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NZ$200 Buy Now

Psychologists Board notification · Written to Code of Ethics

Ethics and Ethical Standards for Psychologists for Psychologists facing a Psychologists Board investigation, complaint or allegation

The allegation concerns your ethical judgement, behaviour or conduct as a psychologist.

  • Confidentiality — a confidence broken, or kept when someone was at risk
  • Boundaries — a boundaries breach with a patient or a colleague
  • Consent — not explained, not renewed, or assumed from someone else
  • Endings — therapy ended without notice, or a client dropped
  • Cultural competence — a Māori client assessed without whānau or tikanga
  • Dishonesty — notes, claims or supervision records that are not true
  • Reports — a Family Court, ACC or Corrections report beyond the evidence
  • Any other — ethical concern or allegation of unethical conduct

Facing an allegation of unethical behaviour or misconduct like these — from the Psychologists Board, a Professional Conduct Committee or the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal?

Help with a Psychologists Board investigation, complaint or allegation starts here. This CPD course helps you remediate — and demonstrate the remediation, with a dated certificate for your written response, your portfolio or a Committee or Tribunal direction.

Immediate access · certificate on completion · twelve months' access

  • 2 CPD hours
  • Self-paced
  • Written for New Zealand
  • CPD certificate
  • Bulk buy: any 5 for NZ$850 · any 10 for NZ$1,400

At a glance

Who it is for
Any psychologist facing a Psychologists Board complaint, notification or allegation, a Professional Conduct Committee investigation or a competence review about ethical conduct, behaviour or decisions — an allegation of unethical behaviour, conduct or action
Authorities covered
The New Zealand Psychologists Board, its Conduct, Competence and Fitness Committee, its Professional Conduct Committees and the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal
Length
10 sections, 47 lessons, 2 CPD hours
Format
Self-paced, online, immediate access, twelve months from purchase
Certificate
Issued by Healthcare Ethics Courses on completion, dated, with the course title and 2 CPD hours
Price
NZ$200 · any 5 for NZ$850 · any 10 for NZ$1,400
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Certificate issued by Healthcare Ethics CoursesRemediation courses for regulatory processes.

2CPD hours, issued by Healthcare Ethics Courses
10Sections, nine closing with a reflective quiz
45Lessons, plus a post-course assessment
NZ$200One off. Twelve months' access

Who this course is for

Facing an allegation of unethical behaviour or conduct

The Board’s letter says a confidence, a consent, an ending, a report or a relationship fell short of the Code of Ethics. This course is how you account for it, through the Code’s own decision-making process — and show you have remediated.

Dealing with a Psychologists Board complaint

A client, a family member, a colleague or the court has complained, and the Board has invited your written response within ten working days. The reasoning behind an ethical decision is rarely in the notes; this course gives your response the structure the Committee reads for.

Asked for a letter of reflection

Before deciding anything further, the Board’s Conduct, Competence and Fitness Committee may ask how you see what happened — and close the matter on reading it. It is the most consequential document in the process; this course teaches what it has to contain.

Before a Competence Review Panel or a Professional Conduct Committee

Two psychologists, with a cultural adviser where appropriate, reviewing your files and reports against the Core Competencies; or two psychologists and a layperson investigating conduct. Competence review is a route the Board uses often; a dated certificate and a reflective account are evidence either can weigh.

A complaint about a Family Court, ACC or Corrections report

Reports to courts and funders are behind more than a third of complaints to the Board. A Family Court report said to read as advocacy, a person not seen, an opinion beyond the assessment — the Board’s Guideline on report writing is the measure, and the course gives reports a section of their own.

Facing a misconduct charge or hearing before the Tribunal

A charge of professional misconduct has been laid, or a penalty is being decided — and boundary breaches by psychologists have ended registrations. Remediation completed before the hearing, dated and documented, is weighed every time.

The concerns this course speaks to

Confidentiality against the safety of someone else

A disclosure in session suggests a risk to a partner, the client or the public; a court, an employer or a family member asks what was said. The Code and the Health Information Privacy Code both permit disclosure in defined circumstances; the course sets out how to decide, whom to tell and how to record it either way.

