Intake & Move-in — First 72 Hours

A consistent intake process isn't just administrative — it's the other half of the same documentation discipline that matters at discharge. It's much easier to show a resident understood the rules and genuinely agreed to them if that moment was actually documented at the time, rather than assumed later.

Before move-in day

• Confirm the bed and house assignment.
• Confirm which move-in documents your program requires are ready to go — the Required Move-in Documents feature tracks exactly this, so nothing gets missed in the rush of an actual move-in day.
• Prepare the program agreement for e-signature so it's ready to sign on day one, not "sometime in the first week."

Day 1

• Walk through house rules in person — don't just hand over a document and assume it's been read.
• Cover chores, curfew, and emergency procedures as part of that same walkthrough.
• Introduce the new resident to current house members.
• Collect and verify move-in documents.
• If your program does a baseline drug test at intake, this is the moment to establish that starting point.
• If the resident will have portal access, walk them through what's actually there — Requests, Passes, Grievances, and (once they're eligible) the Alumni directory.

First week

• Set initial goals together rather than assigning them — the Goals feature works best when a resident actually chose what they're working toward.
• Record sponsor and home-group information if your program tracks that.
• Make the first chore assignment part of the existing rotation rather than a special one-off.
• Do a real first check-in — not just "how's it going," but a specific conversation about how the first few days actually went.

Why this is worth doing consistently, not just when it's convenient

The same principle that protects a discharge decision — specific, dated, behavior-based documentation instead of an assumption — applies just as much at the start of a stay. A signed agreement and a documented orientation are what let you show, later if it ever matters, that a resident understood the rules they're accountable to. Treat intake with the same care as discharge, because it's functionally the first entry in the same record.