Intake Interview: A Case Study

An intake interview is primarily an assessment tool designed to answer critical questions that will facilitate an understanding of a client’s current presentation and problems and allow for an initial formulation to be developed (Hughes & Byrne, 2009; Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan, 2012). The central function of an intake interview is to gather necessary information from the client. It also serves as an opportunity to orientate the client to a potentially new situation as well as promote rapport within a collaborative relationship (Hughes & Byrne, 2009; Morrison, 2008).

Confidentiality
During counselling sessions, it is expected that clients will be disclosing very personal information that they may not have entrusted to anybody else.
Similarly, many schools of psychology suggest that problems can only be fully understood within the context of the personal history within which they are rooted (Egan, 2014). As with identifying a client’s chief complaint, history taking should begin non-directively to allow the client to reveal significant information that may be outside of what the counsellor might ask. Following which, more directive and structured questions can be used to get answers to specific questions about a client’s past (Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan, 2012). These specific questions are helpful in that they allow for a lifeline of developmental milestones and other life events to be organised (Hughes & Byrne, 2009; Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan, 2012). The information obtained needs to include everything that has a bearing on a client’s life and mental health problems (Morrison, 2008). While the aim in an intake interview is largely to gather information, discussing a personal history needs to be approached with sensitivity and an understanding that client’s may have a difficult time exploring certain memories. Intake interviews do not require the client to delve deeply into traumatic experiences, however effective interviewers give clients the opportunity to disclose traumatic experiences if they choose to (Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan,
DeFife and Hilsenroth (2011) identified three areas related to getting the helping relationship off to a good start: guiding the client towards positive expectancies of the helping process; guiding the client to become proactive in and committed to the helping process; and guiding the client towards a solution-based focus through emphasis on goal-formation. This is done in order to avoid negative experiences that may result in the client not returning to therapy following the intake interview (DeFife and Hilsenroth, 2011). The goal of the intake interview is to build a solid foundation for a helping relationship that can develop a collaborative and positive counsellor-client relationship and in turn promote a meaningful outcome for the client (DeFife and Hilsenroth,