Raise a concern
HICS is not yet receiving concerns. When the route opens, you will be able to tell us: you will not need to be their client, you will not need to be certain a rule was broken, and it will cost nothing. This page sets out what HICS will be able to do, what it will not, and what will happen after you contact us, so that you can decide before you tell us anything.
If a crime may have been committed
If a crime may have been committed, including sexual misconduct, assault or the abuse of a child, report it to the South African Police Service and do not wait for HICS. When the route opens you will be able to do both: our process will run separately from a criminal case and will not replace it, delay it or depend on it. Some conduct must be reported to the authorities by law, and that duty binds HICS and its members regardless of any concern raised here.
What we cannot do
HICS’s authority comes from membership, so check the member directory first. No member has yet been admitted, so nobody is listed, and any claim to HICS membership made today is false.
Leaving does not end it: HICS keeps jurisdiction over conduct during membership after that membership has lapsed or been suspended, resigned or terminated. Over someone who was never a member we can do nothing. If they are registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), as a psychologist or a registered counsellor, the Council has its own complaints process; another voluntary body will have its own; and the police can act whatever a person belongs to.
What may be raised
Any alleged breach of the Code of Professional Conduct, the Scope of Practice or the Membership Rules, of the conditions of membership, or of a written undertaking given to HICS. Conduct outside a member’s professional practice counts where it bears on their fitness to hold a designation or brings HICS into disrepute.
Common examples: working beyond the ten limitations, such as diagnosing, offering psychotherapy, advising on medication or using a title such as “Psychologist” or “Registered Counsellor”; breaching confidentiality; a sexual or exploitative relationship with a client; dishonesty about qualifications, designation, supervision or CPD; or failing to act when a child or vulnerable person was at risk.
If you are not sure it is serious enough, tell us anyway when the route opens. Deciding whether something crosses a line is our job, not yours, and it is the part people most often get wrong in the direction of staying silent. Nobody may be victimised for raising a concern: retaliation against a complainant, a witness or anyone taking part in the process is itself a breach of the Code of Professional Conduct.
Is there a time limit?
The draft Procedure provides that a concern should be raised within twelve months of you becoming aware of what happened. A concern raised after that may be declined, unless the Ethics Committee finds that the interests of justice justify accepting it, having regard to how serious the matter is, whether a child or a vulnerable person was involved, and any reason the disclosure was delayed. If it happened longer ago than that, say so when you raise it.
What will happen after you contact us
These steps come from the Complaints and Disciplinary Procedure, a version 2 draft not yet adopted by the Board, and its numbers may change on adoption. The route opens only once it is adopted, because the process binding a member must exist when a concern is made. Timeframes are indicative and may be extended with written notice.
01
You will receive written confirmation and a reference number, and your matter will be given a confidential file.
02
The Ethics Committee will decide whether what you describe could amount to a breach needing formal determination. It may ask for more detail, decline a matter outside what HICS deals with, dismiss one with no reasonable prospect of a finding, offer an informal route, or refer it for investigation. A decline or a dismissal will come with written reasons, and a dismissal at screening may be reviewed on limited grounds.
03
Once a matter passes screening, unless doing so would prejudice the investigation or put someone at risk.
04
For less serious matters, and only if you and the member both agree, a concern may be resolved informally, by an explanation, an apology, a written undertaking, remedial steps or mediation. Never for a serious breach.
05
An investigator with no conflict of interest in the matter will gather documents, speak to people and ask the member to respond, then recommend no further action, informal resolution or a formal hearing.
06
Before three people with no prior involvement: a chair with governance, legal or dispute-resolution experience, a senior member holding HASC or HAS from the area of practice, and one further member or independent lay person. The member will have at least 15 business days’ notice and will see the evidence, and a written decision will follow, ordinarily within 10 business days.
07
The finding, any sanction, the reasons, and the right of appeal with its time limit.
On the Ethics Committee’s recommendation, the Board may suspend a member’s membership or supervisory authorisation as a precaution while the matter is dealt with: a protective step, not a sanction or a finding of guilt. The member will be given written reasons, may make representations within 5 business days, and the suspension will be reviewed at least every 30 days.
What we can decide
A breach must be established on the balance of probabilities, meaning more likely than not, and the more serious the allegation, the stronger the evidence needed.
Where a breach is established, the outcome may be a formal warning or reprimand; required remedial action, additional supervision, training or mentoring; conditions or restrictions on practice or membership; suspension of membership; revocation of supervisory authorisation; downgrade or revocation of the designation; a block on annual renewal until the matter is resolved; or termination of membership. These may be combined, or suspended on conditions.
A serious breach may result in suspension or termination even for a first offence: sexual misconduct with a client, exploitation or abuse of a client, breaching one of the absolute limitations, failing to act on a mandatory reporting or duty-to-protect obligation, dishonesty about qualifications, designation, supervision or CPD, and obstructing the disciplinary process.
The member may appeal a finding or a sanction within 15 business days, to three people who had no part in the original decision; where HICS itself was the complainant, the Ethics Committee may appeal too. A complainant cannot appeal a finding, but may ask for a dismissal at screening to be reviewed. The Appeal Panel’s decision is HICS’s final internal decision and does not affect anyone’s rights in law.
Routine matters are not. In serious cases, a revocation or a termination, HICS may publish the fact and outcome of a finding where that is proportionate and protects the public. Ordinarily nothing is published until the time for appealing has passed, unless the Board finds public-safety grounds to publish earlier. How that information is handled is set out in the privacy notice.
Will my name be given to the member?
A person accused of something is entitled to know the case against them, and that is difficult to separate from knowing who has made it. A process that decided matters on evidence a member never saw would not be a fair one, and its findings would not be worth much.
Anonymous concerns can still be raised. They may be screened, but will generally not proceed to a hearing without independent evidence, for that same reason.
If you are afraid, say so when you first make contact. Where the safety of a complainant or a witness requires it, HICS will take reasonable steps to protect their identity, balanced against the member’s right to a fair hearing.
How the information in a concern is handled, who sees it and how long it is kept is set out in the privacy notice.
If a concern is raised about you
The steps above already carry most of a member’s entitlements: notice, the evidence, time to prepare, a hearing, written reasons and an appeal. Alongside them:
How to raise a concern
The Complaints and Disciplinary Procedure has been drafted but not adopted, and no Registrar has been appointed to receive concerns. Until the Board adopts it there is no address to write to and no form to complete, and nothing on this page is an undertaking that something sent now would be received, acknowledged or acted on.
[TO CONFIRM: the Registrar’s address for raising a concern, and the adoption of the Complaints and Disciplinary Procedure]
A letter or an email carrying the following will be as valid as any form:
If you need help putting a concern into writing, the Registrar will assist you once one is appointed, without advising on whether your concern is a good one. Until then, the steps you can take now, none of which wait for HICS, are on the Find a counsellor page.