Informed consent form.
The document that says what your coaching actually is, what it is not, and where your remit ends. Describe the coaching, set how you communicate and how fast you reply, then print it or save it as a PDF for signing. Free and no sign-up. Almost every coaching dispute starts as a mismatched expectation, and this is the page that removes them.
Describe the method, not the outcome. What you will do is a promise you can keep; what the scale says is not.
what the client is agreeing to
Describe the coaching to see the summary your client will read.
This page and the form it produces are a starter template and general information, not legal or medical advice. What a coach may and may not advise on differs by country and by certification. Check your own scope of practice and insurance, and have a qualified adviser review this before you rely on it.
after the print
If a document like this goes out to every client, the rebuilding is the part worth retiring: in Coachway, forms, programs and meal plans live in the client app - sent, filled in and stored per client, no printer involved.
see inside CoachwayWhat informed consent covers, and why coaches use it.
Informed consent in coaching is not a medical formality and you are not consenting anybody to treatment. It is a plain statement of what the client has actually bought: how the coaching works, how often you speak, how quickly you reply, what results can honestly be expected, and the point at which a question stops being a coaching question and becomes one for a doctor, a dietitian or a therapist. Signing it means the client understood all of that before they started rather than discovering it in month three.
It is the third of the three documents a careful intake collects, and it is the one most coaches skip. The PAR-Q establishes whether it is safe for someone to start. The liability waiver establishes that they accept the risk of taking part. This one establishes that they understand what they are taking part in. For how the three fit together, we cover the full set in the guide to waivers, PAR-Q and informed consent.
The five things worth writing down.
Every one of these exists because coaches keep having the same conversation at the wrong moment. Written down before the first session, each takes a sentence. Discovered in month three, each takes an argument.
1. the method, not the outcome
Say what you will do: a plan updated on a schedule, a check-in reviewed each week, feedback inside a stated window. Those are promises you control. What the client's body does is not.
2. no guaranteed results
State plainly that outcomes depend on adherence, sleep, stress, health history and circumstance, and that nothing here is a guarantee. A promised result is the hardest complaint to answer, and in many countries it also breaches advertising rules.
3. where your scope ends
A coach does not diagnose, treat or prescribe, and does not provide medical, physiotherapy, dietetic or psychological care. Naming that protects the client first and you second, and it makes the referral conversation ordinary rather than awkward.
4. when you will refer out
Say in advance that some things go to a professional: a suspected injury, disordered eating, pregnancy, chronic pain, a mental-health concern, anything they are already under care for. Agreeing to it up front makes it a normal step rather than a rejection.
5. how you communicate
Name the channel and the response time. Most "my coach ignored me" complaints are really a client who assumed instant replies and a coach who meant working days. One sentence removes it entirely.
and the quiet one
Confidentiality and its limits. Clients tell coaches a great deal. Say what you keep, why, and the narrow circumstances in which you would have to share something, such as a genuine risk to someone's safety.
Send it with the other two, before session one.
Fill in the fields above, print the sheet or save it as a PDF, and send it as part of the intake pack rather than on its own. The three documents are quick to complete together and awkward to chase separately, and a client who receives all of them at once reads them as professionalism rather than paperwork.
Then actually use it. Consent is not really a signature, it is a conversation you can point back to. When a client later asks you to comment on their medication or a persistent pain, the useful thing is not the file, it is that you both already agreed this is the moment you refer out. If your onboarding needs the rest of the sequence, the client onboarding checklist covers the steps around it, and the coaching contract handles the commercial side.
In Coachway you can build all three as required intake forms the client completes in their app before they are marked active, so nobody starts training without having read what they agreed to, and the signed record sits in the client file rather than in a chat thread.
Frequently asked questions.
What is an informed consent form in coaching?
It is a short document that sets out what the client is actually signing up for: how the coaching works, what it can and cannot do, where your remit as a coach ends, and what happens to their information. It answers a different question from the other two intake forms. A PAR-Q asks whether it is safe for this person to start, a liability waiver asks whether they accept the risk of taking part, and informed consent asks whether they understand what they have bought. Most disputes in coaching come from mismatched expectations, which is exactly what this document prevents.
Do coaches really need one, or is that a medical thing?
The term comes from healthcare, but the idea is plain and it applies to any service where the client is trusting your judgement. You are not obtaining consent to treat anybody, because coaching is not treatment. You are writing down what the service is, what results can honestly be expected, what falls outside your scope, and when you will refer someone to a professional instead. Certifying bodies increasingly expect coaches to define scope in writing, and it is the single easiest way to stop scope creep before it starts.
What is the difference between this and a coaching contract?
A contract governs the commercial relationship: price, term, payment schedule, cancellation and notice. Informed consent governs understanding: what the coaching involves, its limits, and what the client can expect. Coaches commonly use both because they fail in different ways. A contract dispute is about money. A consent dispute is about someone believing they were promised an outcome, or believing their coach was qualified to advise on something they were not.
Can I promise results if the client follows the plan?
No, and putting it in writing is the mistake this document exists to prevent. Results depend on adherence, sleep, stress, genetics, medical history, life circumstances and plain luck, most of which neither of you controls. Guaranteeing an outcome is the fastest route to a complaint you cannot defend, and in many countries it also strays into advertising rules about unsubstantiated claims. Describe the process honestly, say what typically happens, and say plainly that it is not a guarantee.
When should a coach refer a client to someone else?
Whenever the thing in front of you is outside what a coach is trained and insured to do. Disordered eating, a suspected injury, pregnancy, chronic pain, a mental-health concern, medication questions, or any condition the client is under care for all belong with an appropriate professional. Referring out is not a failure and it is not losing a client. Writing down in advance that you will do it makes the moment far easier, because the client already agreed that this is how you work.
How should the signed consent be stored?
With the other intake documents, in the client record, somewhere private and access-controlled where you could still find it years later. It carries the client name and often health-adjacent detail, so treat it as personal data: keep it only as long as you have a reason to, and be able to tell the client what you hold if they ask. A signed PDF in a client folder in your coaching platform or on a locked drive is fine; a shared inbox or an open drive link is not.
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