Psychologists Board notification · Written to Code of Ethics
Professionalism and Professional Standards for Psychologists for Psychologists facing a Psychologists Board investigation, complaint or allegation
The allegation concerns your professionalism, behaviour or conduct as a psychologist.
- Boundaries — a boundaries breach with a patient or a colleague
- Dishonesty — notes back-dated, or a claim or supervision record untrue
- Communication — a session ended badly, or a message between sessions
- Confidentiality — client material overheard, posted or shared
- Scope — work outside your training, competence or scope
- Registration — no current practising certificate, or a CCP audit failed
- Reports — a Family Court or ACC report that reads as advocacy
- Any other — professional concern or allegation of unprofessional conduct
Facing an allegation of unprofessional 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 professional behaviour or conduct — an allegation of unprofessional behaviour or conduct
- 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, 48 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
Certificate issued by Healthcare Ethics CoursesRemediation courses for regulatory processes.
Who this course is for
Facing an allegation of unprofessional behaviour or conduct
The Board’s letter says how a session ended, a message between sessions, a report, a boundary or a record fell short of the Code of Ethics. This course is how you account for it — 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. Many complaints close at the Committee stage; 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
Professional boundaries and dual relationships
A friendship that began as therapy, a business arrangement with a client, a relationship with a former client, gifts, self-disclosure that served the psychologist, contact outside sessions. The Code’s principle of integrity in relationships places the responsibility with the psychologist — and a boundary breach is what most recently ended a registration at the Tribunal.
Probity and an allegation of dishonesty
Session notes written weeks later and dated as contemporaneous, an ACC claim for a session that did not run its length, supervision recorded that did not happen, a qualification or a scope overstated. The Board treats dishonesty as misconduct whatever the clinical outcome.
Communication and respect
A client left without an explanation when therapy ended, a diagnosis delivered without care, a client spoken about in front of family without agreement, a message between sessions that should not have been sent. The Code’s first principle — respect for the dignity of persons and peoples — carries communication.
Confidentiality, records and the screen
A client’s material discussed where it can be overheard, a file left accessible, a telehealth session from a shared space, a post a small community can identify, test materials shared. The Code and the Guideline on record keeping apply online without change.
Working outside scope or competence
A neuropsychological assessment by a psychologist not trained in it, a population outside your training assessed anyway, a therapy offered without the training, a scope claimed that the register does not show. The Core Competencies set the measure, and competence review is a route the Board uses often.
Registration, recertification and supervision
Practising without a current practising certificate, a continuing competence audit failed, supervision lapsed or nominal, a caseload no one could hold safely. Each produces complaints of its own, and the Board reads a psychologist’s supervision record as evidence of professionalism in itself.
Reports, courts and third parties
A Family Court specialist report that reads as advocacy, an assessment of a person not seen, an opinion outside competence, a report shared with someone who should not have had it. Reports to courts and funders are behind more than a third of complaints to the Board, and its Guideline on report writing is the measure.
Cultural safety and any other concern
A Māori client assessed without whānau, tikanga or te reo considered, a test normed elsewhere applied without comment, a cultural adviser not sought. Any allegation of unprofessional behaviour or conduct is measured against a principle of the Code or a Guideline — the course shows you how to find it and answer it.
Facing a Psychologists Board investigation, complaint or allegation? This course helps you remediate — and demonstrate it.
Buy this course — NZ$200What the course covers
Ten sections and 48 lessons, with a reflective quiz closing each of the first nine and a post-course assessment at the end.
Introduction to Professionalism in Psychological Practice
Five lessons
Core Attributes of Professionalism
Five lessons
Professional Boundaries and Therapeutic Relationships
Five lessons
Communication and Professional Conduct
Five lessons
Documentation and Record Keeping
Five lessons
Professionalism in Challenging Situations
Five lessons
Breaches of Professional Standards
Six lessons
Professionalism in Competence Reviews and Fitness to Practise
Five lessons
Maintaining Professional Standards Long-Term
Five lessons
Conclusion and Key Takeaways
Key takeaways and the post-course assessment
Show every lesson title
- Section 01 · Introduction to Professionalism in Psychological Practice
- Definition of Professionalism in Psychology; Why Professionalism Matters in Psychological Care; Role of the HPCA Act and the Psychologists Board; Professionalism, Competence, and Fitness to Practise; Common Professionalism Concerns in Psychological Practice.
- Section 02 · Core Attributes of Professionalism
- Integrity and Honesty; Accountability and Responsibility; Respect, Empathy, and Client-Centred Care; Cultural Safety in New Zealand Practice; Maintaining Professional Competence.
