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The Group Guide
Connecting people to community
Client and Family Education
What to know about

End-of-Life and Palliative Care Groups

These groups bring together people living with serious, life-limiting illness who are facing the existential, psychological, and practical realities of advanced disease: meaning, legacy, fear of death, anticipatory grief, and the management of suffering. They come in two forms. Peer support and community groups, often through hospice and serious-illness organizations, offer connection and shared experience. Clinician-led therapy groups apply structured interventions built for this moment, most notably Meaning-Centered Group Psychotherapy and group adaptations of dignity therapy. Many are offered within the hospice or hospital to spare ill participants the burden of travel.

Who it's for, and who it's not

A fit for people cognitively intact and able to take part in group discussion.
Not suited to active delirium or severe cognitive impairment.
Individual palliative counseling is available for those who can't join a group.

What it's for

People with advanced cancer, heart failure, end-stage COPD, ALS, and similar.
For those seeking psychological support, meaning-making, or peer connection.
Some welcome family; others serve patients and caregivers separately.
What to expect
1Sessions run 60 to 90 minutes; peer groups are open and discussion-based.
2MCGP follows eight structured sessions on sources of meaning and legacy.
3Missed sessions are expected and accommodated for medical realities.

Meaning-Centered Group Psychotherapy has the strongest evidence here.

A pilot trial found MCGP significantly improved spiritual wellbeing, sense of meaning, and anxiety versus a supportive-therapy control.1
A full trial found MCGP improved meaning, wellbeing, and quality of life, and reduced hopelessness and desire for hastened death.2
Making the most of it
The unspoken can be spoken. Here, the fact of dying isn't off-limits.
No one will fix it. Fear, grief, and gratitude are allowed to coexist.
Hospice groups are covered. Medicare, Medicaid, and most plans include them.
Questions to ask before you join
1Is this open peer support or a structured program like MCGP?
2Does it welcome family members, or is it for patients only?
3Is it offered within hospice or hospital so I don't have to travel?

Ready to find a group?

Browse 2,000+ therapy and support groups in all 50 states.

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In crisis? Call or text 988 (US Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, 24/7).

The Group Guide is a directory, not a clinic. This handout is general education, not medical or mental health advice. Listings are written by group leaders and are not endorsements. Confirm details, cost, and fit with any group you contact. Sources on page 2.

The Group Guide
Connecting people to community
Client and Family Education

Sources

End-of-Life and Palliative Care Groups · references keyed to the numbers on page 1.

1Breitbart, W., Rosenfeld, B., Gibson, C., et al. Meaning-centered group psychotherapy for patients with advanced cancer: a pilot randomized controlled trial. Psycho-Oncology (2010), 19(1), 21–28.

2Breitbart, W., Rosenfeld, B., Pessin, H., et al. Meaning-centered group psychotherapy: an effective intervention for improving psychological well-being in patients with advanced cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology (2015), 33(7), 749–754.

In crisis? Call or text 988 (US Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, 24/7).

The Group Guide is a directory, not a clinic. This handout is general education, not medical or mental health advice. Listings are written by group leaders and are not endorsements. Confirm details, cost, and fit with any group you contact.