Lesson 6: Intakes

Attention

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this lesson's material, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate the ability to summarize and document a new referral's chief complaint.

Teaching

Read Chapter 14

Mental health agencies may receive many calls each day from people seeking services. Sometimes the clients call directly and sometimes other service providers call. It is important to know what information to gather during the initial telephone call and how to document this information.  

This lesson will review the process of completing a typical intake/inquiry form and will address the skill of abbreviated and concise writing style.

Abbreviations and concise writing are key to ensure accurate records.

Review this document "Common Errors on the New Referral and Inquiry Form"
A typical new referral or inquiry form can be found in Appendix B of your textbook

Assessment

Lesson 6 Quiz

Refer to the handout "Abbreviating Your Written Statements on Forms". Following the guidelines and suggestions from the handout, write a summary for each of the two scenarios.  The idea is to write a summary that you would use on a real form.  Be sure to include all of the pertinent information from the scenario in the summary for the client file.   

1.      Question #1 Your abbreviated summary for the form.
2.      Question #2 Your abbreviated summary for the form.