- 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 · Communication and Professional Conduct
- Communication Standards in Psychological Practice; Managing Difficult Conversations; Professional Behaviour in Clinical Settings; Managing Conflict with Clients and Colleagues; Maintaining Professional Demeanour.
- Section 05 · Documentation and Record Keeping
- Importance of Accurate Clinical Records; Standards for Documentation; Common Documentation Errors and Risks; Record Keeping in Complaints and Competence Reviews; Confidentiality and Data Protection in Records.
- Section 06 · Professionalism in Challenging Situations
- Managing Risk: Self-Harm and Harm to Others; Responding to Complaints Professionally; Maintaining Professionalism Under Pressure; Managing Errors and Adverse Events; Seeking Supervision and Support.
- Section 07 · Breaches of Professional Standards
- Types of Professional Misconduct; Dishonesty, Probity, and Integrity Concerns; Boundary Violations and Ethical Risks; Communication and Conduct Failures; Cultural Safety Failures; Impact on Clients and Public Trust.
- Section 08 · Professionalism in Competence Reviews and Fitness to Practise
- Understanding Complaints and Competence Concerns; Professional Conduct During Reviews and Investigations; Insight and Accountability; Reflection and Remediation; Maintaining Professionalism Throughout the Process.
- Section 09 · Maintaining Professional Standards Long-Term
- Developing Professional Habits in Daily Practice; Reflective Practice and Continuous Improvement; Supervision and Peer Support; Maintaining Competence and Scope of Practice; Sustaining Client 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 Board’s Committee, a Competence Review Panel, a Professional Conduct Committee and the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal all read the same response — and the letter of reflection, if one is asked for. Both have to do four things.
The response is read for the facts; the letter of reflection is read for you.
- The factsThe events in order, plainly, with the record cited — not the client’s presentation as an explanation.Weak and strong responses to the same events show the tone that works.
- Which principle or GuidelineIntegrity in relationships for the boundary, responsible caring for the supervision that lapsed, the Guideline on report writing for the partial report — named by you first.The course takes the Code’s principles and the Guidelines as behaviour, so you can name the one that applies.
- The effectOn the client in the client’s terms, rather than in formulation.The letter of reflection has a section of its own, with a weak and a strong one side by side.
- What a supervisor can confirmSomething changed, with dates, that a supervisor can confirm in writing.This course is the dated item you attach — and it tells you how to build the rest.
A reflection that reads as a defence is not a reflection — and do not send the first draft.
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$200How this course helps with a Psychologists Board investigation
The Committee asks whether the next client is safe with you, and reads your reflection for the answer
The Board’s purpose is public safety, so its Committee asks whether the psychologist will behave differently, and answers from three things: reflection specific to the event, insight that accepts the seriousness without qualification, and remediation a supervisor can verify. Paired responses — notes written weeks later, a friendship with a client, a partial report, a session ended badly, supervision that did not happen, a post — and case studies from private practice, a health service, a prison and the Family Court make the difference visible before you write.
Remediation a Panel, a Committee or your supervisor can verify
This course records two dated CPD hours on the standard itself. It also sets out the rest of a psychology remediation portfolio: a supervisor’s written reports on the specific concern; an audit of records, invoices or reports repeated after an interval; client feedback gathered on purpose; consultation with a cultural adviser where it is engaged; and reflection that cites the Code by principle and the Guideline by name. For the stages from the first letter to the Tribunal, see the Council and Board investigation process, explained.
Read the primary sources
- Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 — the Act
- Code of Ethics for Psychologists Working in Aotearoa/New Zealand — The code
- Core Competencies for Psychologists — Standards
- Best Practice Guidelines — Guidelines
- Possible outcomes — Fitness to practise
- Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal — decisions
Who wrote it
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
Professionalism and Professional Standards for Psychologists is a two-hour, self-paced remediation course for psychologists registered with the New Zealand Psychologists Board facing a notification, investigation, complaint or allegation, written to the Board’s Code of Ethics, Core Competencies and Best Practice Guidelines. It sets out what the Board means by professionalism — four principles and the competencies and guidelines that give them content — the lapses complaints about psychologists often describe — boundaries and dual relationships, honesty in notes, claims and supervision records, reports for courts and third parties, communication, confidentiality and records, scope, supervision and fitness, cultural safety — and what a credible written response and letter of reflection contain for the Conduct, Competence and Fitness Committee, a Competence Review Panel, a Professional Conduct Committee or the Tribunal. Ten sections, the first nine closing with a reflective quiz, a post-course assessment, and a dated certificate from Healthcare Ethics Courses for your annual self-reflective review. It is remediation and dated evidence of it; it decides no matter, and it is not a substitute for advice from your indemnity insurer, your professional society or a lawyer.