Professional boundaries and dual relationships

A friendship that began as therapy, a business arrangement, a relationship with a former client, a client’s relative also in treatment, contact between sessions no one decided on. The Code’s expectations on dual relationships are detailed; the course treats the first drift as the moment the standard is engaged.

Consent that was not real, or not renewed

Consent taken at the first session and never revisited, consent assumed from a family member’s, an assessment whose purpose and audience were not explained, a recording made without agreement. The Board’s Guideline on informed consent sets the measure.

Endings, abandonment and continuity

Therapy ended without notice when the funding ran out, a client dropped after a complaint, a referral not made when scope was exceeded, a move without a handover. Responsible caring includes the ending; the course covers what a defensible ending looks like and how it is recorded.

Cultural competence and Te Tiriti o Waitangi

A Māori client assessed without whānau, tikanga or te reo considered, a test normed elsewhere applied without comment, a cultural adviser not sought. Respect for the dignity of persons and peoples is the Code’s first principle and cultural competence a Core Competency.

Probity and an allegation of dishonesty

Session notes dated as contemporaneous when they were not, an ACC claim for a session that did not run, supervision recorded that did not happen, a report that says a person was assessed when they were not, a qualification overstated. Integrity in relationships is the Code’s third principle, and the Board treats dishonesty as misconduct.

Reports, courts and the person who did not choose you

A Family Court specialist report, a court-ordered assessment, an ACC sensitive-claims or Corrections report: the person assessed is not your client, and respect, competence, objectivity and fairness still apply. Reports are behind more than a third of complaints to the Board, and its Guideline on report writing is the measure.

When two principles collide

Responsible caring against social justice when the funded sessions end; respect for a client’s lawful choices against your own conscience; an opinion asked of you beyond your competence; your own fitness against a full caseload. The Code ranks its principles where they conflict, and the course works each through its decision-making process.

Facing a Psychologists Board investigation, complaint or allegation? This course helps you remediate — and demonstrate it.

Buy this course — NZ$200

What the course covers

Ten sections and 47 lessons, with a reflective quiz closing each of the first nine and a post-course assessment at the end.

