Life Coach Intake Form

Key takeaways

A life coach intake form collects essential client information before the first session, setting the foundation for a productive coaching relationship.

Effective intake forms gather a client’s goals, challenges, lifestyle, and commitment level, preventing misalignment and saving session time.

This template doesn’t include GDPR consent language, so add your own data-handling and consent section before using it with UK or EU clients.

Pabau’s digital intake forms automate delivery, store client data in secure records, and sync responses directly into client profiles without manual data entry.

A life coach intake form is a foundational client onboarding document that gathers essential information before the first coaching session. This template provides all the fields and questions coaches need to understand their clients’ situations, goals, and expectations. It sets a clear, professional tone from day one.

What is a life coach intake form?

A life coach intake form collects critical client information in a structured format before the coaching relationship begins. Unlike therapy intake forms, which assess clinical symptoms and mental health diagnoses, a life coach intake form focuses on personal and professional context. It covers goals, obstacles, and coaching expectations.

This distinction matters. Coaching is not therapy. The form’s role is to help coaches tailor their approach, establish expectations, identify potential conflicts, and document informed consent. It does not screen for clinical conditions or protected health information.

Why an intake form pays off before session one

Sending an intake form before session one transforms the coaching process. It saves time, prevents misalignment, and builds professional trust.

• Saves session time: You arrive at session one with context, not starting from scratch. The first session becomes action-focused, not information-gathering.
• Surfaces hidden expectations: Clients often don’t articulate what they expect from coaching until prompted. An intake form brings these into the open.
• Documents commitment: When clients complete a form, they’ve invested cognitive effort. They’re more likely to show up and follow through.
• Establishes data handling: A consent section in the form documents how you’ll store, use, and protect client information. This matters for GDPR compliance and client trust.
• Creates a professional record: The form becomes part of the client’s permanent record. This gives you a documented record of the coaching relationship, useful if referral history ever comes up.

What to include in a life coach intake form

An effective intake form contains nine core sections. Each one serves a specific purpose in understanding the client and shaping the coaching relationship.

• Client and emergency contact information: The client’s name, date of birth, contact details, and an emergency contact you can reach if needed.
• Coaching goals: Short-term goals for the next three to six months, and long-term goals for a year or more ahead.
• Current challenges or obstacles: What’s blocking the client’s progress, and how these challenges affect their daily life and well-being.
• Previous coaching or therapy experience: Whether the client has worked with a coach or therapist before, and what that experience covered.
• Expectations and preferences: What the client expects from coaching, how they prefer to receive it, and how often they want sessions.
• Lifestyle and well-being: The client’s current lifestyle, work-life balance, and how they manage stress day to day.
• Strengths and weaknesses: The client’s biggest strengths, and the areas they feel need the most improvement.
• Commitment and motivation: A 1-10 commitment scale, what motivates the client to act, and any barriers standing in the way.
• Additional notes: Space for anything else relevant, followed by signature lines for both the client and the coach.

Essential intake form questions to ask

Use these categorized questions as a foundation. Adapt language to match your coaching style and niche.

Personal background questions

• What is your full name, contact email, and phone number?
• How did you hear about me/my coaching practice?
• What is your current occupation or role?
• Tell me briefly about your family or living situation.
• What does a typical week look like for you?

Goals and aspirations questions

• What is the primary reason you’re seeking coaching right now?
• What do you want to achieve or change in the next 6 months? 12 months?
• How will you know when you’ve achieved your goals? (What will be different?)
• What does success look like to you personally?
• What would it mean for your life if you achieved this goal?

Current challenges and obstacles questions

Some challenges have a physical root, so a quick vitamin deficiency test can rule out fatigue before assuming the block is psychological.

• What is currently your biggest challenge or frustration?
• What beliefs do you hold about yourself that might be holding you back?
• What have you already tried to address this? What was the result?
• What would happen if nothing changed?
• What’s stopping you from taking action right now?

Coaching expectations and commitment questions

• How many times per month are you willing to meet for coaching?
• What’s your commitment level? (1-10 scale)
• What do you expect from me as your coach?
• How do you prefer to communicate (phone, video, email)?
• What concerns do you have about starting coaching?

How to customize the form for different coaching niches

While the core sections above apply universally, different coaching niches require tailored questions. Here’s how to adapt.