What the Psychologists Board means by professionalism
The Code of Ethics does not describe professionalism as a trait; it describes four principles — respect for the dignity of persons and peoples, responsible caring, integrity in relationships, and social justice — each with values that can be observed, recorded and, when absent, complained about. The Core Competencies add what a Competence Review Panel measures, and the Best Practice Guidelines say what the Board expects on supervision, consent, record keeping and report writing.
Three features of psychology run through it. The relationship: closer, longer and more unequal than any other health profession’s, so the Code’s expectations on boundaries and dual relationships are detailed. The report: psychologists write for courts, funders and employers about people who did not choose them. Supervision: the Board’s chosen safeguard, read as evidence of professionalism in itself.
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
- A document the Committee may ask for before deciding anything further, so that it understands how you see what happened. Not a defence and not an apology: an account of the event, the principle engaged, the effect, and what has changed. The most consequential document in the process.
- 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, the Core Competencies, the Guidelines and the other terms the course uses
- Code of Ethics
- The Code of Ethics for Psychologists Working in Aotearoa/New Zealand, adopted by the Board: four principles, each with values and practice implications. The document a complaint is measured against, and the one a response should cite by principle.
- Core Competencies
- The Board’s statement of what a competent psychologist knows and does, including professional behaviour and cultural competence. The measure a Competence Review Panel applies, and the frame for the annual self-reflective review.
- Best Practice Guidelines
- The Board’s guidelines on particular subjects — supervision, informed consent, record keeping, specialist report writing for the Family Court, and others. Each is a document a psychologist may be measured against, and the course cites the one that applies.
- Conduct, Competence and Fitness Committee
- The Board committee that receives your written response and decides what follows: closure, an advisory or educational letter, a request for a letter of reflection, or a referral to a Competence Review Panel, a fitness review or a Professional Conduct Committee.
- Competence Review Panel
- Two psychologists with expertise in your areas of practice, with a cultural adviser where appropriate, reviewing your practice against the Core Competencies through files, written work, clinical discussion and interviews, usually over several sessions.
- Dual relationship
- Any relationship with a client, former client or their family alongside the therapeutic one — social, financial, sexual, supervisory. The Code treats some as prohibited and the rest as requiring judgement and documentation; the responsibility for the boundary sits with the psychologist.
- Remediation
- Corrective action targeted to the lapse and verifiable by someone else: CPD on the principle concerned, supervision focused on the concern with written reports, an audit of records or reports repeated over time, feedback gathered on purpose. CPD hours on an unrelated subject count for little on their own.
The provisions a professionalism concern about a psychologist engages
Professionalism is conduct, and the Psychologists Board’s standards say what professional conduct is for the profession. These are the standard itself and the provisions of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 a professionalism notification about a psychologist 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), which the Board, the Tribunal and the courts reference, with the Core Competencies and the Best Practice Guidelines. Every professionalism complaint about a psychologist names a part of it. Read it.
For this course: The course takes the Code of Ethics as behaviour in the room, the report and the record, so that a response names the principle the conduct fell short of.
Section 71 — referral to a Professional Conduct Committee
A conduct concern — a boundary, a record, a report, behaviour towards a client — is referred to a Professional Conduct Committee of two psychologists and a layperson, which investigates independently, asks for your response and usually meets you. Read it.
For this course: A professionalism concern is a conduct concern and is referred here; the course explains what the Committee will ask for.
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: Conduct that brings discredit to the profession is a ground of discipline, and the course explains how it has been applied to psychologists.
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. Read it.
For this course: The Tribunal’s penalties in psychology conduct cases weigh pattern and insight; the course teaches the evidence for the second.
Also engaged: Section 118 — the Board sets the Code and the Core Competencies a complaint is measured against · Section 34 — practitioners and employers must notify a risk of harm · Section 80 — what a Professional Conduct Committee may recommend, from counselling to a charge · Section 36 — a competence review by a Panel where professionalism and competence overlap.
What happens after a complaint reaches the Psychologists Board
The stages a complaint about a psychologist can pass through. At every one the same evidence is read: a specific reflection, insight that does not qualify itself, and remediation a supervisor can confirm — the earlier it exists, the earlier the matter ends.
The complaint arrives and the Board invites your response
A client, a family member, a colleague, an employer, the courts or the Family Court writes to the Board, which sends you a copy and invites your written response, usually within ten working days. The Conduct, Competence and Fitness Committee considers the two together, and many complaints close with no further action or an advisory or educational letter.
