STAGE 1
Forming
- In the room
- Polite, careful, everyone watching you instead of each other. Long pauses.
- Your move
- Structure hard. State the aim, set the rules, run a low-risk opening round.
Practice guide · Dubai
Counselling group
workshops
Everything needed to design and run your first group: which format to pick, how the ninety minutes are spent, what the group does to you in week three, and who to screen out before it starts.
8–12
Members in a working group. Under 6 and one absence empties the room.
90 min
Long enough for a real exercise, short enough to hold attention.
6–8
Sessions in a closed series. Fixed dates, fixed members, paid up front.
2
Facilitators once you pass ten people. One leads, one watches the room.
On this page. Every tile is a link, in the PDF too.
01 · Choose the shape
Four formats, four jobs
These are not interchangeable. The format sets the group size, the length of the series, how much clinical risk you carry, and how much of the talking you do. Start at the top and move down as your supervision and experience build.
Format 1 of 4
Psychoeducational workshop
You teach one clearly bounded topic. Exam stress, sleep, parenting a teenager, anxiety at work. Members learn material and practise a little, and personal disclosure stays shallow by design.
Best first group. Lowest risk, easiest to fill, and a good funnel into your one-to-one practice.
- Group size10 to 20
- Length1 to 3 sessions
- You talk60 to 70%
- Screening depthLight
- Clinical risk
Format 2 of 4
Skills group
One skill per week, taught then rehearsed in the room, with a task to take away. Built on CBT, DBT or ACT material. The homework matters more than the teaching does.
Pick this when you want measurable change. Score members at session one and at the end.
- Group size8 to 12
- Length6 to 8 weeks
- You talk40 to 50%
- Screening depthModerate
- Clinical risk
Format 3 of 4
Support group
Members share one situation: bereavement, caring for a parent, a new diagnosis, first year of motherhood. You hold the frame and keep it safe. The members carry the content.
Recruit through a hospital, a school or a community centre rather than open advertising.
- Group size6 to 10
- Length8 weeks or ongoing
- You talk20 to 30%
- Screening depthModerate
- Clinical risk
Format 4 of 4
Process group
The group itself is the material. What happens between members in the room, as it happens, is the work. Deepest format and the hardest to hold.
Not a first group. It needs specific group training, weekly supervision, and ideally a co-facilitator.
- Group size6 to 8
- Length12 weeks or more
- You talk10 to 20%
- Screening depthDeep
- Clinical risk
02 · The session
Where ninety minutes go
Write the plan before session one and keep it the same every week. The repetition is doing work. Members settle faster when they know the shape, and that leaves their attention free for the material.
10m5m20m20m20m10m5m
0 – 10 min
Arrival and check-in
One round, one sentence each, no discussion yet. It moves people from the car park into the room and shows you who arrived heavy today.
“One word for how you have arrived this evening.”
10 – 15 min
Rules and today's aim
Thirty seconds on confidentiality, then name what this session covers. Short, and never skipped, because it is what makes the room safe enough to use.
“Same agreement as always. Tonight we are working on the thoughts that show up before sleep.”
15 – 35 min
Teach the idea
One idea, twenty minutes, concrete examples. No more than that. If you need a second idea, it belongs in a second session.
“This is the pattern. Watch where it starts.”
35 – 55 min
Exercise in pairs or threes
Members apply the idea to their own material in small groups. Move between the pairs, listen, say very little. The room gets loud and that is the sign it is working.
“In threes. Ten minutes each way. I will call the time.”
55 – 75 min
Back to the whole group
Take what surfaced in the pairs and work it in front of everyone. Watch airtime here. The same two people will fill it if you let them.
“Who found something they did not expect? Anyone who has not spoken yet.”
75 – 85 min
Takeaway and the task
One sentence each on what they are taking. Then one small task for the week, written down before they leave, not sent by message afterwards.
“Write the task on the card now. Bring the card back next week.”
85 – 90 min
Closing round
Go round once and close the room. The point is to check nobody is walking out still opened up. If someone is, hold them back for two minutes.
“One word to close. Sameera, stay behind a moment.”
03 · The arc
Five stages every group walks through
Tuckman mapped this in 1965 and it still holds. Week three feels like failure to new facilitators. It is not failure, it is storming, and a group that never storms never gets to the useful part.
STAGE 2
Storming
- In the room
- Someone dominates. Someone goes quiet. Someone questions the point of it. A drop-out.
- Your move
- Do not take it personally and do not smooth it over. Name what is happening and hold the frame.
