Compliments, concerns and complaints

I have a complaint about an AFSP member’s practice as a family therapist

AFSP is a membership association, not a professional registration body. That means we don’t manage complaints about therapists’ practice.

If, for any reason, you have concerns about the conduct of your therapist you can:

• Try to discuss your concerns with the therapist.
• Raise your concerns with the therapist’s manager, if you’re seeing the therapist through the NHS or an agency. You could also look up or ask for the NHS Trust or agency’s complaints process and follow it.
• Contact the therapist’s professional registration body, who will have a process in place to deal with your complaint. This could be the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP), British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, or Health and Care Professions Council.
• Most AFSP members are registered with UKCP. You can find out how to make a complaint against a UKCP-registered psychotherapist on their website.

I have a complaint about an AFSP member breaching membership requirements

Although we don’t handle complaints about therapists’ practice, we do manage complaints about members breaching our membership requirements.

These are:

• All members must commit to abiding by our Code of Ethics and Practice (PDF, 199KB). They should use it in their practice, to manage ethical dilemmas and when they represent AFSP.

• Members practising as family therapists in any capacity should be registered with UKCP or another registering body which protects the public by receiving and managing complaints about their practice.

If you have a concern or complaint about a member breaching these conditions, our raising a concern or complaint policy and procedure (PDF, 404KB) will guide you through how to raise it.

I have a complaint about a training institute or course provider AFSP accredits

If you’re training and have a complaint about something to do with your course, then you must use your training provider’s feedback and complaints procedures.

If you have concerns that an AFSP-accredited course isn’t meeting our standards, as outlined in our Blue Book (PDF, 235KB), please contact the chair of our course accreditation and development (CRED) committee, Marie Mcgovern, on marie.mcgovern@theafsp.org

I have a compliment, concern or complaint about AFSP

We welcome all feedback as a way of monitoring and improving what we do as an organisation.

Compliments are appreciated, useful and important to us. They help us shape the services and support we provide. If you have any positive feedback, please feel free to send it to hello@theafsp.org

If you have a concern or complaint about AFSP itself, any of its staff, or the people who work on behalf of AFSP such as our Board or committee members, please get in touch. Our compliments, concerns or complaints policy (PDF, 315B) sets out what you should do and what to expect from us.

Whistleblowing

If you have a concern about serious wrongdoing or unlawful conduct within AFSP, please read our whistleblowing policy (PDF, 116KB). This sets out how you can make a disclosure without fear of victimisation.