When the New Zealand Psychologists Board receives a complaint or notification about you, it decides which route under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (the HPCA Act) the concern belongs on: competence, health or conduct. It writes to you with the concern, asks for your written response by a date, and then decides whether to close the matter, order a competence review, refer it to its health process or appoint a Professional Conduct Committee. While a matter is open it can suspend your practising certificate or place conditions on it. Call your indemnity insurer the same day, keep your client file as it stands, do not contact the complainant, and reply before the date with a response written against the file, the Code of Ethics and the Core Competencies.
Where a complaint comes from
A complaint about a psychologist can come from a client or their whānau, a party to a court or agency matter in which you wrote a report, a colleague, a supervisee, an employer, a referrer such as ACC, the Health and Disability Commissioner or another agency. Two routes are mandatory under the HPCA Act. An employer must notify the Board when a psychologist resigns or is dismissed for reasons relating to competence (section 34), and a practitioner or employer who believes a psychologist may be unable to practise safely because of a mental or physical condition must notify the Registrar (section 45). The guide to a mandatory employer notification covers how the employment and Board processes run side by side.
Write the concern in the Board's letter out in one sentence of your own. That is the sentence your response has to answer.
The three routes
Competence. If the concern is that your practice may not meet the required standard, the Board can order a competence review under section 36 of the HPCA Act. Reviewers look at your files, assessments, reports and supervision arrangements, can interview you, and report to the Board. The guide to what happens in a competence review covers the review and the competence programme that can follow it.
Health. If the concern is that a mental or physical condition may affect your ability to practise, the Board's health process applies. The Board can require an examination, accept voluntary undertakings and set conditions. The guide to the health process under the HPCA Act explains it.
Conduct. If the concern is about behaviour, the Board can appoint a Professional Conduct Committee under Part 4 of the Act. The Committee investigates, hears from you, and recommends an outcome to the Board or lays a charge before the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal. The guide to how a Professional Conduct Committee process runs sets out each stage.
What the Board measures you against
The Board assesses conduct against the Code of Ethics for Psychologists Working in Aotearoa New Zealand and competence against its Core Competencies for the practice of psychology. The Code is built on four principles: respect for the dignity of persons and peoples, responsible caring, integrity in relationships, and social justice and responsibility to society, with values and practice implications beneath each. The Core Competencies include cultural competence, and the Board expects practice that honours Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights applies alongside both. Find the principle the allegation engages before you write.
The concerns a psychologist can face
- Boundaries and dual relationships. A boundary with a client or a colleague, including dual relationships with a client who is also a friend, a business contact or a family member, contact outside sessions, social media, gifts, self-disclosure, and a relationship after therapy ends. The guide to a professional boundaries concern covers how the Board and the Tribunal treat these.
- Confidentiality and risk. Information shared without consent or a lawful reason, or a disclosure made because of risk that the client says went too far. The guide to a confidentiality or privacy concern covers the Privacy Act 2020 and the Health Information Privacy Code 2020.
- Reports for courts and agencies. An opinion that goes beyond the information gathered, a party who was not seen or not given the chance to respond, a report outside your area of competence, or a report that does not state its limits.
- Consent. An assessment or intervention started without the client understanding its purpose, who would see the results, or the limits of confidentiality.
- Supervision and records. Practice without the supervision the Board expects, a supervisee whose work you did not oversee, or notes that do not show your reasoning. The guide to a clinical records concern covers how files are read.
What happens, step by step
- The letter arrives. The Board sends you the concern, the material and a date. Call your indemnity insurer that day and gather your file, reports, correspondence and supervision notes.
- You respond in writing. Facts from the file with references, your reasoning at the time, what fell short, what you have done since with evidence, and what you have understood, in the terms of the Code and the Core Competencies. The guide to how to write a response to a Board notification gives the structure.
- The Board decides the route. On your response, the file and any further enquiries, it decides whether to close the matter, write to you with advice, order a competence review, refer the matter to its health process or appoint a Professional Conduct Committee.
- The review or investigation runs. Reviewers report to the Board on competence. A Professional Conduct Committee gathers documents, can obtain an independent professional opinion, can interview you and witnesses, and puts its concerns to you before it decides.
- You are heard before any order. Before the Board sets a programme, imposes conditions or makes an interim order, it tells you what it proposes and gives you the chance to respond.
- The outcome is recorded. The Board tells you its decision, what it has told your employer and what appears on the register. A charge laid by a Committee goes to the Tribunal.
