Complaints to ARCH About Members Professional Conduct
Introduction
The Association of Registered Clinical Hypnotherapists (ARCH) promotes professional conduct of its members that are consistent with its Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice. If someone is not satisfied with the practices or behaviour of an ARCH member, they have the opportunity to register a complaint to ARCH. ARCH will assist in the arbitration and resolution of complaints and/or assist the parties in electing a binding arbitrator for disposition and/or resolution.
ARCH is not regulated by statute and therefore its disciplinary procedures are not subject to the same administrative principles as are tribunals established by legislation. ARCH is, however, committed to the principle of fairness and the procedures outlined herein are intended to ensure complaints are processed in an equitable fashion having regard to the interests of all parties and the geographical and financial limitations involved.
ARCH will not deal with complaints while the subject matter of the complaint is part of a legal proceeding or when such a proceeding is pending. However, a complaint may be appropriate after any such proceedings are concluded.
A complaint must be filed with ARCH within one (1) year of the event which forms the substance of the complaint. This limitation will not apply if legal proceedings have commenced within that time frame.
When ARCH is made aware of criminal charges against an ARCH member that involve the relationship with his or her clients, ARCH may require the member to accept limitations on his or her practice deemed to be reasonable and appropriate, under the circumstances and until the charges are dealt with.
When ARCH becomes aware that an ARCH member has been convicted of an offence under the Criminal Code (or a similar penal statute of another country), or for international members, has been suspended by their certifying organization for reason of professional misconduct or professional incompetence, causing the ARCH member to lose his or her status as a "member in good standing." This information shall be acted on by ARCH under its membership by-law.
Once a complaint has been received, ARCH will notify the complainant as to procedures for processing the complaint as it relates to an ethical violation or standard of practice and will also notify the ARCH member of receipt of the complaint.
The substance of the complaint will be communicated to the least number of people necessary to implement the complaint procedures, and documentation will be confidential to those people and destroyed after three (3) years from the completion of the complaint procedures.
The procedures for submission of complaints
Whenever feasible, and appropriate, the complainant is encouraged to approach the ARCH member directly to discuss and resolve the complaint.
Members of the public and ARCH members are reminded that suspected statutory and/or criminal violations by an ARCH member, such as, child abuse, should be reported both to the appropriate local authorities and to ARCH.
In cases where a resolution is not forthcoming following personal contact, or when personal contact is not feasible and/or appropriate, the complainant shall prepare a formal written statement of the complaint, stating who they are, the details of the alleged violation and shall submit it to ARCH.
Please also provide a separate signed consent for ARCH Directors to discuss your complaint with the Member in question.
Written statements must include:
- a statement explaining the attempts made to resolve the issues personally or, if not, an explanation of why this step was not feasible or appropriate;
- the name of the complainant
- the name of the individual being complained against;
- a very detailed and specific statement about the alleged violation; and
- the dates of the alleged violation.
All complaints shall be mailed to:
Association of Registered Clinical Hypnotherapists
6248 Main Street
Vancouver, British Columbia
V5W 2V1
The envelope must be marked "ARCH Ethics Confidential."
Please note that anonymous complaints and reports of wrong doing cannot be validated. It is vital for any investigation that the Ethics Committee be able to contact the complainant.
The procedures for processing complaints are as follows:
Within two weeks after a written complaint is received, the Directors of ARCH will decide if there are reasonable grounds for the complaint and if further investigation is warranted. In the event the complaint is dismissed at this point, ARCH will notify the complainant of this decision in writing.
If it is determined that further investigation is warranted, a letter to the complainant acknowledging receipt of the complaint, informing the complainant that the complaint will be investigated and outlining the procedures to be followed in the investigation; a letter to the ARCH member complained against informing the ARCH member of an allegation against her or him, asking for a written response and requesting that relevant information be submitted within thirty (30) days.
During such an investigation, ARCH shall discuss the information received from the complainant and the ARCH member complained against, and, at their discretion, interview the complainant and the ARCH member complained against, in an attempt to reach a resolution to which both parties can agree.
- When it is of the opinion that there are no reasonable grounds to believe the ARCH member has acted contrary to the Standard of Practice and/or Code of Ethics, ARCH shall dismiss the complaint and give notice in writing of the dismissal to the complainant and the ARCH member.
- When the complaint is not dismissed and when a satisfactory resolution cannot be reached, the parties shall elect a binding arbitrator for disposition and/or resolution, whose decision shall be final.
- When the complaint is found to be of a possible criminal nature, the complainant will be informed that the complaint cannot be dealt with until disposition of any criminal investigation has been dealt with.
