DA Form 4856, Developmental Counseling Form

What is DA Form 4856?

DA Form 4856 is the Developmental Counseling Form, a form of the United States Army that the Army Publishing Directorate publishes. Under its title the form prints: "For use of this form, see ATP 6-22.1; the proponent agency is TRADOC." The blank on this page is the edition marked "DA FORM 4856, MAR 2023". The form prints "PREVIOUS EDITIONS ARE OBSOLETE."

What is on the form?

After its title the form prints a Privacy Act statement, which says: "Disclosure is voluntary." Four parts follow.

• "PART I - ADMINISTRATIVE DATA": the name, the rank or grade, the date of counseling, the organization, and the name and title of the counselor.
• "PART II - BACKGROUND INFORMATION": the purpose of counseling, the approach ("Non Directive", "Combined" or "Directive") and the type of counseling ("General Form", "Professional Growth", "Performance" or "Event Oriented"). Of the purpose the form says: "Leader states the reason for the counseling, e.g. Performance/Professional/Event-Oriented counseling, and include the leader's facts and observations prior to the counseling."
• "PART III - SUMMARY OF COUNSELING", with the instruction "Complete this section during or immediately subsequent to counseling." It holds the key points of the discussion, the plan of action, the session closing and the leader's responsibilities. Of the plan of action the form says: "The actions must be specific enough to modify or maintain the subordinate's behavior and include a specified time line for implementation and assessment (Part IV below)." In the session closing the individual counseled marks "I agree" or "disagree" and may add remarks. The individual counseled and the counselor each sign and date this part.
• "PART IV - ASSESSMENT OF THE PLAN OF ACTION". The form says of the assessment: "This section is completed by both the leader and the individual counseled and provides useful information for follow-up counseling." The counselor and the individual counseled sign it, and the date of the assessment is entered.

What does the form say about keeping it?

Under "OTHER INSTRUCTIONS" the form says: "This form will be destroyed upon: reassignment (other than rehabilitative transfers), separation at ETS, or upon retirement. For separation requirements and notification of loss of benefits/consequences see local directives and AR 635-200." The last note on the form reads: "Note: Both the counselor and the individual counseled should retain a record of the counseling."

About the blank on this page

The Army Publishing Directorate publishes DA Form 4856 as an interactive PDF file whose layout changes with the type of counseling chosen. The blank on this page is a print layout of that file prepared for this site, as the file shows it for the choice "General Form": two pages, marked "DA FORM 4856, MAR 2023" and "APD AEM v2.00ES". It has no fill-in fields of its own, and nothing in it changes with a choice: the layouts of the other three types of counseling are not part of it.

The Directorate lists the form on the product page of DA FORM 4856.