Section 01

Introduction to Ethics in Psychological Practice

Five lessons

Section 02

Core Ethical Principles in Psychology

Five lessons

Section 03

Professional Boundaries and Therapeutic Relationships

Five lessons

Section 04

Confidentiality and Privacy

Five lessons

Section 05

Informed Consent and Communication

Five lessons

Section 06

Ethical Decision-Making in Practice

Five lessons

Section 07

Cultural Safety and Ethical Practice in New Zealand

Five lessons

Section 08

Ethics in Complaints, Competence Reviews, and Fitness to Practise

Five lessons

Section 09

Preventative Ethical Practice and Professional Integrity

Five lessons

Section 10

Conclusion and Key Takeaways

Key takeaways and the post-course assessment

Show every lesson title
Section 01 · Introduction to Ethics in Psychological Practice
What is Ethics in Psychological Practice?; Why Ethics Matters in Psychological Care; Role of the HPCA Act and the Psychologists Board; Ethics, Competence, and Fitness to Practise; Common Ethical Concerns in Psychological Practice.
Section 02 · Core Ethical Principles in Psychology
Respect for Autonomy; Beneficence and Patient-Centred Care; Non-Maleficence and Avoiding Harm; Justice and Fair Treatment; Professional Integrity and Honesty.
Section 03 · Professional Boundaries and Therapeutic Relationships
Understanding Professional Boundaries; Dual Relationships and Conflicts of Interest; Emotional Dependency, Transference, and Countertransference; Sexual Boundaries (Zero Tolerance); Digital and Social Media Boundaries.
Section 04 · Confidentiality and Privacy
Importance of Confidentiality in Psychological Practice; Limits of Confidentiality; Managing Sensitive Disclosures; Working with Families and Third Parties; Record Keeping and Data Protection.
Section 05 · Informed Consent and Communication
Principles of Valid Informed Consent; Consent in Ongoing Therapeutic Relationships; Capacity and Vulnerable Clients; Explaining Risks, Limitations, and Expectations; Communication Failures and Complaints.
Section 06 · Ethical Decision-Making in Practice
Recognising Ethical Dilemmas in Psychology; Structured Ethical Decision-Making; Balancing Autonomy and Patient Safety; Managing Risk: Self-Harm and Harm to Others; Documentation of Ethical Decisions.
Section 07 · Cultural Safety and Ethical Practice in New Zealand
Understanding Cultural Safety in Healthcare; Working with Māori and Indigenous Perspectives; Addressing Bias and Inequity in Practice; Communication Across Cultures; Ethical Implications of Cultural Insensitivity.
Section 08 · Ethics in Complaints, Competence Reviews, and Fitness to Practise
Understanding Complaints and Competence Concerns; Ethical Conduct During Investigations and Reviews; Insight and Accountability; Reflection and Remediation; Maintaining Professionalism During Regulatory Processes.
Section 09 · Preventative Ethical Practice and Professional Integrity
Building Ethical Habits in Daily Practice; Reflective Practice and Continuous Improvement; Supervision and Peer Support; Maintaining Competence and Scope of Practice; Sustaining Patient Trust and Professional Reputation.
Section 10 · Conclusion and Key Takeaways
Conclusion; Key Takeaways.

How to respond to a Psychologists Board notification, complaint or allegation

The Conduct, Competence and Fitness Committee, a Competence Review Panel, a Professional Conduct Committee and the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal all read a response for the same four parts. The course teaches each one.

The notes hold the session; your response has to hold the decision-making process the Code expects.

  1. The principles in playNamed as the Code names them: respect for the dignity of persons and peoples, responsible caring, integrity in relationships, social justice.The course maps the four principles of health ethics onto the Code’s four, so you can name them in its words.
  2. The conflict, and the Code’s orderingWhere two pointed different ways — and which the Code says generally carries more weight.The course works New Zealand dilemmas through the Code’s ranking and its decision-making process.
  3. The decision, and the supervision you soughtThe parties, the options, what you knew, why one principle prevailed, and whether it was tested in supervision first.Weak and strong responses to six New Zealand events show the difference.
  4. The reconsiderationWhat you would weigh differently now, with dated work and a supervisor’s written confirmation.This course is the dated item you attach — and, for a dual relationship or integrity allegation, the remediation targeted to the lapse.

An acknowledgement followed by an account of the client’s presentation reads as the absence of insight.

Take advice from your indemnity insurer, your union or a lawyer before you respond to anyone.

Facing a Psychologists Board investigation, complaint or allegation? This course helps you remediate — and demonstrate it.

Buy this course — NZ$200

How this course helps with a Psychologists Board investigation

Six New Zealand events, two ways of answering for each

A confidence broken to a family member without the client told. A report that reached an opinion the assessment could not support. A friendship with a former client begun too soon. Notes written weeks later and dated as contemporaneous. A funded client’s therapy ended without notice. A Māori client assessed without whānau or a cultural adviser. For each, the strong response names the principle first, does not reach for the client’s presentation, shows the supervision sought, and points to something dated that has changed.

Evidence a Panel or a Committee will weigh

Counts: this course’s dated certificate, CPD targeted to the principle concerned, a supervisor’s written reports on the specific concern, an audit of records, consent documentation or reports repeated after an interval, consultation with a cultural adviser where it is engaged, and reflection that cites the Code by principle and the Guideline by name. Counts for little: hours on another subject, a reflection that reads as a defence, an apology for the complaint, and supervision recorded but not focused. For the stages from the first letter to the Tribunal, see the Council and Board investigation process, explained.

Read the primary sources

Who wrote it

Dr Shehzad Iqbal, course author and facilitator at Healthcare Ethics New Zealand

Dr Shehzad Iqbal

Course author and facilitator, Healthcare Ethics New Zealand

Dr Iqbal has designed and delivered ethics, probity and professionalism training for healthcare professionals since 2020, working with registrants across regulated health professions, online and face to face. He combines clinical practice with formal postgraduate training in healthcare law and ethics.

