How do you create a supportive and inclusive atmosphere within your group sessions?

Since healing cannot take place without the proper environment -- in fact the wrong environment can propagate harm -- many steps are taken in my groups to maintain it. I do an intake interview to anticipate potential issues (another DBT saying "there are no wrong clients, just wrong interventions" so some clients need something else other than group, or that particular group). We have group guidelines we review weekly to remind members about things like confidentiality and the importance of focusing on emotions. Probably most helpful are the skills themselves. One of the 4 main skill groups in DBT is Interpersonal Effectiveness, and the group is the laboratory to practice them before graduating into trying them out at home and elsewhere.