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Harassment and discrimination have no place here. Not from a manager, a coworker, a client, a vendor, or anyone else you deal with because of your job.

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What harassment is

Harassment is unwelcome conduct based on a protected characteristic (see Equal employment opportunity) that creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment, or that’s made a condition of employment or advancement. It includes, but isn’t limited to:
  • Sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or sexual comments, jokes, or images
  • Slurs, mockery, or stereotyping based on a protected characteristic
  • Threatening, intimidating, or demeaning conduct directed at someone because of who they are
  • Retaliation against someone for reporting any of the above
It doesn’t have to be intended as harassment to be harassment. It doesn’t have to happen in the office; messages, calls, social media, and off-site events count.

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Harassment by clients

Clients can harass staff. If a client’s conduct toward you is sexual, threatening, or demeaning, you’re not required to tolerate it as part of the therapeutic relationship. Set the boundary, document it, and report it the same way you would anything else. The practice will support you, including ending services with the client if that’s what it takes.

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How to report

Tell any one of these people, in whatever form is easiest for you: in person, by phone, by email, or in writing.
  • Sonja Scriven, Practice Manager
  • Helen De-Lovely, Owner
  • Zack Scriven, Operations
If your concern involves one of them, go to either of the other two. If it involves more than one, go to the one who isn’t involved. You can always go straight to Helen as the owner, and if the concern involves Helen, go to Sonja or Zack, who will arrange for it to be handled by someone outside the situation. You don’t need proof. You don’t need to have told the person to stop first. You don’t need to use the word “harassment.” “Something happened and I’m not okay with it” is enough to start.

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What happens next

  1. We take it seriously and we start promptly, usually within two business days.
  2. We look into it: talk to you, talk to the person involved, talk to any witnesses, review anything relevant.
  3. We keep it as private as an investigation allows. We won’t broadcast it, and we’ll only involve people who need to be involved.
  4. We tell you what we found and what we’re doing about it.
  5. If the conduct happened, we act. That can range from a conversation to immediate termination, depending on what it was.

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No retaliation

You will not be retaliated against for reporting in good faith, for participating in an investigation, or for opposing conduct you reasonably believe is unlawful. Retaliation is itself a violation of this policy, and it’s treated as seriously as the original conduct. If you think you’re being retaliated against, report that too, using the same path.

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Outside options

You can also file a complaint with the Utah Antidiscrimination and Labor Division or the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Some of those agencies’ rules only reach employers of 15 or more; our internal policy applies regardless of size.
Why. A written policy with a reporting path that doesn’t dead-end is the single best protection for the people who work here, and it’s how a small practice shows it means what it says.