How do I get clients to join my groups?

Описание: In this week’s OTGrow video, Louise Fouché answers a common (and very real) facilitation question: How do I get clients to join my groups—especially when attendance is voluntary? Drawing from OTGrow’s training and practical inpatient experience, she shares three grounded strategies that help you move from “dragging people to group” to creating a space that people choose to return to—because it feels valuable, relevant, and connected.

🧠 Key ideas you’ll learn
Why group cohesion is one of your strongest “engagement tools” (and how it starts doing the work for you after the first few sessions)
How word-of-mouth grows naturally when clients experience real shifts—and how MDT buy-in follows quality group outcomes
The “crux” of voluntary attendance: helping clients understand the value of the group for their needs, using assessment-informed language
How to link group participation to occupational performance outcomes, with social participation as a core focus

🛠️ Try this in your next group
Invest upfront: Put extra intention into your first 2–3 groups to build safety, voice, and belonging.
Use assessment as your invitation: Name what you saw in assessment and explicitly connect it to how the group will address it.
Recruit through relevance: Explain the “why” in practical terms: what changes when you attend? what improves in daily life?
Bring the MDT along: Share outcomes and shifts you’re seeing so referrals start to flow more naturally.

📌 Mentioned in the video
OTGrow’s Step Out Programme (for those building or improving outpatient groups and attendance).

💬 Question for you
What’s the biggest barrier to attendance in your setting right now—motivation, anxiety, timing, group culture, or unclear value?

👍 If this helped, like, subscribe, and share with someone facilitating groups in mental health or inpatient settings.