Thanks for your reply. lizardlady.! Yes, circles of trust are always formal groups. There's no coming-&-going as people see fit. A circle of trust is a group that commits to meeting for a specific period of time. Of course there's no way to, nor would anyone want to try to, prevent someone from quitting if that's what they want to do. And also, while the group is meeting, if a member needs to take a "time-out" for awhile during the meeting, this is perfectly okay. However, based on my understanding of the process, I don't believe there would ever be a circumstance wherein people would simply be allowed to just show up as is sometimes done in support groups.