Health and wellness coaching

Add questions about current health status, medical history, medications, fitness level, nutrition habits, sleep patterns, and stress management. Ask about barriers to behavior change (time, motivation, family support) and any health concerns that might affect coaching.

Many health and wellness coaches now run their practice on the same wellness clinic software used by nutritionists. That means these answers sync straight into a shared client profile. A nursing nutrition assessment template can add clinical depth if a client’s goals involve a significant dietary change.

Executive and career coaching

Include questions about career aspirations, leadership challenges, team dynamics, work-life balance, current role satisfaction, and professional development goals. Ask about past performance reviews, feedback from colleagues, and specific career transitions they’re considering.

Relationship and life coaching

Add questions about current relationships, relationship history, communication patterns, attachment style insights, and specific relational challenges. Ask about past therapy or counseling experience and any trauma background (without requiring diagnostic detail).

For clients who need more structured coping support alongside coaching conversations, a distress tolerance skills worksheet can complement the intake form’s questions about current challenges.

How to send and collect intake forms digitally

Paper forms create admin burden and lost data. Digital delivery is faster, more professional, and ensures client information flows directly into your records.

• Email PDF and ask for return: This method is simple, but it’s manual. The client prints the form, fills it out, and returns it by email. You still need to enter the data by hand.
• Use digital intake forms built into practice management software: Clients fill forms on a secure web link. Responses auto-populate into their client record. No manual data entry. Recommended.
• Embed in your client portal: Client portal software sends forms automatically at booking confirmation. Clients fill them before their first session. Professional and automated.
• Use a form builder (Typeform, Google Forms, Jotform): Free and simple, but data lives in a separate system. Requires manual import to your records.

Pro tip: Send the form immediately after booking confirmation. This gives clients time to reflect before session one and ensures you have their responses before you meet.

GDPR consent and data privacy in your intake form

This template does not include a GDPR consent section, so add one yourself before sending it to clients in the UK or EU. A consent section protects both you and your client by documenting how you handle their information.

Add a section stating:

• How you’ll store and protect their information (e.g. “encrypted, secure practice management system”)
• Who has access (e.g. “you and me only”)
• How long you’ll keep their data (e.g. “for the duration of our coaching relationship and 6 years after”)
• Their rights (e.g. “you can request access to or deletion of your data”)
• Confidentiality limits (e.g. “I cannot keep something confidential if there’s imminent harm to you or others”)

Add a checkbox asking the client to confirm they’ve read and understood this section. This documents their informed consent, which matters if questions ever arise about data handling.

Using intake form data to improve session outcomes

The intake form isn’t just a bureaucratic step. It’s a coaching tool. Review the form before each session and reference it during the conversation: “I noticed you mentioned feeling stuck in your career. Let’s dig into that.” This shows you listened, builds rapport, and keeps sessions focused on what matters most to the client.

Store the form in a secure client record system so you can access it anytime without printing or searching through files. This keeps your coaching practice organized and professional, and frees you to focus on the client instead of paperwork.

How Pabau automates coaching intake and client records

Most life coaches still collect intake forms by email or paper. They then copy client answers into a separate notes document or spreadsheet before the first session.

Practice management software like Pabau removes that extra step. Pabau’s client management system sends the coaching intake form automatically as soon as a client books, and every response saves directly into that client’s profile.

This means you walk into every session with full context, and your records stay organized and audit-ready without extra admin work.

Automate intake forms and client records

Pabau's digital intake forms send automatically at booking, and responses sync directly into secure client profiles. This keeps every client's coaching history organized in one place, so you can focus on the session instead of paperwork.

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Conclusion

This template earns its place once a client actually fills it out. You walk into session one already knowing their goals, their history, and where they’re likely to get stuck.

Add your own GDPR consent section before you send it to any UK or EU client. Deliver it digitally rather than on paper, so responses land straight in your records instead of a stack of printouts.

Ready to streamline your entire client onboarding? Book a demo with Pabau to see how digital intake forms, automated delivery, and secure client records keep your coaching practice organized and professional.

Continue your research

Need intake questions for a different helping profession? Social worker interview questions offers a comparable structured question set for another client-facing role.

Want to keep coaching and therapy clearly separated? This interoceptive exposure worksheet shows the kind of clinical tool that belongs with a licensed therapist, not a coach.

Coaching a client on nutrition alongside their other goals? This vegan meal plan template gives you a starting point to hand off or adapt.

Frequently Asked Questions