How I Run a Smooth 40-Minute Intake in My Practice (My Actual Structure)
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[00:00:00] If your first sessions feel rushed, scattered, or like you're constantly checking the clock, it's not because you're failing as a dietitian, it's because the session didn't have a strong enough spine. Most dietitians, like you don't struggle with knowledge, but you might struggle with flow, and when the flow isn't clear, everything can feel harder.
And the client often talks in circles and you end up over educating and you lose time, and then you second guess how to close the session. This is all so common and it shows up a lot in sessions with my business coaching clients. So today I'm showing you the exact 40 minute intake structure that I use in my practice with clients.
So this is not a textbook version, and it's not a perfect [00:01:00] session fantasy either. The real structure that keeps sessions calm and focused and clinically effective, even when a client is overwhelmed, needs to be modified by you. So whatever approach. You modify that works best for your personality and your brand.
I hope you can take from this some bits and pieces and adopt them to your framework. So this episode is specifically for you. If you've ever felt like during a first session with a new client, if you've ever left thinking I helped, but it felt a little messy. So why? For sessions with new clients, feel chaotic.
So here's what most dietitians are taught implicitly or explicitly. We're taught to cover everything. And I hear it. I hear it through my peers, I hear it with my clients. You wanna be thorough, you wanna fix the whole picture. You wanna offer 90 minute sessions and you know, you enter the session trying to [00:02:00] gather every detail and educate about.
Everything and solve three months of problems in one hour, sometimes an hour and a half. And the result is that a client can often feel flooded and then you feel drained and neither one of you feels very clear. So clarity doesn't come from more information despite thinking that it comes from structure and the structure isn't restrictive, it's actually protective.
Structure allows your clinical brain to do its job without drowning in noise. So what the structure really does is the flow, doesn't just organize time. It establishes leadership and it's really important that you set the tone. So it lets the client, the structure is gonna tell the client that you're hands and that the session has direction and intention.
And we're not all panicking our way through your health. And for you, it creates [00:03:00] confidence, consistency, and repeatable excellence. And we all want that. So you're no longer winging it. You're guiding. And in my 40 minute intake flow, I walk you through the actual skeleton of my session and it isn't rigid.
It's structured flexibility. So in the first five minutes of opening, there's also a container, right? I keep this contained. It's where the leadership begins. So instead of diving straight into data or complaint lists, I set expectations first, and I make sure to follow this framework. Every single first session, I say something similar to here's how today will go and what to expect.
We'll spend some time understanding what's feeling challenging right now. We're gonna focus on one clear priority and leave with something actionable for the week ahead. So what does that do? It does three things. It reduces client anxiety and it creates psychological safety, and it signals that I'm guiding the session.[00:04:00]
We're not wandering, we're moving with intention, and this is also where the tone, pace, and trust are set. So in minutes five through 15, that's when you're gonna clarify the real problem. Not in the first five minutes, the first five to 15 minutes. So most clients come in with surface complaints, right? Oh, I'm fatigue, weight, frustration, everything feels off.
And your job is not to chase. Every symptom is tempting as it might be. It's to uncover the core pattern underneath those surface complaints. So I use guided questions like what feels hardest now? Or when does this feel most out of control? If one thing improved, what would matter most? And this is where the session either becomes reactive or strategic.
So I'm listening for patterns, not just facts. I'm looking for signals, not just stories. And that is clinical leadership. In minutes 15 through [00:05:00] 30, it's one focus and one action. So here's where many dietitians sabotage their own effectiveness. You give five recommendations, multiple goals, and full nutrition lectures.
I have to admit, I've been guilty of this myself, but behavior change doesn't grow from overwhelm, it grows from precision. So. I've learned to choose one focus, not because the rest doesn't matter, but because sequencing matters. So we identify one realistic shift that aligns with the client's capacity, something doable, something confidence building.
And I explain why clearly not as a lecture, but is context. And this is where clients start to feel capable instead of broken. In the last 10 minutes, minutes 30 through 40, that's when the closing and rebooking happens. And this is not a rushed afterthought. It's where continuity is created. So we [00:06:00] reinforce what we're focusing on, why it matters and what we're building next.
And then I confidently guide rebooking. It's not awkward and it's not a question with clarity. I say, today we focused on this. Next time we'll build on it. Let's go ahead and get your next session scheduled. How does X time and X date sound in two weeks from now? And this signals professionalism and stability.
And if you ask them and give them an option and say, when do you wanna meet? How does that sound? Then you are no longer taking that clinical leadership reign. You are passing it off to them. And when is the last time that the doctor, when you went to the doctor, they told you, when do you wanna come back?
They usually tell you, come back on X time. So in this case, we are the leaders and we need to let them know we suggest X time. Now, I know this can depend on their benefits, but take this idea as a concept. And think about how it can mold into your practice. Again, rebooking is not a question. It's just [00:07:00] something that you do.
Now how AI supports the structure. AI charting, as you probably know, is something I'm a big fan of. I talk about it often. It's something that I do and I teach and I've shown demonstrations on my YouTube channel. It's helped me stay more focused in real time, and it also helps my clients spend less mental energy trying to remember every detail later, so it creates that workflow and that structure.
For you in session and in your practice. And it supports cleaner documentation and it lets me stay more present during the actual session, which improves clinical quality and it's gonna reduce overall burnout. Oh, I also use AI to review when sessions drift and identify any missed patterns and define pacing over time.
So I do love AI charting so that I can look back at transcripts and identify patterns. And again, transcripts are not, as, you know, depending on the software, they're not stored long term, but they can right after a session, help you identify clinical precision on your end. [00:08:00] And that does sharpen my clinical thinking instead of diluting it.
And that's what I teach our clients how to do as well, so that they can improve their skills and really preserve any burnout. So maybe you're thinking, well, why does this matter for your practice? So when your first session with a new client has flow, your clients are gonna trust you faster. Your retention will improve, which helps you grow your business and your outcomes will strengthen, which is ultimately why we do what we do.
We wanna help our clients. Ultimately, your mental energy is protected and that's important 'cause you gotta wake up and do it all over again. So you stop feeling like you're performing right, and you start feeling like you're leading. That feels really good. And this is the difference between checklist, counseling and clinical excellence.
As dietitians, we wanna shift towards clinical excellence. We do that with the structure. If you want help building this type of structure in your own sessions, I invite you to join the dietitian Boss Library where I walk you through real session simulations, breakdowns and [00:09:00] practice tools to strengthen your clinical flow and confidence.
Everything is built to help you move from chaos sessions to calm clinical leadership, and you can explore that at your own pace inside of the library [email protected]. And if you want direct feedback on your sessions and structure, my coaching supports focus on tightening your flow, strengthening your skills, and overall helping you lead sessions and grow your business with confidence so that you can remove the stress and uncertainty.
Your intake doesn't need to be perfect, but it does need to be intentional. And structure doesn't take your personality away. It amplifies your expertise. So this 40 minute flow is not about control, it's about clarity. And clarity is what turns a good dietitian into a trusted clinical leader. We'll see you next week.