STAGE 3
Norming
- In the room
- They answer each other instead of routing everything through you. Private jokes start.
- Your move
- Step back. Bounce questions aimed at you back to the group.
STAGE 4
Performing
- In the room
- Real disclosure, honest feedback between members, visible change. The useful weeks.
- Your move
- Light touch. Protect airtime so the quiet ones get their share.
STAGE 5
Adjourning
- In the room
- Endings stir up old losses. Attendance slips, or someone picks a fight.
- Your move
- Flag the ending two sessions ahead. Close with a proper ritual and hand out referrals.
04 · Safety
The contract and the gate
Read the six rules aloud in session one and put them on the consent form. The screening call is fifteen minutes per person and it is the single thing standing between you and a group that falls apart in week two.
Six ground rules
Read aloud, session one. Signed on the consent form.
- What is said here stays here. Names and stories do not leave the room.
- Confidentiality has limits. Risk to a member, a child or another person goes further, and you say so before anyone speaks.
- Speak from your own experience. Sentences start with "I".
- No advice unless it is asked for. Fixing each other stops the work.
- Arrive on time. A late entry cuts across the check-in round.
- "Pass" is a complete answer. Nobody is required to speak.
The screening call
Fifteen minutes, one to one, before anyone pays.
Take them in
- They want the group, rather than being sent by someone else
- They tolerate hearing difficult material from others
- Their goal matches what this group is for
- They commit to the dates, all of them
Refer out, then revisit
- Active suicidal risk or self-harm needing one-to-one containment
- Acute psychosis or untreated mania
- Substance dependence needing medical detox first
- Live domestic violence where safety planning comes before group work
- Anyone in crisis this week. A group is not a holding environment for acute risk
- Your own one-to-one client, into a process group. Think the dual role through with your supervisor first
Before you advertise a paid group in the UAE
Confirm with your regulator that your licence covers group work and confirm which title you are allowed to use in the advert. Community and school settings sit with the Community Development Authority, clinical practice inside a health facility sits with the health authority for your emirate. Rules differ by emirate and they change, so verify it directly rather than copying what another practice does. Carry professional indemnity cover for group work specifically.
05 · The mechanism
Why a group reaches what one to one cannot
Yalom named the forces doing the work. Knowing them changes how you run the room, because your job is to set these up rather than to deliver content.
Universality
"I thought it was only me." The single most common thing members report from session one.
Hope
Somebody four weeks ahead of them is visibly doing better. No explanation from you beats that.
Cohesion
Belonging to the group is itself the treatment. Protect it and attendance holds.
Altruism
Helping another member rebuilds self-worth faster than being helped does.
Interpersonal learning
Members repeat their outside patterns in the room, where you get to work with them live.
Information
Plain teaching, delivered once, to twelve people. The most efficient hour in your week.
06 · Fill the room
Recruiting the first group
A first group fails on numbers, not on skill. Fill it from people who already trust you, and set the money up so the group survives one drop-out.
Referral before advertising
Your own past clients, two GPs, a school counsellor, one HR contact. Six warm referrals beat sixty flyer views.
One flyer, one page
Who it is for in one line, the six dates, the price, how to apply. Test it on a colleague. If they cannot say who it is for in five seconds, rewrite it.
A waiting list, not a start date
Open applications first. Announce the start date only once you hold eight screened names. This is what stops you launching with four.
Price the series, not the session
Closed series, paid up front, one price. It sets the commitment, and it makes the drop-out maths work.
Find the break-even line
Room cost for the whole series plus your supervision, divided by six members. That is the floor. Price above it, so the group still stands if two people leave.
A deposit holds the chair
Take it at the screening call. Refund it only if you decline them.
Six weeks of lead time
Two to write and test the flyer, two to collect applications, two for screening calls. Book the room on day one.
07 · Hard moments
Six things that will happen
Every one of these turns up in the first two series. None of them is a sign the group is failing. Each has a move, and the move is the same every time.
MOMENT 1
The member who fills the room
- Your move
- Thank them, then turn to the room. “Who has not spoken yet?” If it repeats, name it privately after session two.
MOMENT 2
The member who never speaks
- Your move
- Do not call on them in front of everyone. The pairs exercise is where the quiet ones talk. A word at the door: “Good to have you here.”
MOMENT 3
Someone cries
- Your move
- Let it happen. Do not rush the tissues across the circle. “Take your time. We are here.” Then ask if they want to go on or pause.
