College Mental Health Counseling Intake Form

Streamline Your Campus Mental Health Intake with Paperform

College counseling centers face unique challenges: rising demand for mental health services, limited resources, and the critical need to quickly assess student needs while maintaining HIPAA-level security and confidentiality. This College Mental Health Counseling Intake Form template is designed specifically for university wellness centers, student health services, and campus counseling departments to replace outdated paper forms with a professional, accessible digital intake process.

Why Digital Intake Forms Matter for Campus Mental Health

Traditional paper-based intake processes create bottlenecks when students need help most. Lost forms, illegible handwriting, and manual data entry delays mean students wait longer for their first appointment—and counseling staff spend valuable clinical time on administrative tasks instead of providing care.

This Paperform template transforms your intake workflow into a smooth, secure digital experience. Students can complete the form from their dorm room, the library, or anywhere they feel comfortable, on any device. Submissions flow directly into your practice management system via Paperform's integrations, and conditional logic ensures students only see questions relevant to their situation—reducing form fatigue and improving completion rates.

What This Template Includes

Our college counseling intake form captures everything your clinical team needs to prepare for a student's first session:

• Student information and demographics – Name, student ID, contact details, year, major, and housing information
• Presenting concerns and symptoms – Checkboxes for common mental health concerns (anxiety, depression, academic stress, relationship issues, substance use, trauma, eating concerns) with space for detailed description
• Current mental health status – Risk assessment questions, current symptom severity, and previous mental health history
• Insurance and billing information – Insurance provider details, policy numbers, and billing preferences for both on-campus and off-campus coverage
• Medical history and medications – Current medications, allergies, and relevant medical conditions that may impact treatment
• Emergency contact protocols – Multiple emergency contacts with relationship and contact preferences
• Consent and acknowledgments – Treatment consent, privacy practices, and crisis protocol acknowledgment
• Availability and preferences – Scheduling preferences and counselor requests if applicable

The form uses conditional logic to adapt based on student responses—for example, if a student indicates current suicidal ideation, the form can immediately display crisis resources and emergency contact information, while also flagging the submission for urgent clinical review.

Built for the Unique Needs of Higher Education

University counseling centers aren't just healthcare providers—they're part of a broader student support ecosystem. This template reflects that reality:

• Student-friendly language that reduces stigma and encourages honest disclosure
• Integration with campus systems via Paperform's flexible webhook and API options to connect with your student information system
• Compliance-ready design with fields structured to meet mental health documentation standards and student privacy regulations (FERPA)
• Mobile-optimized experience since most students will complete the form on their phones
• Accessibility features ensuring students with disabilities can complete the intake independently

Automate Your Post-Intake Workflow with Stepper

Once a student submits their intake form, the real work begins—but it doesn't have to be manual. Connect this Paperform template to Stepper, Paperform's AI-native workflow automation platform, to:

• Route urgent cases immediately – Automatically flag high-risk submissions and send urgent notifications to on-call counselors
• Schedule initial appointments – Create calendar holds based on student availability and counselor schedules
• Update your practice management software – Push intake data directly to your EHR or scheduling system
• Send confirmation and preparation materials – Automatically email students with appointment details, new client paperwork, and what to expect at their first session
• Coordinate with campus resources – Notify case managers, residence life, or academic advisors when students consent to coordinated care

This automation means your administrative staff spend less time on data entry and coordination, and more time supporting students in crisis.

Who This Template Is For

This form template is ideal for:

• University counseling centers providing short-term therapy to enrolled students
• Student health services with integrated behavioral health departments
• College wellness programs offering mental health screenings and support
• Campus crisis intervention teams conducting intake assessments
• Private practices near campus that specialize in serving college-age clients

Whether you're a large research university with multiple clinicians or a small college with a single counselor, this template scales to your needs. Customize questions, add your institution's branding, and adjust the conditional logic to match your clinical protocols.

Professional, Secure, and Conversion-Optimized

Mental health intake forms must balance thoroughness with user experience. Students who feel overwhelmed by a 10-page PDF are less likely to complete it—and may delay seeking help altogether. Paperform's document-style editor lets you create an intake form that feels conversational and approachable, not clinical and cold.

The form includes:

• Progress indicators so students know how much is left to complete
• Conditional sections that show/hide based on previous answers, reducing cognitive load
• Inline help text explaining why certain information is needed
• Optional vs. required field logic ensuring you capture critical information without forcing disclosure students aren't ready for

And because student mental health data is sensitive, Paperform provides SOC 2 Type II compliance, encrypted data transmission, secure storage, and configurable data retention policies—giving you confidence that student information is protected.

Get Started in Minutes

This template is ready to use out of the box, but it's also fully customizable. Add your university logo and colors, adjust questions to match your clinical intake protocols, integrate with your existing scheduling and EHR systems, and embed the form directly on your counseling center website or student portal.

With Paperform's intuitive editor, your administrative team can make updates without needing IT support—updating appointment availability, revising consent language, or adding seasonal questions (like finals week stressors) takes minutes, not weeks.

Over 500,000 teams worldwide trust Paperform for forms that matter. For college counseling centers balancing high demand with limited resources, this intake form template helps you meet students where they are—and get them the support they need, faster.

Start with this template today and transform your mental health intake process into a seamless, student-centered experience.