Talk Complaints Policy

This policy refers to complaints raised against practitioners

This policy applies to all complaints raised against or concerning practitioners who provide services through Unmind Talk. Complaints may be made by employees using our services (users) or client company representatives. For the purposes of this policy will refer to the person who raises the complaint as the ‘complainant’.

This policy refers to both ‘complaints’ and ‘negative feedback’

A complaint is defined as an expression of dissatisfaction from a user regarding a practitioner’s conduct or behaviour.

Negative feedback is defined as information shared with the Unmind team that does not necessarily suggest the user is dissatisfied, but suggests that a practitioner has acted unethically or not met Unmind’s practitioner requirements.

Both a complaint and negative feedback may refer to perceived poor conduct by a practitioner either during a session or outside of sessions, e.g. practitioner’s communication (or lack thereof), use of social media, etc.

This policy refers to complaints and negative feedback because we recognise that users may surface or frame poor conduct differently or with varying levels of dissatisfaction. It is therefore Unmind’s responsibility to assess the complaint raised. This is also important to ensure that negative feedback about a practitioner is not overlooked.

For the purposes of this policy, both complaints and negative feedback will simply be referred to as ‘complaints’.

Unmind is committed to providing a high-quality clinical service

We take complaints seriously and aim to resolve them promptly, fairly, and efficiently.

Unmind is committed to:

• Treating all complaints seriously and addressing them in a timely manner.
• Ensuring a transparent, fair, and impartial investigation process.
• Protecting the confidentiality of all parties involved.
• Using complaints as an opportunity to improve our services.

The process to raise a complaint is clear and simple

We recognise that raising a complaint can be stressful for all parties involved.

A clear process for users to raise complaints is key to removing any barriers that may prevent a complainant from sharing important information. We want complainants to raise complaints quickly to ensure faster resolution time, and to ensure that the same issue does not continue to affect other users. More details of the process for a user to raise a complaint can be found here.

Where possible, we would encourage the person directly concerned with the complaint to raise the complaint with Unmind. This ensures that Unmind has the complainant’s immediate account of the situation and prevents miscommunication due to intermediary parties. It also protects the complainant’s confidentiality.

Unmind conducts thorough investigations

The investigation owner conducts a full investigation of the issue. This includes reviewing the following:

• any previous complaints or feedback made against the practitioner (if any).
• any previous communication with the practitioner (if any).
• any previous feedback left by clients (if any).
• a practitioner’s client caseload
• a practitioner’s booking rate and attendance

When the investigation owner has gathered the above information, they will also reach out to the practitioner. This is to understand more about the complaint from the practitioner’s perspective to ensure we have the full picture.

More details of the investigation process can be found in our Talk Complaints Process.

We aim for quick resolutions and provide updates where possible

Unmind recognises that complaint investigations can be stressful for both practitioners and complainants. We do not compromise on the depth of the investigation for a faster resolution, but we may prioritise investigations over other work in order to ensure quick resolution times.

We are clear about what a complainant can expect from Unmind during an investigation. Complainants should not feel confused, guilty or worried during an investigation. The investigation owner provides regular updates with the complainant to ensure they are appropriately kept in the loop, and do not feel confused.

More information about Unmind’s investigation process and resolution time can be found in our Talk Complaints Process.

Unmind assesses complaints before taking action

When we receive a complaint, an investigation owner is assigned to the complaint. The owner is responsible for the following:

• conducting the initial assessment of the complaint to determine required steps, estimated resolution time, and missing information
• updating concerned parties where appropriate
• collecting and safely storing information
• liaising with relevant stakeholders to reach a conclusion and agreeing next steps
• sharing the final outcome of the investigation with concerned parties

The investigation owner assesses the complaint based on the potential for further risk to users, the nature of the complaint, and the information required to reach a decision. Based on this assessment, the investigation owner determines an estimated resolution time.

Unmind handles data securely and prioritises confidentiality

Unmind logs and tracks complaints safely. We log and store all complaints raised against practitioners in a Notion page that is only accessible to the Talk Operations team and the Head of Therapies and Coaching. No user PII is included in this log.

This log is where we store all information relating to an open investigation. We also use this log to understand if there have been previous complaints raised against a practitioner. The investigation owner is responsible for ensuring the log contains all of the information relevant to the complaint, and must update the log on a regular basis for transparency.

Unmind may need to reach out to the complainant to gather further details of the complaint. We do not force complainants to share this information, it is at the complainant’s discretion if they decide to share further details.

We understand that companies may request an update on an investigation. We use the following guidelines to communicate with companies about investigations:

• We do not share information about an open investigation with a company. This is to avoid creating false assumptions before we have the full picture and ensure a fair investigation.
• We do not share user or practitioner PII with a company.
• We may share information about an investigation with a company when the investigation has been closed, but we only include high-level detail, and do not share any information that may identify a user or what support they received from the practitioner.
• If the complaint was raised via a company, and not by the complainant directly, Unmind requires written consent from the complainant to be able to contact the practitioner and use the complainant’s name.

The information stored in this log is retained for the duration of the practitioner’s engagement with Unmind. Beyond this, the information will be stored according to GDPR regulations.

Unmind respects all parties throughout the process

We take all complaints seriously, however, we also take an ‘innocent until proven’ approach with all complaints. This means that we do not draw conclusions about either party until we have conducted a full investigation and believe that we have the full picture, and we will always discuss the complaint with both parties before making a decision.

We determine next steps based on the outcome

Once the investigation has been completed to the best of the investigation owner’s efforts, the investigation owner assesses the information gathered to determine the outcome. The investigation owner may be able to make an independent decision or they may liaise with the Head of Therapies and Coaching as required, particularly if the investigation had clinical implications.

Based on the decision the investigation owner outlines next steps.

The investigation owner is responsible for communicating the outcome to internal stakeholders, the complainant and practitioner. These steps may include a follow-up process, to ensure our standards are upheld in the longterm, which the investigation owner is responsible for overseeing.

Complaints are also an opportunity for company growth

Unmind sees complaints and feedback as an opportunity to learn and improve our service. While some situations may be out of our control, it is Unmind’s responsibility to ensure we continue to provide the highest quality and most clinically safe service.

As such, part of the investigation involves understanding if there are any steps we can take or processes we can implement to prevent similar issues in the future. These findings are included in next steps or add to the Talk Risk Log.

We also commit to reviewing complaint trends quarterly. This is to understand if there are any recurring themes, and any further work we can implement to prevent similar complaints.

Investigations may require review

While we aim to ensure all concerned party’s feedback is addressed in our outcome and next steps, there may be occasions where complainants or practitioners do not agree with the outcome of the investigation.

If the outcome of an investigation is disputed, the investigation owner escalates the feedback and assigns either another member of the Talk Operations Team, or the Head of Therapies and Coaching as the investigation reviewer.

The investigation reviewer reviews all of the information gathered, and considers whether all areas were correctly investigated and how the investigation was conducted, to understand if the investigation was conducted according to this policy.