MBBS · MRCS · MRCGP · Postgraduate Certificate in Healthcare Law and Ethics, University of Dundee

Written and reviewed by Dr Shehzad Iqbal. Last reviewed .

In short

Ethics and Ethical Standards for Psychologists is a self-paced remediation course of 2 hours for psychologists registered with the New Zealand Psychologists Board facing a notification, investigation, complaint or allegation, mapped to the Board’s Code of Ethics, Core Competencies and Best Practice Guidelines. It teaches the Code’s four principles and its ethical decision-making process alongside the four principles of health ethics, reads them through Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and works through the situations that produce complaints about psychologists: confidentiality against risk, consent and its renewal, reports for courts and third parties, endings and abandonment, dual relationships, scope and the limits of the evidence, fairness in access, conscience, honesty in notes, claims and reports, and fitness to practise. Six New Zealand case comparisons show the response that ends a matter beside the one that does not, and a section covers the letter of reflection the Board may ask for. Ten sections with a reflective quiz after each of the first nine, a post-course assessment, and a dated certificate from Healthcare Ethics Courses for your annual self-reflective review. Remediation, not advice: no course decides a matter, and your indemnity insurer, professional society or a lawyer should read anything before it goes to the Board.

Four principles and a process

The Code of Ethics for Psychologists Working in Aotearoa/New Zealand is the one code in New Zealand health regulation that tells its members how to decide when its principles conflict. Its four — respect for the dignity of persons and peoples, responsible caring, integrity in relationships, and social justice — are ranked, and the Code expects the decision-making process to be documented. The course maps the four principles of health ethics onto the Code’s four, so you can reason in either vocabulary and cite the one the Board will apply.

Three things are psychology-specific. The relationship: closer, longer and more unequal than any other health profession’s, so dual relationships and endings carry more weight. The third party: psychologists write for courts, funders and employers about people who did not choose them. Supervision: where the Code expects ethical decisions to be tested, and where the Board looks for evidence that they were.

What these words mean

The three terms that decide where a matter goes, and the other words the course uses.

Professional Conduct Committee
The committee the Council or Board appoints under s 71 of the Act to investigate a conduct concern: two members of the profession and a layperson with a legal adviser. It asks for your written response, may hear from you, and recommends anything from no further action, through counselling and a competence or health review, to a charge before the Tribunal (s 80).
Professional misconduct
The Tribunal’s ground under s 100 of the Act: malpractice or negligence in your scope of practice, or conduct that has brought or was likely to bring discredit to the profession. Dishonesty, a boundary breach and a breach of confidence are among the findings made under it.
Letter of reflection
The document the Board’s Committee may ask for before deciding anything further, so that it understands how you see what happened. An account of the event, the principles engaged, the effect and what has changed — not a defence and not an apology.
The three routes under the HPCA Act
Fitness to practise is the phrase practitioners use for the whole process. Under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 the Council or Board takes one of three routes: a competence review (your practice against the required standard); the health process — the Act’s fitness to practise provisions, for impairment by a mental or physical condition; or a referral of your conduct to a Professional Conduct Committee, which can lay a charge of professional misconduct before the Tribunal. Which route your letter names tells you how the matter is being treated.
The Code’s four principles, cultural competence and the other terms the course uses
Respect for the dignity of persons and peoples
The Code’s first principle and, where principles conflict, generally the weightiest: autonomy, informed consent, privacy and confidentiality, non-discrimination, and the standing of Māori as tangata whenua. The principle a consent or confidentiality complaint often engages.
Responsible caring
The Code’s second principle: competence, the limits of competence, the welfare of the client and of others, the psychologist’s own fitness, and the ending of care. The principle a competence review, a fitness review or an abandonment complaint often engages.
Integrity in relationships
The Code’s third principle: honesty, accuracy in records, claims and reports, avoidance of conflicts of interest, and the management of dual relationships. The principle a probity or boundary complaint engages.
Social justice and responsibility to society
The Code’s fourth principle: fairness in access and treatment, respect for the law, and the profession’s standing. The principle engaged by reports for courts and by decisions about who is seen and for how long.
Ethical decision-making process
The Code’s own sequence for a conflict of principles — identify the issue, the parties, the principles, the options and their consequences; decide; act; review — and its expectation that the process be documented. What a Committee reads a response for.
Dual relationship
Any relationship with a client, former client or their family alongside the therapeutic one. The Code prohibits some outright, requires judgement and documentation for the rest, and places the responsibility with the psychologist whoever initiated it.
Cultural competence
A Core Competency and part of the Code’s first principle: practice that Māori clients and whānau experience as safe and respectful, the limits of imported norms and tests acknowledged, a cultural adviser sought where needed. In a complaint, an ethical matter rather than a matter of manners.

