HOW TO COMPLAIN

Advice to Parents:

What you need to do if you wish to complain about a Play Therapist

We try to make sure that all BAPT members offer the highest standards of care. However, you may be unhappy with the treatment or service you are given, or worried about the behaviour or health of a BAPT member. Please do talk to your Play Therapist first about your concerns to try and sort things out informally. However if this is not possible, or does not solve the issue, then you can always raise your concerns with us.

Please send a letter to:

Chairperson of the BAPT Complaints Committee
1, Beacon Mews,
South Road,
Weybridge
Surrey KT13 9DZ
UK

The Chairperson needs to decide whether the complaint falls within the terms by which a complaint can be dealt with by BAPT.
The following are the criteria that the Committee will use to decide whether to accept a complaint:

The Respondent (the person about whom you are complaining) is a student or full member of BAPT;
You must have either used the services of the Respondent or be complaining on behalf of a child or young person with whom the Respondent has worked;
The complaint concerns a breach of a clause or clauses of the relevant BAPT Code of Ethics;
The timescale is adhered to (within three years of the alleged breach or of the alleged breach coming to light);
The complaint is within the jurisdiction of BAPT; and
When the complaint is under investigation by the police or within the jurisdiction of any court or tribunal BAPT will not usually accept and investigate the complaint.

You should provide the Chairperson with the following:

Your name and address (please print this clearly)
The name and address of the client (if not you as the Complainant)
The name and work address of the Respondent
Details of the services used (i.e dates of contact with the Respondent and any other relevant details about the services used)
A summary of the complaint (tell us what has happened, including as much information as you can, such as names, dates and places);
Any other relevant information

The Chairperson will see if the complaint can be resolved by mediation and the issue resolved at this early stage. Some of the options at the first stage are:

providing an explanation;
issuing a formal apology;
remedial action where appropriate;
recommendations regarding future practice.

The Chairperson will acknowledge receipt of your initial written complaint in writing to both you and the Respondent within ten working days, and will notify you and the Respondent in writing within 30 days of the receipt of the written complaint if there is a case to answer.

If the complaint is not resolved, and if you wish to take it further, the matter can then be put before a Complaints Board. If the Complaints Board conclude there is sufficient evidence for a finding of one or more breaches to the BAPT Code of Ethics, there are various sanctions they may impose including:

Advisory Consultant Requirement:

Supervision of further practice for a 3 month period

Supervised Practice:

Supervision for 6 months

Probationary period whilst 1 or 2 above is in process:

The Play Therapist must not supervise students or Play Therapists
whilst his/her own practice is being monitored.

Suspension of Membership:

Very serious action where Play Therapist is deemed unable to practice for a period of time and has to undertake further training

Termination of Membership:

Unable to practice again under BAPT registration for at least 5 years

Cease and Desist Order:

The Play Therapist must cease to practice until the issue has been fully investigated - this is for the most serious breaches of professional misconduct.

Time scales for your complaint:

There are various timescales for dealing with your complaint but the Investigation stage should be completed within 30 working days of the receipt of your letter. If the matter has to proceed to a review by the full Complaints Board the complaint should be resolved within three months.

Important Notes

Please note that if you wish to complain about a BAPT member you do not have to pay for us to pursue your complaint. However, you may wish to engage professional advisers – the cost for any such advice will not be met by the BAPT.
For a copy of the full BAPT complaints procedure click here

Click here to check a person’s registration status