Many adolescent groups work best when they are structured around themes. Themes center around the genuine interests of participants. They hold group members' interest and invite their participation. Themes can vary from those that are serious. such as dealing with loss. to those that are pragmatic such as explaining how to lead a class discussion. Flexibility can be built into them structures, too. In a flexible theme format. the group decides week by week on the topic to be addressed Too much choice can result in the group becoming bogged down and members
losing interest. Therefore. limited flexibility is recommended. One way to achieve this goal is to have adolescents check of a list of interest/problems on which they would like to work.