The provisions an ethics concern about a psychologist engages

The Psychologists Board publishes its own standards of ethical conduct under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, and an ethics notification about a psychologist is measured against them. These are the standard itself and the provisions of the Act the notification runs under.

Psychologists Board — Code of Ethics for Psychologists Working in Aotearoa/New Zealand

The Code of Ethics for Psychologists Working in Aotearoa/New Zealand (2002) — four principles, ranked where they conflict, with a documented decision-making process — read with the Core Competencies and the Best Practice Guidelines on consent, records, supervision and report writing. Read it.

For this course: The course maps the four principles onto the Code of Ethics’ own four — respect for the dignity of persons and peoples, responsible caring, integrity in relationships, social justice and responsibility to society — so that a response cites the Code by principle.

Section 71 — referral to a Professional Conduct Committee

An ethics concern is a conduct concern — a report, a dual relationship, a confidence, a claim — and is referred to a Professional Conduct Committee of two psychologists and a layperson, which investigates independently and asks for your written response. Read it.

For this course: An ethics concern about a psychologist — a dual relationship, a confidence, a report, a boundary — is referred here as conduct, and the course explains what the Committee will look at.

Section 100 — the grounds of discipline

The Tribunal may discipline for professional misconduct — malpractice or negligence, or conduct likely to bring discredit to the profession — among other grounds. A breach of professional boundaries is the psychology conduct most recently found to reach it, with registration cancelled. Read it.

For this course: Dual relationships, breaches of confidentiality and dishonesty in reports can each reach this threshold.

Section 101 — the penalties

Censure, conditions, suspension for up to three years, cancellation of registration, a fine of up to NZ$30,000 and costs. Insight and remediation are weighed every time, and an ethics course completed before the hearing is dated evidence of them. Read it.

For this course: The Tribunal’s penalty decisions about psychologists weigh insight into the power in the relationship; the course is about showing it.

Also engaged: Section 118 — the Board sets the Code and the Core Competencies a complaint is measured against · Section 80 — what a Professional Conduct Committee may recommend, from counselling to a charge · Section 36 — a competence review by a Panel where a pattern of judgement, or a report outside competence, is the concern.

Not a psychologist? New Zealand regulates 18 professions under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, and the process is the same for all — courses for every registered profession →

Frequently asked questions

What does the Committee want in a response to an ethics complaint?

The reasoning, in the Code’s own shape: the parties, the principles engaged, where they conflicted, which prevailed and why, what supervision was sought, the effect, and what you would weigh differently now — with the principle named by you first.

The Board has asked me for a letter of reflection. What is it, and what should it contain?

The Committee asks for it before deciding anything further, so that it understands how you see what happened; it may close the matter on reading it. It should describe the event, name the principles in the Code’s words, say which gave way and why, say what supervision was sought, describe the effect on the client, and say what has changed — without arguing the complaint.

Should someone read my response before I send it?

Yes. Your indemnity insurer, your professional society or a lawyer should see anything before it goes to the Board, its Committee, a Panel, a Professional Conduct Committee, the Tribunal or your employer — the ten working days are enough. Nothing on this page is legal advice, and no course determines the outcome of a matter.

Will the Psychologists Board or its Committee accept this course as remediation?

