Complaints
Working to avoid the need for complaints
Counselling depends on the willingness of students to place a high level of trust in the counsellor, Student Services, the University and the counselling profession. It is our aim to do all that we can to justify your trust. We do so by carefully selecting counselling staff for their professional competence and trustworthiness, and by supporting them through independent supervision and continuing development opportunities. We try to be as open as possible about how we work, especially through written policies and publicly available information. We hold individual and corporate membership of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, and are committed to their Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling Psychotherapy. By inviting service evaluation from all students who come for counselling, we aim constantly to improve the way we work.
If we hope that these means will be sufficient to maintain high quality in the counselling service, we recognise also that informal and formal complaints procedures are a necessary additional element to protect counselling clients in case they are not satisfied with some aspect of the service. This document aims to spell out how you may complain.
How you may go about making a complaint
Complaining within the University
If you are unhappy about some aspect of the counselling service you should, if possible, raise your concern first with the counsellor you have been seeing. She/he will do her best to address your complaint.
However, for obvious reasons, you may not always feel able to complain directly to the counsellor. In that case, you should ask for an appointment with, or write to Maeve Cowper, Director of Student Services, who will consider your complaint in confidence, following the same principles as are outlined in the confidentiality policy.
If you still remain unsatisfied, you should follow the University complaints procedure as it is described in the student handbook.
Complaining to the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy
The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy operates a formal complaints procedure in relation to its Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling Psychotherapy. Their recommendation is that you first try to resolve the issue within the university. But if you are unable to do so to your satisfaction, you can contact the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy Professional Conduct Section, who will guide you regarding their formal Complaints Procedure. More information can be found in the Ethical Framework for Good Practice. See the Section entitled "Professional Conduct Procedure."
The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy can be contacted at:
British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy,
Professional Conduct Section, BACP House,
BACP House,
15 St John's Business Park,
Lutterworth
LE17 4HB17
E-mail:professionalconduct@bacp.co.uk
Telephone: 01455 883300
More information from BACP