Create a safe, nurturing environment for your group. When one person is speaking, there are to be no interruptions or cross-talk. Keep an open, nonjudgmental mind. Be certain that everyone understands that anything that is said is strictly confidential. People must feel safe.
Meetings generally last about two hours.
Tell the group members that their homework for the week is to read the next chapter and see how it applies to their lives. Open the next week with this discussion. I have been symptom free until recently. I am a single working mother of two children, two seriously ill parents, and a seriously ill boss. I know that stress can relate to colitis, but there must be an underlying emotional pattern that causes this lifelong problem.