| ACTO professional conduct guidelines Guidelines for Making a Complaint IMPORTANT
NOTE: The Acto Professional Conduct Panel, like those of other counselling
organisations, has no power to order any kind of financial compensation
from the therapist to the client. Their role would be to impose clinical sanctions
which may restrict the counsellor's practice and require the member to undertake
further training and/or supervision HOW TO MAKE A COMPLAINT Begin by sending an email to the Acto Professional Conduct Officer, saying that you wish to make a formal complaint. The Professional Conduct Officer (PCO) will respond by inviting you to write a full account of your complaint and will also inform your therapist that this is happening. From this point on, you and your therapist should have no direct contact with each other. You will need to show which of the clauses in the Acto Code of Ethics you think your therapist has broken and supply evidence (e.g. copies of emails). You will have 10 working days in which to do this. The PCO will acknowledge this and will then send a copy of your complaint to your therapist, inviting them to send a written response. This response will also have to be received by the PCO within 10 working days and you will receive a copy of it. After this point no new evidence may be submitted other than in exceptional circumstances. Once a complaint is under way it is the responsibility of both therapist and complainant to keep the PCO fully informed of any periods when they know they will be out of internet contact and unable to respond to emails within the stated time limits STAGES OF THE COMPLAINT PROCEDURE Mediation The next step, mediation, is compulsory if the Complainant wishes their complaint to be taken forward. The steps in this process are as follows: The PCO will identify a suitable Mediator who will then manage the mediation process, contacting both parties to explain how it will proceed. 10 working days are allowed to arrange this. At the end of the process the Mediator will write a report of the outcome and send this to the Complainant and Respondent with a copy to the PCO. If the mediation is successful the matter will be closed If the mediation does not resolve the issue the Complainant will be offered the opportunity to take the complaint to a Formal Hearing. Professional Conduct Hearing The Professional Conduct Officer will appoint two other people, both therapists, with whom to form a Panel which will look at your complaint and at your therapist's response and come to a decision as to whether the complaint is valid and can be upheld. They will have 5 working days in which to read the submissions and make their decision Decision The decision will be in the form of a Report which will be sent to you and to your therapist within 3 working days of making their decision. If the Panel decides that your complaint cannot be upheld, they will write to this effect to you and to your therapist. You cannot appeal against this decision. If the Panel decides that the complaint is valid and can be upheld they will decide what sanctions to impose upon your therapist and these will be stated in the Report. You are required to respond to the Report within 5 working days If
you have any questions about this procedure, please address them to the PCO. |
