The Family Wellness Engagement Brief

A first conversation should make the proposed advisory role easier to define. This original Family Wellness Office brief organizes the questions a family principal or professional introducer can bring to that discussion. It is a planning tool for an engagement conversation, not a request for clinical records.

Start with the role you want an advisor to carry. The family may already have capable treating professionals, longstanding counsel and a responsible fiduciary. The question is which continuing coordination responsibilities need a clear home, how that role would fit the existing circle, and what useful work should follow.

1. State the purpose in ordinary language

Describe the broad reason for the inquiry: planning ahead, an active care concern, a change in circumstances or a recurring coordination problem. Use the family’s own language. A list of diagnoses does not explain the practical role the family wants filled.

Write down one or two decisions that feel difficult to organize. For example, an advisor may need to help turn a provider recommendation into an appointment, keep agreed responsibilities clear during a transition, or prepare a review that leads to accepted actions.

2. Identify who is participating

Distinguish the person making the inquiry, the people who may participate in the proposed work and the existing professionals with relevant responsibilities. Record roles at this stage; a first introduction does not require a complete family history.

Individual goals belong in the discussion. A shared family plan can organize agreed support while allowing people to have different priorities. The proposed engagement should explain how those individual conversations and family-wide commitments will fit together.

3. Define the work and the expected record

A broad phrase such as ongoing support can cover very different work. Translate it into responsibilities: prepare a provider comparison, follow practical arrangements, organize agreed updates, maintain a transition plan or convene a recurring review.

Match each responsibility with a useful record. Provider diligence may produce an evidence file; a transition may need an arrangement register; a continuing mandate may need a charter and review agenda. Name the person expected to use that record and the decision it should support.

NIMH’s provider-finding guidance suggests preparing questions about experience, approach, expected duration, insurance and cost. Those questions support a provider conversation. They do not establish that an advisory engagement includes clinical treatment or that a particular provider has been selected.

4. Agree how information will move

Identify the intended recipients of each type of update and the practical reason they need it. Discuss the communication arrangements with the responsible professionals before exchanging care records. HHS’s mental and behavioral health guidance addresses provider information sharing with families and others; the circumstances and responsible roles matter.

For the initial business inquiry, a broad purpose and contact role are sufficient. Do not include care histories, identity documents or financial account information. A suitable channel for any records can be agreed as the engagement takes shape.

5. Set a review point

State what the first review should resolve: the initial scope, a provider-search decision, a transition arrangement or the next period of continuing work. Agree the participants, cadence, availability and fees in the actual engagement.

Keep proposed work separate from accepted responsibilities. Someone’s name on a draft plan does not mean that person has agreed to carry a task. Record acceptance and follow-through as the participating people confirm them.

Working brief

• Purpose of the inquiry and your role:
• People who may participate, described by role:
• Existing clinical, legal, fiduciary and family-office responsibilities:
• Two or three coordination tasks you want covered:
• The decision or working record each task should support:
• Information recipients and communication questions to resolve:
• Proposed first review point and questions about scope, availability and fees:

Print this page or save it as a PDF through your browser to work on the brief privately. The website has no form for this tool and does not store your answers.

Use the brief to begin

Bring the completed notes to the first discussion; send only your contact role and broad purpose in an initial email. Contact Family Wellness Office to discuss a proposed engagement. The continuing advisory scope guide and advisory role map can help prepare the responsibilities you want to discuss.