Complaints Process
Scotlandtherapy Partners
Complaints Procedure
In the event of you having a complaint about the service, in the first instance please contact us directly so that we can try to remedy the situation. If you have not done this, your complaint may be rejected by the professional registrations.
In the emotional process of therapy it is possible for misunderstanding, transference, counter transference or processing to cause misunderstanding and the feeling of conflict.
Update 25.09.2025 (last: Update 26.10.2023)
Because this is a multi modality service, it is VITAL that any complaint is handled by the professional body best qualified to judge it. This is in the interests of the complainant, and us.
If you complaint to the wrong body, it will either be simply dismissed as outside their area of competence, or referred after a delay to the correct body. Alternately there may be a delay while the organisation attempts to locate professionals from outside itself and it’s staff to judge with competency.
For everyone’s sake it makes sense for the professional organisation with the best knowledge of the therapy combinations used, to judge the validity of any complaint!
Therefore for quick response, please allow us to signpost you to the correct organisation. This will not influence the decision making process.
Update 25.09.2025
The PSA have now tasked all PSA AR holding organisations to rule on adjunct therapies and therapies outside their scope of competency if required to do so by a complaint. In practice this means that if a complaint is made to an accredited register about a matter they do not cover (such as a complementary therapy matter being brought to a counselling register), that register is still supposed to arrange a complaints procedure by seeking external experts. They can refer to other accredited registers if the complained about person is registered with them, but not to a non AR professional body as might have been a natural response before. This makes it even more important that any complaint is made to the professional body most competent to handle that type of complaint in the first place (so counselling matters to a counselling body, complementary therapy matter to a complementary therapy body etc.) so that processing is neither completed by inappropriately skilled personnel, nor delayed while competent external staff are located. The only positive outcome of here is that gross malpractice such as theft from clients or inappropriate relationships with clients can be managed by part of the PSA AR system to ensure meaningful “striking off” of guilty parties, but this needs to be weighed against the real danger of the wrong people being asked to rule on complex and specific therapy matters.
Update additional 26.10.2023
PSA have made it an issue to discourage using “adjunct” therapies – in other words combining therapies. Integrating therapies is a natural and necessary process in clinical trauma work, as reflected in NICE guidelines. Therefore for all TRAUMA work, it is vital that the professional body the NACHP is contacted, and NOT a PSA AR, since the latter can not process your complaint.
Updated 2019 (update 1.3)
If the therapist identifies that an error has been made, under the CNHC duty of candour you will be contacted to be informed of the error, so that an apology can be offered and the matter can be resolved if possible. Under the CNHC code the insurer must be contacted before the client. This duty also encourages the practitioner to express regret and seek to resolve minor issues that are not of the type that would trigger a formal complaint as good practice.
1. This does not effect your statutory rights.
2. In making a complaint, please reference an exact breach of contract or code of ethical practice.
3. In making a complaint please state the therapy received, and the practitioner. Please state if clinical (named condition) or non clinical (personal development only with no named condition)
4. In making a complaint you understand and agree that confidential information will be shared with investigating parties.
5. Complaints must be either made by a client (or client guardian if under 16 years old or vulnerable), or concern a contract breach, or public protection issue to be valid.
6. You must state whether any other legal process has been initiated since this effects the professional body’s ability to act.
Stage 1
Please contact your practitioner to discuss the issue. Often issues arise within therapy that reflect emotionally charged situations, which, it handled correctly can be therapeutic.
If the practitioner and yourself can not resolve the situation, please detail your issue to the other partner for mediation (internal second opinion).
External second opinion is normally sought at the same time for verification from the clinical supervisor of the practitioner the complaint is made about.
Stage 2
The next stage of the complaints process is to contact the most senior and appropriate registration of the practitioner in question, detailing the breach of ethics or contract. This must be for the type of therapy offered, since different professional bodies cover different therapies. Organisations that do not deal with the therapy you received, or are only aware of those services as “adjunct therapies” will not be able to give you or us the best or most informed process.
This will be signposted to you by the practitioner and or the second opinion practitioner. Normally complaints are handled by one senior organisation, so as to avoid duplication and breach of “natural justice” (right not to be tested legally multiple times). This also increases speed of response for the complainant.
In the event of making a complaint to a professional body, their process will thenceforth be followed and deferred to by Scotlandtherapy.
Once a decision about any complaint is determined by the responsible therapy professional body, it is standard practice for that professional body to contact the other professional bodies effected by any decision. This particularly applies to professional bodies who have PSA Accredited registers themselves, or verify practitioners for a PSA AR.
Rest assured that that if a complaint is upheld, this will cascade throughout all professional bodies that apply.
Malicious complaints or flaming online will not be tolerated and will be responded to firmly but calmly. It is the nature of therapy provision that occasionally very upset people will project onto services that are not directly involved in their care. We empathise with this situation, but have a duty of care to ourselves and each other as partners and therefore will respond appropriately to malicious complaint. We also have insurance cover for handling defamation and slander.
We will also robustly defend any attempt to make a malicious complaint in order to avoid fees that are due, or to avoid or recoup payments that have been made according to contract.