Goal

Session number 21 will be used to close the group properly. The experience of sharing a program for 20 weeks usually creates strong bonds between patients, and between the patients and the group as a whole, so that for them the act of closure has a strong emotional value.

Procedure

• We can use the first half hour to resolve any doubts about the material from previous sessions.

• The next step is to ask the group how they believe their participation in the program has changed their behavior or way of thinking with respect to various areas:

– Awareness of the disorder.

– Need for treatment.

– Detection of symptoms.

– Suicidal thinking.

– How to explain the disorder to friends and acquaintances.

– How to structure time.

– Taking toxic substances.

• This point is especially important because, on the one hand, it allows us to make some kind of evaluation of the subjective benefit to our patients, and on the other hand it allows us to establish some content.

• The next step is to ask the patients to evaluate the program. This can be done as follows:

Session 21

“Between the time we started this type of program 10-years ago and the present, we think we have done a great deal to improve its quality. This is largely because two of us professionals now have more experience, but even more because of the changes we have incorporated following your comments and suggestions.