Coaching & Career Discovery Intake

Coaching intake collects material that looks clinical and is not protected like it. A client describing burnout, a stalled career or a difficult marriage is handing over sensitive personal data to a practitioner who — unlike a psychotherapist — is not bound by Art. 321 professional secrecy. The obligation is contractual and data-protection based, which makes how the form is built the actual safeguard.

Coaching is not therapy, and the confidentiality differs

Unlike psychotherapy (which is regulated and subject to professional secrecy laws), life coaching and career coaching in Switzerland operate in an unregulated market. However, coaches who are members of professional associations — ICF Switzerland, EMCC Switzerland, BSO — operate under codes of ethics that include strict confidentiality obligations.

Regardless of professional membership, under the Swiss nFADP, the personal data collected in a coaching intake is subject to data protection obligations: purpose limitation (use only for coaching), storage limitation (define a retention period), and security (protect against unauthorised access). End-to-end encryption addresses the security obligation in the strongest available way.

What the form collects

• Contact details and professional background
• Current work situation and role
• Career goals and timeline
• Key challenges and blockers
• What the client has already tried
• Previous coaching or therapy experience
• Preferred coaching style and communication preferences
• Availability and session format preference
• Confidentiality acknowledgment

Why the first session is the expensive one

The first coaching session is time-limited and high-value. Every minute spent asking basic background questions — role, industry, family situation, what brought the client to coaching — is a minute not spent exploring the real challenges and setting a meaningful coaching contract. A pre-session intake form moves the background gathering out of the session and into the preparation phase.

Beyond efficiency, a well-designed intake form helps clients arrive at the first session with greater clarity. The act of writing down their goals, blockers, and what they have already tried often surfaces insights that would otherwise take several sessions to reach. Clients who complete an intake arrive better prepared — and the quality of the first conversation reflects this.

What a coaching intake should ask

A first-session intake form for coaching or career discovery covers five domains:

• Current situation — role, industry, organisation size, employment status. Gives the coach a context anchor.
• Goals and aspirations — what the client wants to achieve, by when, and what success looks like. Open-ended enough to allow unexpected answers.
• Challenges and blockers — what is stopping them from achieving the goal independently? What have they tried? What has not worked?
• Previous development experience — prior coaching, therapy, training, mentoring. Helps the coach calibrate the starting level of self-awareness.
• Preferences and practicalities — communication style, session format (in-person, video, phone), language preference, availability. Reduces administrative back-and-forth.

Handling the file

The sensitivity of coaching intake data is high — it often captures information about workplace conflicts, financial stress, relationship difficulties, and health concerns. This is personal data that the client shares in a context of trust, with an expectation that it will not be seen by employers, colleagues, or anyone outside the coaching relationship.

Practically, this means: do not store coaching intake responses in an unencrypted email thread or shared cloud folder; define how long you keep notes and intake files after the coaching relationship ends (a 5-year period is common in allied health; shorter in coaching — 2–3 years is reasonable); and be prepared to export or delete a client's records on written request.

Email intake versus an encrypted form

Where coaching intake goes wrong

• Not asking why the client chose coaching now — the precipitating event is often the most important context.
• Asking too many closed questions — coaching intakes should invite reflection, not feel like a job application.
• Sharing intake content with supervisors or peers without the client's explicit consent — even in group supervision, client details should be anonymised.
• Not addressing confidentiality limits upfront — clients deserve to know if there are circumstances where confidentiality would be broken (e.g. imminent risk of harm).
• Never updating the intake — a returning client after a year of change needs a refreshed context.

Before the first session

Questions coaches ask

Is a coaching intake form required for ICF-certified coaches?

The ICF Code of Ethics requires coaches to establish a clear coaching agreement, which includes understanding the client's situation and goals. A structured intake form is one way to fulfil this requirement systematically. While not mandated as a specific document type, the ICF core competencies and ethics framework strongly imply that a coach should understand the client's context before beginning formal coaching.

How is a coaching intake different from a therapy intake?

A therapy intake typically includes clinical screening for mental health conditions, diagnostic categories, medication, and risk assessment. A coaching intake focuses on goals, situation, and preferences — it is not diagnostic and should not be used to screen for mental health conditions. If a client's intake responses suggest clinical-level distress, the coach should refer to an appropriate mental health professional rather than attempting to treat within the coaching relationship.

Should the coaching intake ask about salary or financial situation?

Depending on the coaching focus, financial context can be highly relevant — particularly for career coaches helping clients navigate promotions, role transitions, or entrepreneurial decisions. If you include financial questions, make clear in the form that this information is confidential and encrypted. Frame questions around impact ('how does your current compensation affect your career decisions?') rather than asking for specific figures.

Can the intake form serve as the coaching contract?

No — a coaching contract (coaching agreement) is a separate document that establishes the formal terms of the engagement: number of sessions, fees, cancellation policy, confidentiality terms, and any organisational sponsor involvement. The intake form collects personal context; the contract establishes the commercial and ethical framework of the relationship. Both are needed.

For HR and workplace forms beyond coaching, see our Whistleblower Report, Exit Interview, and Employee Engagement Survey templates on Schweizerform.