---
name: first-session-intake
description: A private-practice intake-to-first-session kit — pre-session intake sheet, consent & boundaries card, one-page session agenda, 48-hour follow-up cadence. Printable poker deck, run sheet and A3 desk poster.
version: 1.0.0
license: CC-BY-4.0
allowed-tools: Read, Write, Bash(curl:*), Bash(unzip:*)
metadata:
  category: scenario-kits
  group_size: 2
  duration_minutes: 20
  setting: hybrid
  props: [intake sheet per client, consent card, card deck for the desk]
  depth: tool-type
  language: en
  updated: 2026-10-19
---

# First-Session Intake

The whole intake-to-first-session loop on paper: what you ask before the client arrives, what consent actually means out loud, the goal in one sentence, and the 48 hours after session one. For therapists, coaches and consultants.

## When to use this kit

- Your intake is currently "whatever comes to mind on the call".
- First sessions run over because the goal got defined inside them.
- Cases die in the silence after session one.

## What is in the folder

| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
| `first-session-intake-prop-cards.pdf` | Poker-spec print sheet (63.5 × 88.9 mm, bleed + cut guides): master, intake prompts, consent & boundaries, session agenda, 48-hour follow-up, watch-out, backs + blanks |
| `first-session-intake-run-sheet.pdf` | Print edition: practitioner guide + case review bound as one A4 document |
| `*-Letter.pdf` | US Letter paper size for the print documents in this folder — same content, bookmarks and a linked TOC in every edition |
| `first-session-intake-guide.md` | Practitioner guide: the loop, what this is not, setup, phase script, failure modes, variations |
| `first-session-intake-debrief.md` | Case review: four checkpoints, six questions with targets, failure modes |
| `first-session-intake-license.md` | License in plain language — what you may do, what you must keep |
| `first-session-intake-activity-poster.pdf` | The loop on one A3 desk sheet: phases, checkpoints, watch-outs |
| `first-session-intake-start-here.md` | Start here — pick your lane, file map, print list |

## Running it

Send the intake sheet and the consent card before booking. Read the intake before the session — never through it. Open by naming the agenda and asking what they disagreed with on the consent card. Spend the middle on one question: if we fix one thing by session three, what is it — in the client's words, written down. Close with a date, a between-sessions task, and the fee said out loud. Within 48 hours: the follow-up goes out, and the case review sheet gets filled.

## Run this activity with an agent

A practitioner can hand this whole folder to their AI agent. Install first — one command, and the folder any skills loader can pick up:

```bash
# install the whole skill folder, one command
curl -LO https://workshopskill.com/en/activities/first-session-intake/files/first-session-intake.zip
unzip first-session-intake.zip   # -> first-session-intake/SKILL.md + all files + manifest
```

The zip unpacks to a directory named `first-session-intake` holding this SKILL.md, every file it references, a manifest.

Individual files, if you only need some — anonymous, CC BY 4.0:

```bash
# 1. Get the printable deck (consent, agenda, follow-up faces)
curl -O https://workshopskill.com/en/activities/first-session-intake/files/first-session-intake-prop-cards.pdf

# 2. Get the case review sheet (checkpoints + six questions)
curl -O https://workshopskill.com/en/activities/first-session-intake/files/first-session-intake-debrief.md

# 3. Get the practitioner guide (the loop, the failure modes)
curl -O https://workshopskill.com/en/activities/first-session-intake/files/first-session-intake-guide.md
```

Everything above runs with no account and no login.

Useful preparation facts for the agent:
- The intake items lift directly into an online form (five to eight fields; one line each).
- Consent goes out as its own document — never folded into the intake form.
- The "one thing" question is mandatory in session one; the answer stays in the client's words.
- Follow-up window: 48 hours, with a named task and a date, or it did not happen.
- This is workflow paper, not clinical guidance — discipline, license and jurisdiction rules belong to the practitioner's board.

**Where to put the skill.** Drop the unzipped `first-session-intake/` directory into your agent's skills folder and it loads automatically: Claude Code `~/.claude/skills/first-session-intake/` (or `.claude/skills/` in the project), OpenAI Codex `~/.codex/skills/first-session-intake/`, Qoder `~/.qoder/skills/first-session-intake/`. No skills folder in your agent? Paste this file into the chat and ask the agent to follow it. Per-agent walkthroughs: https://workshopskill.com/en/skill-guides/

## Facilitation notes

- Quote or nothing: the client's goal lives in their sentence, not your jargon.
- Say the fee out loud at close, every time.
- Wrong-fit cases get referred in session one — generosity is the referral engine.
- The blanks are for your discipline's prompts; the deck is a frame, not a script.

## Remix: make it yours

## Attribution

Filed by hand and checked folder against folder — script, timings, prop sizes and the measure agree. Free under CC BY 4.0 — run it, copy it, rebrand it for your own practice; keep the attribution and the drawer stays open.