Interim suspension and conditions
While a Professional Conduct Committee investigation is open, section 69 of the HPCA Act lets the Board suspend your practising certificate or place conditions on it if it is satisfied that is needed to protect the public. You are entitled to be heard first. A psychologist who has increased supervision with a named supervisor, stopped the type of work the concern relates to, and set that out in writing gives the Board a reason to prefer conditions to suspension. The guide to interim suspension and conditions on practice covers the risk test.
What you can do now
- Get advice the same day. Your indemnity insurer, the New Zealand Psychological Society or the New Zealand College of Clinical Psychologists if you are a member, or a lawyer, before you put anything in writing to the Board or your employer.
- Keep the file as it stands. Session notes, assessment materials, reports, consent forms, correspondence and supervision records.
- Take it to supervision. Discuss the concern with your supervisor without client details and keep a dated record of what you have reflected on.
- Start remediation before you reply. A written reflection against the Code, changes to how you contract, record and report, and courses completed with dated certificates. Completed steps are evidence; intended steps are promises.
The outcomes
After a competence review the Board can find the standard is met, set a competence programme or place conditions on your practising certificate, such as increased supervision or a restriction on a type of work. On the health route it can accept undertakings or set conditions. A Professional Conduct Committee can recommend no further action, counselling, a competence review or conditions, or lay a charge before the Tribunal. The Tribunal can cancel or suspend registration (suspension for up to three years), impose conditions, censure, fine and award costs. The guide to a Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal hearing describes what it weighs.
Where remediation fits
The part of a Board matter you control is what you have done since the complaint was raised. Courses completed before your response goes, with dated certificates attached, are evidence that you have engaged with the Code. Ethics for Psychologists and Professionalism for Psychologists are written against the Code of Ethics for Psychologists, so a certificate from either answers a concern framed in the Board's terms. Insight for Fitness to Practise and Reflection for Fitness to Practise cover how to show the Board what you understand and how to write it down.
Each course is NZ$200, takes 2 CPD hours, is self-paced with immediate access, and ends with a dated certificate issued by Healthcare Ethics Courses that you can submit to the Board or put in your remediation plan. The remediation courses for psychologists facing a Board investigation are listed on one page, and the Council and Board investigation process explained shows where each course sits. The guide to showing insight and building a remediation plan explains how to present the certificates with the rest of your evidence, and the guide to what happens after a notification to any Council or Board gives the whole HPCA Act process.
Sources and further reading
- New Zealand Psychologists Board: the Code of Ethics, the Core Competencies, and the Board's pages on complaints, competence and health.
- Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003: sections 34, 36, 45 and 69 and Part 4 on Professional Conduct Committees and the Tribunal.
- Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal: published decisions involving psychologists, with the penalties imposed and the weight given to insight and remediation.
- Health and Disability Commissioner: how a complaint about a psychologist is assessed and how it reaches the Board.
Frequently asked questions
A party to a court matter has complained about my report. What will the Board look at?
The Board looks at whether the report kept to your role and your competence, whether its opinions rest on the information you gathered and say where that information came from, whether you saw or sought the views of the people the report is about, and whether it states its limits. A complaint from a dissatisfied party is not proof of a fault, but the Board will read the report and your file closely. Answer from the file, not from the court outcome.
I disclosed information because I was worried about risk. Can that lead to a complaint?
It can, and the Board will ask whether the disclosure was justified and kept to what was needed. The Health Information Privacy Code 2020 permits disclosure in limited circumstances, including where it is needed to prevent or lessen a serious threat to health or safety. Your response should show the risk you assessed, who you consulted, why you disclosed what you did to whom, and how you recorded the decision at the time.
What does the Board mean by dual relationships?
A dual relationship is any second relationship alongside the professional one: a client who is also a friend, a business contact or a family member, a supervisee you also assess, or a colleague you also treat. The Code of Ethics asks you to avoid those that risk harm or impair your judgement, and to manage and record the ones you cannot avoid. A boundary with a client or a colleague is read in the same way.
What does the Psychologists Board expect in my written response?
An account of the facts from your file with references, your reasoning at the time, a plain acknowledgement of anything that fell short, what you have done since with evidence, and what you have understood, written in the terms of the Code of Ethics and the Core Competencies. Keep a level tone, make no comment about the complainant or their wellbeing, and send nothing your adviser has not read. Do not include client information the Board has not asked for.
Who should I contact first after a letter from the Psychologists Board?
Your indemnity insurer, the day the letter arrives, and the New Zealand Psychological Society or the New Zealand College of Clinical Psychologists if you are a member. Either can tell you whether a lawyer should be instructed. Do this before you write anything to the Board or your employer. Speak to your clinical supervisor as well, keeping client details out of the conversation, since supervision will be part of the evidence you rely on.