No provider is accredited by the Psychologists Board, and no course decides a matter. What the Committee, a Panel and the Tribunal weigh is dated, targeted remediation with reflection that engages the standard — and this course is written to the Code of Ethics and the Core Competencies, so the connection is plain. Check the wording of any direction with your indemnity insurer, professional society or lawyer before you rely on it.

A client disclosed a risk to someone else and I broke confidentiality. Now there is a complaint. Was I wrong?

The Code and the Health Information Privacy Code both permit disclosure to prevent a serious threat to someone’s life or health. The Board will look at whether the threat was serious and imminent, whether the disclosure was limited and made to someone who could act, whether the client was told where possible, whether supervision was sought, and whether it was documented.

A former client wants to stay in touch. Where does the Code set the limit?

The Code treats a sexual relationship with a current client as prohibited, and with a former client as prohibited for a period and presumptively harmful after it; other dual relationships need judgement, documentation and usually supervision. The responsibility is yours whoever initiated it.

I ended therapy with a client when the funded sessions ran out. Is that abandonment?

It can be, and responsible caring includes the ending. The Board looks at whether the ending was planned and discussed, whether the client was referred on or told how to return, whether the risk was assessed, and whether the record shows it.

Is cultural competence really an ethical standard?

Yes. Respect for the dignity of persons and peoples is the Code’s first principle and names the standing of Māori as tangata whenua; cultural competence is a Core Competency; and the Board appoints cultural advisers to its review panels. Remediation is expected to involve a cultural adviser.

The complaint is about a report I wrote for the Family Court. Is that an ethics matter?

Yes — and reports to courts and funders are behind more than a third of complaints to the Board. The Guideline on specialist report writing expects objectivity, competence within your scope, fairness to every party and clarity about the limits of the assessment.

How is this course different from the Professionalism course for psychologists?

This course is about the reasoning behind a decision, through the Code’s process — confidentiality, consent, endings, reports, conscience. The Professionalism course is about conduct — dual relationships as behaviour, honesty in records and claims, communication, supervision, scope.

How long does it take, and how long do I have access?

The course is 2 CPD hours, self-paced, with twelve months’ access from purchase. The certificate is issued on completion, dated, with the course title and the CPD hours, for your annual self-reflective review, a competence programme or a response.

Notifications rarely raise one issue. These are the courses that pair with this one.

Professionalism and Professional Standards for Psychologists

A Psychologists Board notification: boundaries, dual relationships, consent, records or honesty, under the Code of Ethics and Core Competencies. 2 hrs.

2 CPD hours · NZ$200

Confidentiality in Healthcare Practice

Confidentiality and privacy course for NZ health practitioners facing a notification or privacy concern under the Health Information Privacy Code. 2 hours.

2 CPD hours · NZ$200

Privacy, Consent and Chaperone in Healthcare Practice

Consent, privacy and the presence of another person during an examination: for NZ practitioners facing an allegation about an examination. 2 CPD hours.

2 CPD hours · NZ$200

Documentation for Healthcare Professionals

Clinical documentation and health records course for NZ health practitioners facing a notification about records, late entries or amendments. 2 CPD hours.

2 CPD hours · NZ$200

Effective Communication for Healthcare Professionals

Communication course for NZ health practitioners facing a notification about manner, omission, honesty, explanation or handover. 2 CPD hours, NZ$200.

2 CPD hours · NZ$200

Dealing with a Complaint or Investigation Professionally

Responding to a complaint, notification, competence review or conduct committee in NZ: the first letter, the meeting, what to write. 2 CPD hours.

2 CPD hours · NZ$200

Rebuilding Trust of Patients, Colleagues, the Public and the Regulator

After a notification, conditions or a Tribunal finding in NZ, what is assessed is what you did next: insight, remediation, evidence of change. 2 CPD hours.

2 CPD hours · NZ$200

Ethics and Ethical Standards for Psychologists

This course. Decisions under conflicting obligations, confidentiality and risk, consent, continuity, open disclosure, supervision, and the record of reasoning the code requires.

2 CPD hours · You are here

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