CNS 736 CG SP 2020
Assignment 2.1: Intake Form Analysis
Katie S. Janvrin
01/24/2020
Effective
- Simple to understand and navigate. It acts as a great guideline for the first session in
order to meet the client fully. The sections are clearly marked and elaborated on.
- It may be due to repeat use but I really enjoy how this intake is laid out as it follows such
a natural flow in its line of questioning.
- Provides prompts but also the freedom to add any additional notes or questions within
the separate sections due to format.
- Immediately answers Who, What, When, Where, and Why. I feel as though this provides
a good synopsis prior to getting into the details of the client’s history.
- Captures the family system/ family of origin well. I feel like it does a good job of
summarizing and painting a picture of the people with who the client has a relationship.
- Does not go into a great deal of demographic detail. This to me feels like it could have
been done in an effort to demonstrate inclusion (i.e not defining the client by those
specific things- race, highest level of education, or marital status, etc).
- Reviews medical history as well as psychological history in depth which intakes I have
used or seen in the past neglected to do and I really appreciate the end result of
collecting and then being able to reference this information in case planning.
- Breaks down trauma into multiple categorized going beyond the scope of what one may
initial consider trauma on the surface.
- Gathers really comprehensive educational history that could be tweaked to
accommodate either an adult or child client.
- The intake concludes with a mini mental status examination that acts as a baseline for
the counselor and client to reference.
Ineffective
- Overall seems to be more child focused. My suggestion would not be to tweak this intake
but to create a separate clinical interview (intake) for adults.
- Touches on very subtle cultural pieces like where the client was born but it does not
directly ask about race, highest level of education, or marital status, etc. All of these
elements and possibly even others I have forgotten to mention here should be
addressed in order to have a full picture of who the client is as well as taking a less
passive and more active stand in cultural competence and overall advocacy.
- It may be due to the time I have spent in two practices that focus on either forensic
assessments or helping those in the middle of high conflict divorce but the legal section
could be more specific. As I am just being introduced to the forensic side of things I
would be worried I would forget some of the more pertinent information without more of a
guide.
CNS 736 CG SP 2020
Assignment 2.1: Intake Form Analysis
Katie S. Janvrin
01/24/2020
- Bit lengthy and could be difficult to complete if the client has a longer history or is
currently in crisis. It is worth considering creating some sort of crisis document or
allowing for an intake completion grace period of sorts in certain pre approved
circumstances.
- No place to add signatures or credentials- this could be a problem in terms of the
insurance company's/ legitimacy of the assessment.
- No place to add diagnosis or rule outs. This is an important step in the intake in my
opinion as it lays the framework but it is also an insurance requirement.
- Neglects to ask the client their strengths in order to meet the client where they are within
their treatment planning.
- Neglects to ascertain the goals the client wishes to work on in our time together . While
goals change and grow I think it is important to pretty much immediately personalize the
experience of counseling resulting in their investment in the process.
- The assessment consists of various observations that have the potential to be bias or
misinterpreted by the counselor. I believe it is important to fact check these over time to
analyze progress.
- Important to consider that the client may not feel comfortable or be ready to answer
some of the information requested within this intake process. I think it is important that
counselors remember to remain flexible in their work as no two clients are the same.