Everything You Need to Know About Booking Group Therapy Appointments

For family counselors and group therapists who run book group therapy sessions, this article will discuss everything you need to know about booking group therapy appointments. 

Depending on whether you see families or counseling support groups, you may need the option for booking group therapy appointments. 

Group therapy appointments can be especially useful if you are treating multiple clients with the same presenting problem, or if you want to experiment with a different work schedule. 

SimplePractice’s recent software update includes a new groups feature, allowing counselors to schedule a maximum of 15 clients for a group therapy appointment. Useful for both in-person and virtual sessions, this addition helps counselors provide even more clients with treatment.

Keep reading for tips on how to book group therapy appointments and make the most of your group therapy sessions.

Pros and cons of group therapy appointments

Booking group therapy appointments offers several benefits to counselors, but it can have cons, particularly with unpredictable attendance, figuring out pay rates, and cumbersome documentation. 

Benefits of group appointments

One of the most notable benefits is that counselors are able to meet more clients within a shorter time frame. Rather than placing clients on a waitlist or needing to spread out their sessions because of a high caseload, counselors can meet clients more efficiently when scheduling group meetings. 

This type of service also helps counselors maximize their counseling and administrative hours. Instead of scheduling six one-hour individual appointments within the same day, for instance, counselors can book a single one-hour group therapy session with six clients.

Depending on the cost for group therapy, it’s possible for counselors to generate the same or more income with less sessions. 

Consider the outcome if you offer an 8-week therapy group at the cost of $50 per session, with 10 clients in attendance. If all group members attend every session, you will have accrued $4,000 within a two-month timeframe solely from this specific service.

Since most group therapy sessions last about 60 minutes and meet once weekly, it is likely that you will still have room for meeting individual clients or opening other group sessions. 

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Considerations before you book group therapy

Counselors who wish to offer group therapy appointments have an increased need to market their skills and services to a niche group of people. They must gain the buy-in of multiple clients who are deeply invested and committed to attend all sessions. Thus, despite the appeal of the example mentioned earlier, it is based on an assumption that all 10 clients are present for the entire duration of the group sessions.

If counselors intend to bill insurance for group therapy appointments, they must also be updated on the current pay rates of different insurance companies. For example, one client’s insurance plan may pay $60 for a group session, while another client’s plan will only pay $20. This difference in compensation can drastically lower the financial gains of group therapy and leave many counselors discouraged about offering group sessions.

Furthermore, counselors can become overburdened with documentation amidst scheduling group therapy appointments. If a counselor books three one-hour group therapy sessions weekly, with 10 clients in attendance at each group, they are responsible for completing 30 individual notes each week. 

If the counselor is billing insurance, these notes should contain insurance-specific details (i.e., session start/end time, client’s symptoms, and progress) and be completed efficiently.

Counselors can easily forget the additional time required for notes and documentation when scheduling multiple clients at a time. Besides adding more administrative time to counselors’ workloads, this oversight can also decrease the quality of clients’ medical records.

With SimplePractice, you can use custom progress notes templates to create a shared note for all clients or individual notes for each client. These can be signed all at once, simplifying the admin work you need to do. You’ll also be able to view the attendance status of each client. To help you reduce administrative work and save time, you can also use a single CPT code for group appointments.

Screening question examples for group therapy clients

Before starting a new support group and booking group therapy appointments, decide what type of clients you want to attract. 

While this is partly determined from your group’s focus, such as adolescents with anxiety or couples with grief, you also need to consider clients’ eligibility for group work. 

A client may be dealing with the problem you plan to address in group therapy, but this alone is insufficient criteria for welcoming them into the group. A more thorough screening process is needed to ensure that both the individual and group will benefit. 

Sample questions to ask when interviewing a potential group member include:

• Have you been part of a therapy, counseling, or support group before? What was your experience like?
• When someone disagrees with you, what is your response?
• Do you have a history of high-risk behavior (i.e., suicide attempts, self-harm, or violence towards others)?
• What do you hope to achieve by joining this group?

The answers you gain from asking these questions will help you make a confident decision about whether or not to add individuals to your group. 

For example, a client who acknowledges their tendency to yell at or berate others when they feel challenged is likely to show verbal aggression during group sessions. While interviewing this individual, you can clarify your expectations for group members’ communication or discuss options for 1:1 work instead. 

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Planning your group therapy appointments

Before advertising your new group therapy sessions, be clear about the details involved. 

Since you will be managing several clients at once, it’s particularly important to ensure that you are certain about why you are offering the group, how it will help those in attendance, and how it will profit your business. 

Answering the following questions ahead of time can help your therapy group be successful:

• What is the purpose of the support group?
• What is the age range of group members?
• What is the minimum and maximum number of group members needed?
• Will payments be collected using a self-pay or insurance billing rate?
• How long will each session be?
• Will the group be open (new members can join at any time) or closed (members must register by a certain date)?
• What is the start and end date of the group?

Additionally, it can be helpful to compose a group therapy outline ahead of time, which you can use during each session. These outlines should be loosely structured, allowing for flexibility in response to group members’ needs, yet firm in upholding the group’s purpose and ensuring all members have the chance to contribute. 

Group therapy outlines can also assist you with documentation; you can more easily detail the group’s focus and record members’ feedback. A solid group therapy outline includes the group’s title, areas of focus, and relevant resources.

A sample outline is given below:

• Group Name: Overcoming Anxiety
• Session Number: 1
• Group Title: Defining Anxiety
• Group Focus: The group will learn the definition of anxiety and discuss its impact on physical, mental, and emotional health.
• Resources: Group therapy icebreaker questions (For example: What is your favorite hobby? Where would you like to vacation?); Blank paper and pens for note-taking; Copies of the Introduction to Anxiety Worksheet or Anxiety Worksheets for clients.

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Steps for booking group therapy appointments

Once you feel set with the particulars of your group and have secured the necessary members, you can begin booking group therapy appointments. 

SimplePractice has made it extremely easy to book group therapy through their therapy scheduling software. 

Here’s how to book group therapy appointments in SimplePractice:

• Click the start date and time on the appointment calendar.
• Add existing or new clients to the group list.
• Enter a title for your group (i.e., Co-parenting Group).
• Check the box “Recurring” to set regular future group sessions.
• Choose service code 90853 or 90849 to assist with insurance billing.
• Click “Done.” 

Booking group therapy appointments on SimplePractice enables counselors to serve more clients and improve access to care. In a matter of seconds, counselors can now organize multiple clients into groups, send appointment reminders, and record group notes—all in one place.

How SimplePractice streamlines running your practice

SimplePractice is HIPAA-compliant practice management software with everything you need to run your practice built into the platform—from booking and scheduling to insurance and client billing.

If you’ve been considering switching to an EHR system, SimplePractice empowers you to streamline appointment bookings, reminders, and rescheduling and simplify the billing and coding process—so you get more time for the things that matter most to you.

Try SimplePractice free for 30 days. No credit card required.

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