Intake forms can be annoying, I appreciate it that you take the time to fill them out and understand I have to have them. This is where I look for contraindications. Here is where I begin to understand what you need and how I can create a session for you. Then we do the verbal part before your session. We do this together. I truly believe that doing a thorough intake at the beginning and not rushing people is a key to an effective session. I am surprised and flattered how many people that I have never met would just waltz in the door and take off their clothes and get on the table without a question. Sometimes it is even a little awkward stopping people mid stride and asking them to fill out the information form.
Something else got awkward. The form itself. I have revamped the intake form more times than I can count. Sometimes more than once a year. Seems I am never satisfied. I am so tired of the cookie cutter forms. They still will be a form and that may be my problem. I may not be able to make it groovy but, I will strive for more functional. Why do some of them have Birth Date and Age on them. Can people not do math or do we really need to?
Usually people don’t even notice any change or that we have a great intake form. The one change I thought people would notice they do not. We took the M/F off our intake form years ago. I wish you could have seen husband Christopher’s face when I said “Here is the deal….We either remove the Male Female check boxes completely or we have to add more. We would need to add Trans M, Trans F, Genderqueer and a lot more.”
Please note that Genderqueer was one of 56 gender identity options added to Facebook in February 2014.
And how much does it matter?
We have friends and clients that are amazing humans and we want to always do our best to make it safe and comfortable for them. I will admit that I may not be able to tell if someone is Trans. I am personally uncomfortable with expecting people to tell me some things by filling out a form. It isn’t that I am uncomfortable with it or that I don’t care. It is that I want to focus on doing mind blowing massage and bodywork sessions to humans. So thank you all for not noticing the absence of gender identification on our form.