The letter of reflection
Before deciding anything further the Committee may ask for a letter of reflection, so that it understands how you see what happened, and reassess on reading it. It is the most consequential document in the process.
A Competence Review Panel
Two psychologists with expertise in your area, with a cultural adviser where appropriate, review your files, reports and clinical discussion against the Core Competencies. The Board refers practitioners to competence review often, and a competence programme with conditions may follow.
A fitness review
Where a condition may affect your practice, the complaint is closed and you are referred to a fitness review with an appropriate specialist under the Act’s fitness to practise provisions — a health process, with conditions or monitoring where needed.
A Professional Conduct Committee
Dishonesty in notes, claims or a report, a dual relationship, a serious breach of confidentiality or a conviction: two psychologists and a layperson investigate independently, read your response, usually meet you, and recommend anything from no further action to a charge before the Tribunal.
The Tribunal
A legally qualified chair, three psychologists and a layperson hear the charge, usually in public. Boundary breaches have ended registrations; insight and remediation are weighed in every decision, and any order — or an interim suspension or condition imposed along the way — is reviewed against what has changed.
Facing a Psychologists Board investigation, complaint or allegation? This course helps you remediate — and demonstrate it.
Buy this course — NZ$200Not 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 to see in my written response?
The events in order and plainly; the principle of the Code or the Guideline you fell short of, named by you first; the effect on the client in their terms; what you have done since, with dates and a supervisor’s confirmation; and what would be different next time.
The Board has asked me for a letter of reflection. What is it for, and what should it say?
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 or refer it on. It should describe the events plainly, name the principle of the Code or the Guideline, say what the effect was on the client, and say what has changed — without arguing the complaint.
Should I take advice before I respond to the Board?
Yes — before anything is written to the Board, its Committee, a Panel, a Professional Conduct Committee, the Tribunal or your employer; the ten working days are time enough. Nothing on this page is legal advice, and no course determines the outcome of a matter.
Does completing this course count as remediation?
It is one dated item. Remediation the Board recognises is targeted to the lapse and checkable by someone else — CPD on the principle, focused supervision with written reports, an audit repeated after an interval, feedback gathered on purpose, and reflection that cites the Code. No provider is accredited by the Board and no course decides a matter; check the wording of any direction with your indemnity insurer, professional society or lawyer.
A former client and I are now friends. Is that a boundary problem?
It can be, and the Code places the responsibility with you. The Board looks at the nature and length of the therapy, the time since it ended, the client’s vulnerability and the power that remains, and expects the decision to have been thought through and discussed in supervision.
I wrote my session notes up weeks later. Is that dishonesty?
Notes written later and dated as later are a record-keeping lapse the Guideline addresses. Notes dated as contemporaneous when they were not, or altered after a complaint, turn it into a question of integrity, which the Board treats as misconduct regardless of harm.
Is cultural safety a conduct matter for psychologists?
Yes. Cultural competence is a Core Competency, respect for the dignity of persons and peoples is the Code’s first principle, and the Board appoints cultural advisers to its review panels. A complaint about a Māori client assessed without whānau or tikanga is a professionalism complaint, with its own section in the course.
The complaint is about a report I wrote for the Family Court. Is that professionalism?
Yes — and reports to courts and funders are behind more than a third of complaints to the Board. A report said to read as advocacy, to assess someone not seen, or to go beyond your competence is a professionalism complaint under the Guideline on specialist report writing.
How is this course different from the Ethics course for psychologists?
The Ethics course is about the reasoning — confidentiality against risk, consent, endings, reports, the Code’s decision-making process. This course is about conduct: the behaviours the Code and the Guidelines require, and the response, the letter of reflection and the remediation a professionalism matter calls for.
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.
Courses that work alongside this one
Notifications rarely raise one issue. These are the courses that pair with this one.
Ethics and Ethical Standards for Psychologists
A Psychologists Board complaint about a decision under conflicting obligations, confidentiality and risk, consent or supervision. Code of Ethics. 2 CPD hrs.
Social Media Professionalism and Boundaries for Healthcare Professionals
Social media course for NZ health practitioners facing a notification about a post, online contact with a patient, or advertising. 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.
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.
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.
Duty of Candour for Healthcare Professionals
Open disclosure course for NZ health practitioners facing a notification about non-disclosure, delay, a minimised account or a missing apology. 2 CPD hours.
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.
See all CPD courses for healthcare professionals in New Zealand →
Start today, finish at your own pace
Immediate access on purchase. Twelve months' access, a dated certificate on completion, and 2 CPD hours issued by Healthcare Ethics Courses.