PINK THERAPY – COMPLAINTS POLICY

Make A Complaint About Pink Therapy

As an organisation strongly made of the LGBTQ+, with deep roots of living and working in our community, it is important to us to stay open to feedback, especially when things haven’t lived up to the standards we set for ourselves. We recognise the trust and faith placed in us as an organisation, and hope to always earn and uphold this.

Our Mission
To improve mental healthcare for the LGBTQ+ community, through three pillars;
Improving Provision.
Improving Access.
Improving Standards.

Our Values

• Bold, not perfect. We won’t let imperfect get in the way of progress, but we will reflect and grow.
• Singleminded, but strong in solidarity. We are here for LGBTQ+ mental health, we cannot solve every ill, but we can listen and defer to those who have other specialisms and follow in solidarity.
• Courageous, yet compassionate. We want to push, and advocate, for our community, but will do so ethically and befitting of therapists.

We share these with you, so that you can better communicate with us when we may have fallen short.

Our Promise

If you believe you have reason to complain to Pink Therapy and wish to raise a formal complaint, we promise;
• That no complaint shall prejudice or influence any future interaction with Pink Therapy
• To follow our company values and act with honesty, integrity, fairness and respect.
• To investigate all concerns compassionately, openly, wholly and in good faith.
• Outcomes will sought to be fair, balanced and compassionate. Where they wish, and a complaint is upheld, the member concerned will be invited to be part of the resolution process.

How To Complain
If you’ve previously been in touch with Pink Therapy staff members, and feel as though your concerns haven’t been listened to, please contact complaints@pinktherapy.com

Limitations of Complaints
Unfortunately, there are certain things which we cannot deal through the complaints procedure, such as;
• Subject access requests & other requests for information
• Attempts to have previous complaints reconsidered
• Professional Conduct Procedures instigated by other bodies such as BACP, UKCP, NCPS etc
• Rejections of membership

Complaints Process
Once a form letter (email) of complaint has been sent to us, we shall acknowledge this within 10 working days (this is due to us being a small team).

Hopefully there will be a clear and fair resolution which can be righted swiftly. In more complicated cases, we shall investigate the complaint fully within 20 working days of receipt. We shall work diligently to follow these timelines, should any investigation take longer, we shall contact you to communicate the reasons and propose a timeline for agreement.

What To Include
To help us help you, we please ask that any complaint be clear on;
• The triggering incident in question (including location, date, who was involved)
• Why this is an issue of concern
• What you would have expected to happen instead
• Your beliefs on what an appropriate outcome may be
• Supporting evidence (emails, screengrabs, witness statements)
• Your contact information (name, telephone number, email). Please note, anonymous complaints cannot be investigated.
While we understand that emotional incidences are important and you may feel drawn to submit a lengthy email in support of your case, due to the small size of our time, and in interest of expediting the process for yourself we also ask that complaint emails are limited in length and kept to the point. Should additional information be required, we will ask.

Putting It Right
If things have gone wrong, we shall;
• Share findings of the internal investigation (with limitations around sensitive or protected information)
• Apologise and share a clear plan of how to put things right
• Review the failure and work towards this not happening again, whether that is new procedure, staff training, service development etc.

Appeal
Should you remain dissatisfied with the initial response and conclusion, you may ask for your complaint to be re-reviewed by a Director. To action this, we ask for;
• Clear reasoning why the initial response fell short and was dissatisfactory
• Any further evidence/supporting documents
• What you believe was wrong/overlooked
• What you believe a satisfactory outcome would be
Secondary reviews, as part of the appeals process, can take up to 20 working days. Should the unlikely event of the review not being possible to complete within this time frame, we shall communicate this, along with clear reasons why, and provide an estimated response time.
Any decision made at this stage is final, and there is no further escalation or re-appeal possible.

Time Limits on Complaints
In the vast majority of cases, we would ask to be made aware of issues within 20 working days of the incident. This is to allow us the best chances of investigating the issue, and getting a satisfactory response for you, while memories are fresh and timelines are clear.
Should there be an exceptional issue, please raise this with us regardless of time passed.

Vexatious Complaints and/or Unreasonable Complaints Behaviour
We believe in treating issues in complaints fairly and with compassion, and ask that this is returned to us. In rare occasions, there may reason for us to believe an individual’s behaviour is unreasonable or vexatious (such as aiming to harm personal reputation). A complaint which is deemed to be vexatious or unreasonable, shall be terminated with no right of appeal. In extreme, or repeat cases, the member may have their membership to Pink Therapy terminated, this is only the last resort taken in order to protect the wider organisation and Pink Therapy’s ability to achieve its mission. Vexatious complains or unreasonable behaviour may be considered if;
• Reasonable requests for evidence are not answered
• Inconsistencies in evidence/timelines are numerous
• The complainant refuses to articulate, specify the grounds of a complaint or co-operate with the complaints procedure
• Relate to historic issues without significant evidenciary support
• The basis of the complaint changes while an investigation is underway
• The behaviour and language of the complainant is considered abusive and/or unprofessional (two wrongs do not make a right), whether during the process directed towards Pink Therapy staff
• Defamatory and/or unreasonable comments are made about Pink Therapy and/or staff on social media, we have a process to follow, and ask that you do the same.
• Makes excessive and/or unreasonable demands upon Pink Therapy staff, such as “question burying” (raising numerous questions and demanding all are answered), setting unreasonable expectations, delivering overly-lengthy emails such as to create a time burden upon staff
• Consisting of libellous or slanderous allegations about staff behaviour
• Complaints which are deemed to be in search of material gain
• Consist of any hate speech or an attempt to enforce values/beliefs which are in contradiction to Pink Therapy’s values and beliefs.
• Repeat complaints which are materially similar to previously investigated complaints
• Refusal to accept Pink Therapy procedure and decisions
• Complaints which come from anonymous emails/accounts/sources will not be investigated