Member Conduct Rules
Members of the Society for Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (SfDBT) are required to follow the Code of Conduct. Our complaints procedure considers whether a member has breached the Society’s Code of Conduct, but will not investigate fitness to practise allegations.
You are advised to read our Code of Conduct carefully. If you feel that the allegation you wish to present to the Society falls under one or more of the Code of Conduct Rules, you can submit a formal complaint.
In the first instance, if you wish to pursue a formal complaint, you are advised to do this through an appropriate third party. This may be the member’s professional regulatory body (i.e. Health and Care Professions Council – HCPC; Nursing and Midwifery Council – NMC; or the General Medical Council – GMC), the member’s employer, or the judiciary authorities.
The SfDBT will not consider a complaint until it has been dealt with by the third party. Once the outcome of a third party investigation has been reached, this information should be submitted to the Society. At this point the SfDBT would determine whether those outcomes provide sufficient evidence that the member breached the SfDBT Code of Conduct. The Society will then take appropriate action.
If you are in a position to submit your complaint please complete the SfDBT Complaint form[2] (which should be accompanied by the appropriate supporting evidence) and send it to:
The Society will generally not accept anonymous complaints. We will, however, consider this issue on case by case basis should exceptional circumstances arise.
For more information about our complaints procedure; how to make one and what to do if someone has made a grievance against you please email: . You will then be contacted by the SfDBT Professional Standards Officer.
We can give advice and help about how to make a complaint and how the complaint-handling process works. We cannot tell you whether you should complain or whether your complaint will succeed.
Fitness to practise
There are a number of regulatory bodies that are responsible for the regulation of health professional. The Health and Care Professions Council is responsible for the statutory regulation of Health Professionals as is the NMC, RCN, the GMC etc. Therefore, the Society cannot consider allegations about the fitness to practise of its members. If you would like information about the Health and Care Professions Council’s (HCPC) procedures for considering fitness to practise allegations, contact their Fitness to Practise Department on:
Tel: +44 (0)800 328 4218
For the NMC contact:
For the GMC contact:
http://www.gmc-uk.org/concerns/complaints_and_role_of_the_gmc.asp
For Social Work England:
https://www.socialworkengland.org.uk/concerns/raise-a-concern/