MOMENT 4
A risk disclosure
- Your move
- Stop the round. Say you will speak with them at the end. Hold them back, assess, and act on your limits-of-confidentiality clause. Record it the same day.
MOMENT 5
Two members fall out
- Your move
- Slow it down. Ask each to say what they heard, not what they think. In a process group this is the material. In a skills group, park it and take both aside.
MOMENT 6
A missed second session
- Your move
- Message the same day, not a week later. One line: you were missed, the door is open. Two misses in a row means a phone call.
08 · Measure it
Know whether it worked
Two forms and a sentence. Score at session one and at the last session. It takes five minutes, and it is the difference between “people seemed to like it” and a result you can show a referrer.
One symptom scale, matched to the topic
GAD-7 for anxiety, PHQ-9 for low mood. Both are free and both take two minutes. Pick one, not both.
One wellbeing scale
The short Warwick-Edinburgh scale, seven items, catches change the symptom scales miss. Check its licence terms before you print it.
One rating every week
The four-line Session Rating Scale at the door. A drop of two points tells you before the drop-out does.
One sentence at the end
“What is different now, compared with week one?” Written, not spoken. Keep them. With permission, they become your next flyer.
Report three numbers
Average change on the symptom scale, attendance rate, and how many finished. That is your outcome letter to whoever referred.
Watch for the floor
A member who scores low at session one has nowhere to fall. Treat their wellbeing score as the measure instead.
09 · A worked series
Six weeks on anxiety at work
A sample skills group, so you can see the whole shape before you write your own. One idea a week, taught then rehearsed, with a task to carry out of the room. Swap the topic and the skeleton still holds.
W1
Map the pattern
Trigger, thought, body, action. Each member draws their own loop on one page.
Task: Log three episodes this week.W2
The body first
Breathing at six breaths a minute, grounding, and the ninety second rule for adrenaline.
Task: Two minutes, twice a day.W3
The thought
Catch it, write it, weigh it. The evidence table, done in pairs.
Task: One thought record a day.W4
Avoidance
What each member has stopped doing, ranked. The first step up the ladder.
Task: Do step one. Report back.W5
Values and the next step
What the anxiety is guarding. One value-driven action for the week.
Task: Do it, and write down what happened.W6
The plan and the ending
Each member writes their own relapse plan on one page. Closing round, feedback forms, referrals for anyone who needs more.
Task: Keep the plan somewhere you will see it.10 · Two in the room
Co-facilitation, and the screen
Past ten members you need a second pair of eyes. And once the group moves online, the room you were holding is now six kitchens and a car. Both need their own rules.
Running it with two
One leads the content, one watches the room.
- Fifteen minutes before, fifteen after. Every session. Before: who to watch tonight. After: what you each saw, and what goes to supervision.
- Agree the signals. A hand flat on the table means slow down. A glance means you take this one.
- Split the fees before session one. In writing, including what happens if one of you is ill.
- Swap roles on alternate weeks. Otherwise one of you becomes the teacher and the other the assistant, and the group reads it.
Running it online
Screens tire people faster than rooms.
- Cap it at eight, and seventy-five minutes.
- Cameras on is a ground rule, agreed at the screening call. A dark tile is an empty chair.
- Pairs become breakout rooms. Same ten minutes, and you visit each one.
- Ask where each person is sitting. A member in a shared kitchen cannot do confidentiality. Headphones, a closed door, a plan for interruptions.
- Hold a phone number for everyone. If a connection drops in a heavy moment, you call. You do not message.
11 · Launch
Ten things before session one
Work down the list. On the web page your ticks are saved in this browser, so close it and come back. On paper, tick with a pen.
0 of 10 done
Every session
Before
During
After
12 · Watch it done
Eighteen videos worth the time
Reading about a group only gets you so far. These are free to watch, and every link was checked on 19 September 2026. Start with the filmed Yalom groups, then the skills videos, then the theory.
Real groups, skills and theory
Outpatient group psychotherapy, filmedPsychotherapyNetA real outpatient group with Yalom. The closest thing to sitting in the room.
Inpatient group psychotherapy, filmedPsychotherapyNetThe inpatient version, where the membership changes every day.
Understanding group therapy: interview with Irvin YalomPsychotherapyNetYalom on why a group reaches what one to one cannot. Pairs with section 05.
11 therapeutic factors in group therapyDr Scott GiacomucciThe factors in section 05, taken one at a time.
Ten therapeutic factors, from Yalom and LeszczSean WatersA walk through the book every training list puts first.
