Therapy Centre Services

Zero Tolerance Policy

 

Therapy Centre Services is committed to providing a safe environment for our clients as well as staff members, free from acts of threats, physical violence, intimidation, harassment, verbal abuse or coercion.

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Counsellors and Staff should not be left upset and distressed following an interaction with any client.

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Any incident of abuse will be dealt with as a matter of urgency and reported to the relevant authorities including the police where required. An incident is classed as any situation in which a member of staff is faced with aggression, violence, any form of abuse whether physical or verbal, this includes the following:

 

Verbal Abuse: Words used to cause distress, fear or intimate anyone or a group of people including shouting, yelling, swearing at our counsellors or staff members, offensive remarks or gestures derogatory racial, religious or sexual remarks or behaviour, Inappropriate behaviour as a result of alcohol or misuse of illicit drugs, including non-prescribed medication or drugs. Intimidation, threats or threatening behaviour (eg ‘I know where you live’), harassment or stalking.

 

Aggression: Intimidation, harassment, challenging someone’s right to emotional, physical safety and health. The use of inappropriate words or behaviour causing distress and/or constituting harassment. This includes receipt of abusive telephone calls, text messages, or emails from any source.

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Physical Abuse: Any behaviours which include physical contact, including touching, pushing, hitting, stalking, spitting, use of objects to cause injury also including invasion of personal space. The intentional application of force against the person of another without lawful justification resulting in physical injury or personal discomfort.

 

Hate Crime: Any behaviours/words with the intent of holding prejudices against anyone’s disability, race, religion, beliefs, sexual orientation or gender identity regardless of whether this is carried out verbally or physically including damage to property, threats, intimidation or harassment.

 

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Therapy Centre Services will not tolerate abuse of other’s or our members of staff and will support them in prosecution of offenders.

 

Liaison with Police: If a staff member suffers abuse this will be reported to the police for investigation. Therapy Centre Services will support the police in any investigations with regards to incidents reported with a view to prosecution.

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The therapeutic relationship following a single incident will be terminated – if face-to-face, the client will be asked to leave the premises, refusal to do this will result in the police being called.

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The following are example of when you may be issued with a first and final warning or removed from our client list dependent on the severity of the incident:

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- Violence.
- Excessive noise e.g., recurrent loud or intrusive conversation or shouting.
- Threatening or abusive language involving swearing or offensive remarks.
- Racial or sexual remarks.
- Aggressive, forceful tone and/or language that upsets counsellors or staff.
- Malicious allegations relating to members of staff or counsellors.
- Offensive gestures or behaviours.
- Abusing alcohol or drugs at any face-to-face centres.
- Drug dealing at any face-to-face centres.
- Threats or threatening behaviour.
- Theft.
- Persistent and/or unrealistic demands on the service.
- Repeated derogatory comments about the service or individuals either verbally, in writing/digitally or on social media platforms.

This list is not exhaustive and there may be other occasions where we have cause to issue a warning or remove you from our client list.  If you are unhappy with the service, we have a complaints procedure to assist you, or you have the choice to access support elsewhere. There really is no need for unpleasant behaviour with these options available to support you.

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We trust this policy is clear and supports a mutually respectful environment for clients and staff.