During group therapy, a participant makes sexually inappropriate comments. What is the immediate action?

• A. Report to supervisor
• B. Continue group with monitoring
• C. Remove them from group, try to find out why they are doing behaviors
• D. Ignore the behavior

Answer: (C)

When a participant makes sexually inappropriate comments in a group, safety and boundaries have to be addressed immediately. The first step is to remove the person from the group to stop the behavior from affecting others and to clearly signal that such comments are not acceptable. This protects group members and buys you time to assess the situation, set firm boundaries, and decide on the next steps with appropriate supervision. After the immediate removal, you would typically consult with a supervisor to determine how to proceed, which may include exploring motives in a subsequent session or individual work and deciding whether the participant can rejoin the group under clear guidelines. Continuing the group with monitoring or ignoring the behavior would fail to uphold safety and boundaries, making removal the necessary initial action.