TEMPLATE FOR THERAPISTS
Group Therapy Policies & Member Agreement
Group therapy documentation is one of the most underaddressed areas in private practice. Most clinicians hand new group members a one-page handout about confidentiality and call it informed consent. But group therapy introduces risks and responsibilities that individual therapy doesn't—vicarious trauma, shared confidentiality, dual relationships between members, the legal complexity of subpoenas that could expose an entire group. None of that belongs in a one-pager.
This template was built to cover it properly.
This is a comprehensive group therapy policies and member agreement designed to work across multiple group formats—closed or open enrollment, time-limited series or ongoing groups. It covers everything a member needs to understand before their first session, and everything a clinician needs documented before the group begins.
It opens with full facilitator disclosure—credentials, group-specific training, theoretical orientation, techniques that may be used, and self-disclosure approach—because members have a right to know who is leading the group and what clinical framework guides it. It includes a screening and fit section that establishes group participation as a clinically considered decision, not just an administrative one. And it includes a full member rights statement—which is an ASGW best practice requirement and missing from most group policy templates.
On confidentiality, it goes further than most. It addresses the honest truth that group confidentiality cannot be absolutely guaranteed—and says so plainly, rather than implying protections that don't exist. It covers group records and coordination of care, what happens when a subpoena could expose multiple members' protected information, and when observation or supervision applies. It includes a dedicated vicarious trauma section, because hearing others' disclosures is a clinically significant risk of group participation that clients deserve to understand before they agree to participate.
It also covers the things most group policies quietly skip: between-session contact with the facilitator, relationships between members outside the group, AI and recording prohibitions, online and social media boundaries for virtual groups, mandated or involuntary participation reporting requirements, minor client guardian consent, and what happens—clinically and practically—when a member leaves, a facilitator recommends transition, or the group is discontinued.
Every field is a red-bracketed placeholder. Teal clinician notes flag format-specific decisions throughout—closed versus open group, time-limited versus ongoing—so you keep only what applies and remove the rest.You're running groups with a one-page confidentiality handout and a verbal orientation—and you know that's not enough—and especially if any of these sound familiar:
You want members to understand what group confidentiality actually means—and what it can't guarantee—before they start disclosing
You've never had a written policy on members forming relationships outside the group, and then it became an issue
You work with court-ordered, employer-referred, or otherwise mandated participants and need documentation that covers what will and won't be reported
You want vicarious trauma named as a risk of participation before someone is activated by another member's disclosure and didn't know that was possible
You facilitate virtual groups and need explicit policies on recording, AI tools, camera expectations, and session link security
You work with minors in groups and need guardian consent language that accounts for the group confidentiality dynamic
You believe that a member who actually understands what they're agreeing to participates more meaningfully—and you want a document that reflects that
1. Download and open—The template is a .docx file. Open it in Microsoft Word or Google Docs.
2. Choose your group format first—Throughout the document, separate language is provided for closed and open groups, and for time-limited series and ongoing groups. Remove the sections that don't apply before filling in anything else.
3. Complete the group information block—Fill in group name, format, focus, meeting schedule, location or platform, facilitator details, and group size before sending to any member. Members should know exactly what they're signing up for.
4. Replace the red brackets—Fill in facilitator credentials, theoretical orientation, techniques, self-disclosure approach, contact information, payment details, and all other practice-specific fields throughout.
5. Review the teal notes—Teal clinician notes flag format-specific decisions, optional sections, and places where state law or your specific group structure requires a choice. Read every one. Delete all notes before finalizing.
6. Remove optional sections that don't apply—The minor clients section, mandated participation section, co-facilitation section, virtual group section, open group integration section, and supervisor observation section are all clearly marked optional. Keep what applies, remove what doesn't.
7. Remove the clinician instruction page—This must be removed before sending to group members.
8. Save as a PDF—When your edits are complete, save a final version as a PDF before sending to members or uploading to your EHR.
9. Have it reviewed—Before distributing to group members, have your final version reviewed by your licensing board, malpractice carrier, and/or a licensed attorney. Group therapy has specific ethical, legal, and billing considerations—including CPT code requirements and ASGW best practice standards—that vary by state and license type.
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