Build rapport and collect data: A teaching resource on the clinical interviewing intake

Abstract

This paper is an overview of the intake process for mental health helping professions. We intend for this piece to serve as a teaching resource, useful as an intake primer for novice clinicians in psychology, social work, counseling, or psychiatry, but perhaps also as a helpful review for experienced clinicians as well. We define and describe the clinical interviewing intake, discuss its history, and conceptualize it as an endeavor toward building rapport and collecting data. Specific topics we explore include: adopting an appropriate clinical attitude, engaging in cultural humility, considering practical factors about conducting the intake, viewing interviewing as an art, evaluating tools of data collection, discussing psychometric considerations in intakes (e.g., reliability, validity, standardization, and sources of data), and identifying topics to assess in-session and how to explore them. The paper closes with some summary thoughts and overall advice to those soon to embark on their first clinical interviewing intake.