rules, such as HIPAA's privacy notice, the No Surprises Act's estimate and Part 2, apply across the US. Almost everything else in the packet varies.

By state:

• What informed consent must contain, and the statute behind it (informed consent by state)
• The age at which minors can consent to outpatient mental health care, and what parents may see
• Whether telehealth needs separate consent and how it must be documented (telehealth rules by state)
• Duty-to-warn or duty-to-protect language (duty to warn)
• Required written disclosures, such as Colorado's
• How long records, including signed forms, must be kept (record retention)

By payer:

• Commercial insurance. Contracts and provider manuals may require particular signed documents, such as a billing agreement or a signed treatment plan, and an audit may look for them.
• Medicaid. State programs and managed care plans can require their own member rights, grievance or consent notices, and may limit the fees you can charge members.
• Employee assistance programs. An EAP may supply its own forms and set session limits; read its provider requirements, and plan what happens when the EAP sessions run out.
• Self-pay. The Good Faith Estimate and, for clients who claim out-of-network benefits, a superbill on request.
• Court-ordered or mandated clients. A release for the court, probation officer or program that defines exactly what you will report. See court-mandated documentation.

Outside the US: HIPAA and the No Surprises Act are US laws. Elsewhere, the privacy notice, consent and fee forms follow your own jurisdiction's rules; in Canada, for example, federal or provincial privacy law depending on your province, and your regulatory college's standards. See documentation requirements by Canadian province.

Delivering the Packet Electronically

• Use a platform that protects health information and will sign a business associate agreement. If you are a HIPAA covered entity, HIPAA requires a written business associate agreement with any client portal, e-signature service or form builder that will hold client information for you. Not every general-purpose form tool will sign one, so check before you use it.
• Electronic signatures are generally valid. The federal ESIGN Act and state electronic-transaction laws give electronic signatures legal effect for most purposes. Keep the platform's completion record (who signed, and when) with each form, and check whether your state, a payer or an agency wants a particular kind of signature for any document.
• The privacy notice has its own e-delivery rules. You may email it only if the client agrees to electronic notice, and if you learn the email failed you must provide a paper copy. When the first service is delivered electronically, as with a first session by telehealth, the notice must go out automatically at the time the client first asks for services, even if the rest of the packet goes out later. Clients can always ask for a paper copy (45 CFR 164.520(c)(3)).
• The Good Faith Estimate goes in the format the client asks for, paper or electronic, in a form they can save and print.
• Send early. Send the packet soon after scheduling, with a reminder a day or two before the appointment, so the client can read the consent at home and arrive with questions rather than forms.
• Make it work for every client. Forms that work on a phone, plain language, a paper option, translated versions where you can provide them, and formats that work with screen readers. The Good Faith Estimate rule itself requires the notice about estimates to be available in accessible formats and in the languages spoken by people scheduling with you.
• Confirm who is signing. Check that the person signing is the client, or a parent, guardian or personal representative with authority, and keep any documents that show that authority.
• Date every form version. A version date on each form shows which version a client signed. When you make a material change, have clients sign the new version.
• File and keep it. Signed forms are part of the record. Keep them for your state's retention period and, for privacy-notice acknowledgments, at least the six years HIPAA requires, counted from the date each was created or was last in effect, whichever is later; see record retention.

Example: A Completed Checklist

The example below is fictional. It shows the checklist for an adult, self-pay telehealth client of a solo practitioner in Colorado.

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How to Build Your Packet Step by Step

Step 1: Sort your clients into packet types. Adult individual, minor, couple or family, group, telehealth, insured and self-pay. Most practices need one core packet plus two or three add-on sets, rather than one packet for everyone.

Step 2: Check your state's rules. Consent content, minor consent, telehealth consent, duty to warn, required disclosures and record retention. Start with the by-state consent table, then confirm against your licensing board's current regulations.

Step 3: Check your payer requirements. Read each provider manual for required forms or wording, especially for Medicaid plans and EAPs.

Step 4: Write each policy once, in plain language. Put each policy in one place and refer to it, rather than repeating it on several forms with slightly different wording. Remove any question you do not use.

Step 5: Get a legal review. Have a health care attorney, or the risk management service of your liability insurer or professional association, review the packet, especially the consent, before you use it.

Step 6: Set up delivery. A portal or e-signature service with a business associate agreement, the privacy notice posted on your website, and the notice that Good Faith Estimates are available displayed on your website and in your office.

Step 7: Decide who reads returned forms, and how fast. This matters most for questionnaires that ask about mood, substance use or safety.

Step 8: Review at the first session and document it. Walk through the consent, answer questions, collect missing signatures, and record in your intake note that consent was reviewed.

Step 9: Re-check the packet at least once a year. Also re-check it whenever a law, your fees or a policy changes, and give each revised form a new version date.

Common Mistakes

1. Sending the Good Faith Estimate with the packet, after the deadline. The deadline runs from scheduling or from the client's request, 1 or 3 business days depending on the case, not from the first session.

2. Merging the privacy-notice acknowledgment into the consent signature. Keep the receipt separate so the record shows that the notice was provided and acknowledged, or that you tried.

3. A blank release of information in every packet. An authorization has to identify the recipient and the purpose when it is signed. Add releases when you know who you will coordinate with.

4. One packet for every client. A minor, a couple or a telehealth client needs forms the standard adult packet does not include.

5. Questionnaires nobody reads before the session. If a form asks about safety, someone has to read it promptly and act on a concerning answer.

6. A packet so long that clients skip it. Duplicate questions and forms that collect information you never use lower completion and delay the first session.

7. No version dates. Without them, you cannot show which policy a client agreed to after you change your fees or cancellation terms.

8. Collecting forms through tools that will not sign a business associate agreement, or emailing completed forms as unencrypted attachments.