The purpose of the intake appointment was to have a conversation with the potential participants about their motivation to both attend the full year and suitability and safety to be part of group work.Many participants did not respond despite three reminders.

In Year 1 particularly, many who were referred, were too unwell to participate either mentally or physically with Long Covid. Some were expecting individual therapy or were unable to make the time commitment.

The reasons given for dropping out of the programme were moving away, preference for individual treatment or life too chaotic to turn up regularly to the sessions.

The education sessions were the foundation of the programme, therefore participants were required to attend the education sessions. The principles shared in these sessions were referred back to throughout the whole year, so it was crucial that all participants shared this basic understanding around the impacts of trauma and lifestyle interventions.

These sessions were also an opportunity to start to form connection with other participants. It was an important part of the creation of safety during the programme to have consistency with the room space, facilitators and group members.
Catch-up sessions were offered if these were missed. However, if participants missed more that 2 out of the 4 sessions and did not attend catch up sessions, they were not able to continue with the programme.