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Setting Up Group Services with Practice Better

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Practice Better lets you run group classes and sessions alongside your one-on-one services, from setting up the service and its availability to keeping your calendar accurate as sessions get scheduled, confirmed, edited, or removed. This article covers building and maintaining a Group Service. 

In this article:

Before You Begin

A few things work differently with Group Services than with one-on-one services. Knowing these upfront will save you a support ticket later.

Group Services also connect to a few other parts of Practice Better in ways worth knowing before you start:

Creating a Group Service

  1. Go to My Practice > My Services.
     
  2. Click the Fast Action Button in the bottom-right corner, then select Add Service. Choose Group Class/Service from the options provided.

     
  3. Enter your service details:
    • Provide a service name.
    • Specify the duration and fee.
       
  4. In the Group Options section, set a default attendee limit for each session. You can adjust this limit on a per-session basis later.

     
  5. Configure other details of your group service and click Save near the top-right. 

✅ All set! Your Group Service is created and ready for availability setup.

Setting Up an Online/Telehealth Group Service

Practice Better's native telehealth currently supports one-on-one sessions only. To run a group session online, you'll need Zoom.

  1. Link your Zoom account: Make sure your Zoom account is linked to Practice Better. Learn more about Using Zoom for Telehealth →
     
  2. Select Zoom: Choose Zoom from the Telehealth application dropdown when setting up your group service.

📍 Note: Zoom generates one shared meeting link for the entire group session. Every registered attendee receives the same link in their confirmation email and Client Portal, rather than a unique link per person.

Setting Up Group Session Availability

After creating your service, set up availability so clients (or you, on their behalf) can schedule sessions.

  1. Go to My Schedule > My Availability.
     
  2. Click a time on the calendar, or click the Fast Action Button in the bottom-right corner.
     
  3. Select Group Class/Service in the pop-up.

     
  4. Choose your group service from the Select service dropdown.
     
  5. After selecting your group service in the availability popup, configure the other options:
    • Restrict to..: Choose how this session can be conducted (in-person, by phone, or online/video chat).
    • Time zone: Defaults to your account time zone, but can be adjusted if you're traveling or working remotely.
    • Start time: The end time calculates automatically based on your service's duration.
    • Date: The date this availability slot begins.
    • This time slot recurs: Enable this if you want the slot to repeat daily, weekly, or monthly. See Setting Up Recurring Group Sessions below.
       
  6. Click Save.

📍 Note: You can only assign one service per group availability slot. If you run multiple sessions in a day (for example, at 9 AM and 3 PM), create a separate availability slot for each time. The length of the availability slot matches the duration of your group service.

Setting Up Recurring Group Sessions

  1. In the Add/Edit Availability pop-up, enable This time slot recurs.

     
  2. Choose to recur daily, weekly, or monthly, and specify which days of the week the session is available (for example, every week on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday).

     
  3. Click Save. Your recurring availability will appear on your availability calendar going forward.

Understanding Buffer Time for Group Sessions

When confirming a group session, you'll see an option to Add buffer time before or after session. This reserves extra time immediately before and/or after that specific session so nothing else can be booked directly adjacent to it, useful for room setup, or wrapping up notes between a group session and whatever comes next on your calendar.

You can set Before session and After session buffer independently, choosing from: None, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 60 minutes, 75 minutes, 90 minutes, 2 hours, or 3 hours.

💡 Tip: This buffer applies to the individual session you're confirming. It's separate from the global buffer time setting for events synced from external calendars, which you'll find under Booking & Cancellation Settings →

Editing or Deleting a Group Service After Sessions Exist

You can update a Group Service's name, fee, or enrollment limit at any time. Editing the service itself does not change any sessions that have already been scheduled or confirmed.

If you no longer need a Group Service, you can delete it from My Practice > My Services using the More Options menu (3 dots) next to the service, then selecting Delete.

⚠️ Important: Deleting a service will not affect previously booked sessions. You can restore a deleted service within our data retention period. Learn more about Archiving and Restoring Deleted Resources →

Continue setting up your group services

If you run into anything unexpected while setting up group sessions, our support team is happy to help you troubleshoot.

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