Introduction to group counseling and Impact TherapyImpact TherapyEd Jacobs and Chris Schimmel, authors of the standard group skills text.
Group counseling: leadership skillsImpact TherapyCutting off, drawing out, holding the focus. The moves section 07 asks for.
Group counselling demonstrationElizabeth ThompsonA training demonstration group. Watch one before you run one.
Group counseling in addiction treatmentDr Jen JoyceWhat changes when members are sent rather than choosing to come.
Tuckman's five stages of group developmentLearn MedicineSection 03 in a few minutes.
Forming, storming, norming, performingThe Right QuestionsThe same model, aimed at anyone leading a group.
Getting help: psychotherapyCrashCourseWhere group and family therapy sit among the rest. Good for students.India: university lectures and Hindi explainers
MPCE-021 counselling psychology, live sessionIGNOU RC VijayawadaA full university counselling session, free to watch.
MPCE-023: insight as a counselling methodPsychologist Priya BhargavaFollows the IGNOU MAPC syllabus. Useful for UGC NET too.
Guidance and counselling: meaning and aspectsInculcate LearningAimed at B.Ed, M.Ed and UGC NET Education candidates.
Guidance and counselling: types and objectivesR2 Study PointWhere group guidance sits inside the B.Ed syllabus.
The counselling process, explained in HindiRuchika GargThe process end to end, in Hindi.
What is therapy and counselling? In HindiMANSA Mental Health & WellnessShort and plain. Good to send members before session one.YouTube links open in a new tab. In the PDF, tap the title.
13 · Where to train
Where this is taught, and to whom
Training bodies, university routes and free courses. The first list takes you from an introductory weekend to a qualification. The second is India, where several of the best options cost nothing. Every link was checked on 19 September 2026.
Worldwide
USAAmerican Group Psychotherapy AssociationRuns the Principles of Group Psychotherapy course and the CGP credential. The main route in North America.USAAssociation for Specialists in Group WorkSets the training standards and best practice guidelines most US counselling programmes follow.UKInstitute of Group AnalysisIntroductory weekend, Foundation Course, Diploma in Groupwork Practice, then the Qualifying Course.UKGroup Analysis NorthThe same IGA pathway delivered in the north of England.UKTavistock and PortmanGroup and organisational courses, from short CPD to masters level.UKAnna FreudChild and adolescent training. The right door if your groups are in schools.GlobalInternational Association for Group PsychotherapyCongresses and member bodies across the world. Use it to find your nearest society.USAAPA Division 49Society of Group Psychology and Group Psychotherapy. Research, journals and student resources.SchoolsASCA: the school counsellor and group counsellingThe position statement that says what a school should expect of you.SchoolsASCA On Air: the art of group counseling in schoolsMembers only, but the outline alone tells you what a school group must cover.TeachingUniversity at Buffalo: group counselling on videoA librarian's list of the training films used on counsellor education courses.TeachingPsychotherapy.netWhere the filmed Yalom groups come from. Widely licensed by universities.TeachingImpact TherapyEd Jacobs' free video page, plus workshop handouts and slides.
India
BengaluruNIMHANS, Clinical PsychologyGroup psychotherapy training sits inside the RCI recognised clinical psychology programme, Bengaluru.BengaluruNIMHANS, Psychiatric Social WorkGroup work in hospital and community settings, plus short training programmes.OnlineNIMHANS Digital AcademyOnline certificates, including lay counselling. Open to people who are not clinicians.Online, freeSWAYAM: counselling psychologyA free UGC course on the counselling process and its methods. Certificate exam optional.Online, freeNPTEL: mental health and wellbeingIIT Kanpur, free, written for students. A good first course for a teacher.Online, freeIGNOU GyandharaLive audio counselling sessions with IGNOU faculty. Free to join.RegulatorRehabilitation Council of IndiaCheck your qualification is registrable before you advertise a paid clinical group.NationalIndian Association of Clinical PsychologistsConferences, workshops and the professional network.Goa, Delhi, BiharSangathSchool and community group programmes in Goa, Delhi and Bihar, with published evidence.ReferralTele-MANASThe national mental health helpline. Your referral route when a member needs more than a group.
One check before you enrol
A certificate is not a licence. Whatever you train in, confirm separately with the regulator in your own emirate, state or country that your qualification lets you advertise and charge for a group, and that you may use the title you plan to print on the flyer.
Take it with you
The guide prints to 23 A4 pages with the dashboard links live inside the PDF. The checklist is one page, made to be printed and ticked with a pen.