Therapists of New York Grievances Procedure

Therapists of New York (TNY) is fully committed to conducting all activities in strict conformance with the American Psychological Association's Ethical Principles of Psychologists. Therapists of New York (TNY) will comply with all legal and ethical responsibilities to be non-discriminatory in promotional activities, program content and in the treatment of program participants. The monitoring and assessment of compliance with these standards will be the responsibility of the Education Director, Dr. Ali Shames-Dawson, in consultation with the members of the Education Committee and DEI Committee.

While Therapists of New York (TNY) goes to great lengths to assure fair treatment for all participants and attempts to anticipate problems, there will be occasional issues that come to the attention of the Education Committee which may require intervention and/or action on the part of the Education Committee and/or CE coordinators. This procedural description serves as a guideline for handling such grievances:

  1. When a participant, either orally or in written format, files a grievance and expects action to address the complaint, the following actions will be taken:

    1. If the grievance concerns an instructor, the content presented, or the style of presentation, the individual filing the grievance will be asked to put their comments in written format via email to the Manager of Special Projects and Operations, Tess Büchler. 

    2. The Director of Education, Dr. Shames-Dawson and/or CE Curriculum and Training Manager, Dr. Molly Duffy will then pass on these comments to the instructor, assuring the confidentiality of the grieved individual. If the complaint happens to involve either Drs. Shames-Dawson or Duffy, who may on occasion themselves conduct courses, then one of the Educational Consultants will be asked to manage the complaint instead. 

  2.  If the grievance concerns a workshop offering, its content, level of presentation, or the facilities in which the workshop was offered, the Director of Education, Dr. Shames-Dawson and/or Practice Owner and Educational Consultant, Dr. Elinor Bock will mediate and will be the final arbitrators.

    1. If the participant requests action, the Practice Owner and Educational Consultant, Dr. Bock will:

      1. attempt to move the participant to another workshop or

      2. *provide a credit for a subsequent workshop or

      3. *provide a partial or full refund of the workshop fee.

*Actions a.ii and a.iii will require a written note, documenting the grievance, for record keeping purposes. The note need not be signed by the grieved individual.

  1. If the grievance concerns Therapists of New York (TNY) CE Program, in a specific regard, the Director of Education and/or Practice Owner and Educational Consultant will attempt to arbitrate.

Contact name(s): Drs. Ali Shames-Dawson and Elinor Bock
Email(s): ashamesdawson@therapistsofny.com; ebock@therapistsofny.com
Telephone number: 646-494-4455 (Office)
Address: 6 East 39th Street, Suite 800, NY, NY, 10016