The Association of Practicing Psychologists – Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties (APP) is fully committed to conducting all activities in strict conformance with the American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists. APP 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 President and in consultation with the Board members and Program Chairpersons.
While APP goes to great lengths to assure fair treatment for all participants and attempts to anticipate problems, there will be occasional issues which come to the attention of the convention staff which require intervention and/or action on the part of the convention staff or an officer of APP. This procedural description serves as a guideline for handling such grievances.
When a participant, either orally or in written format, files a grievance and expects action on the complaint, the following actions will be taken.
1. If the grievance concerns a speaker, the content presented by the speaker, or the style of presentation, the individual filing the grievance will be asked to put his/her comments in written format. The Program Chairpersons will then pass on the comments to the speaker, assuring the confidentiality of the grieved individual.
2. If the grievance concerns a workshop offering, its content, level of presentation, or the facilities in which the workshop was offered, the President will mediate and will be the final arbitrator. If the participant requests action, the convention chair will:
a. attempt to offer the participant another workshop or
b. provide a credit for a subsequent year’s workshop or
c. provide a partial or full refund of the workshop fee.
Actions 2b and 2c will require a written note, documenting the grievance, for record keeping purposes. The note need not be signed by the grieved individual.
3. If the grievance concerns APP CE program, in a specific regard, the Program Chairpersons will attempt to arbitrate.
Grievance Procedure information can also be downloaded by clicking here .