Arkordia Complaints Policy
If you are unhappy with any aspect of the services provided by Arkordia and would like to make a complaint, please follow the procedure outlined below.
Complaints made by clients are always taken very seriously. It will be recorded and investigated immediately as it is received and will be treated in strictest confidence.
If you wish to make a complaint, we ask you to do so as quickly as possible from the time you become aware of being unhappy with what has occurred.
The time limit for making a complaint is three years from this point.
a) We will first attempt to resolve any complaint within the therapeutic relationship. This means that, in response to any complaint, your counsellor or therapist will offer you the opportunity to talk it through with a view to understanding, appreciating, and resolving the difficulty. The therapist will arrange a meeting within a week of receiving your communication.
b) If you do not wish to take up this offer, or you take up this offer and the outcome of this meeting is not satisfactory and you wish to make a formal complaint, please follow the steps outlined below.
c) You can complain yourself or through a friend or representative. Please provide a written account outlining your complaint.
This can then be e-mailed or sent by post to the following:
Post
Private and Confidential
Arkordia
South Side Centre
86 Causewayside
Edinburgh
EH9 lPY
Please note that if any of this procedure is problematic, we will do our best to help by giving you contacts for access, for example to a translator or assistance with writing and by explaining in person the complaints process should this be needed.
d) Following receipt of your complaint, you will be contacted within 14 working days after receiving your communication by a non-practising member of Arkordia’s Board of Charity Trustees. You will be advised that the complaint will be passed on to our external consultant. The external consultant will contact you within 14 working days to arrange a meeting to try to resolve the complaint.
e) You will be invited to bring someone to support you at this meeting if you wish. This person is there for your support only, not to participate in the investigation. After the meeting, the external consultant will notify you in writing within 14 working days of the meeting of their decision relating to your complaint.
f) If you are not satisfied with the decision of the external consultant, then Arkordia’s complaints procedure will have run its course. You will then be entitled to take your complaint to one of the governing bodies listed. You will be informed which body is relevant for your complaint.
This Complaints Policy was last updated on 24/11/2024.