Assess potential members' ability and style in communicating their feelings, their insight about their problems, and their desire to change their life situation. Consider the individuals' pattern of handling aggressive impulses. The group may not provide the containment necessary to prevent aggressive behaviors from escalating and endangering others. Whatever the setting, the important element is that members have accessibility. A place that is difficult to find, or physically hard to reach creates undue challenges and can decrease motivation to attend the sessions.
Safety is another important factor.
Always ensure that a telephone is within reach for emergencies and, whenever possible, know whether building security or other back-up assistance is available. Frequency of meetings . Frequency of group meetings is typically once weekly for one to 1 hours, depending on the size of the group. In such groups, one hour of psychotherapy may be followed by one hour of socialization activity. The first important therapy group goal is to identify group rules and expectations.