Tips to help you during the complaint process – for 11-18 year olds

Tips for coping with making a complaint

If you need tips to help you cope with the process of making a complaint about mental health or social care, we're here to help.

Some of the tips on this page are practical, while others might help with your mental wellbeing.

Different tips for work for different people – you don't need to try anything that doesn't feel right for you.

Revisiting things that have happened is hard. Plan nice things to do, think about your future goals, treat yourself to cake or a bubble bath, and talk to friends – Saffron

Tips on finding out where to make your complaint

Every organisation or service should have a complaints process and some will also have special rules they need to follow. You can ask any service to:

• Talk you through their complaint process
• Explain how to make your complaint

If you're not sure where you should make your complaint to, you can always ask the organisation or service or check their website.

Complaining about your doctor

For complaints about your GP, you normally complain directly to the GP service. If not, you can try another option:

• In England – complain to NHS England
• In Wales – complain to your local health board

Complaining about services like CAMHS

For mental health services like Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), you normally complain directly to the service. If not, you can try another option:

• In England – your local Integrate Care Board (ICB)
• In Wales – your local health board

Complaining about child services

For complaints about child services, you normally complain to your local authority:

• In England – type in your postcode to find out your local authority
• In Wales – type in your postcode to find out your local authority

Tips on what to think about before making a complaint

When deciding if you want to make a complaint, there are some important things to try thinking about before you do it.

Make sure you know what your complaint is about

Being clear on this will help you know where to make your complaint to. Your complaint might be about:

• A specific thing that happened
• A specific person or team
• A wider or more general issue in the service
• Something that has happened to you several times

Gather enough details about your complaint

Your complaint investigation will be easier if you can provide:

• Clear details
• Specific dates
• Relevant names

Try to keep a record of problems as soon as they happen, rather than much later, in case you want to make a complaint about your experience at some point.

Document everything you can! – Saffron

Think about the result you're hoping to achieve

Try asking yourself, “What do I really want to get out of the complaint process?” It's important to understand your goals and imagine the outcome clearly in your own head before you make the complaint.

Sometimes, after thinking about it, you might decide that a complaint won't really help your problem or improve how you're feeling. For example, if you'd like to get better support now, will complaining about what happened 10 months ago at a different service help you achieve this?

Remember that difficult feelings might come up

Making a complaint can feel like a really hard process to go through. It's important to think about how making a complaint might affect your mental wellbeing.

Things can feel harder if:

• You're not feeling well
• You're coping with difficult feelings from the way someone has treated you
• You hear things that upset you or you don't agree with
• Your complaint doesn't get resolved in the way you want it to

For more information, see our tips on looking after yourself during the complaint process.

Choose how you want to make your complaint

There are different ways to make complaints. Try thinking about the way you would feel most comfortable, like:

• Telling someone in person or by phone. Ask whoever you're making a complaint about to write down what you tell them and send you a copy. You should take a note of the meeting yourself or ask them to record the meeting.
• Writing a letter or sending an email. Although written complaints might take longer for the service to process, it might help to have your thoughts typed or written out anyway. Have a look at our tips for writing complaints.

However you decide to do it, try to be clear that you're making a complaint and want them to look into it seriously.

Writing out what happened can be therapeutic, and I can use it for future complaints or for sharing my struggles with others – Saffron

Tips for writing your complaint

When you write a complaint to send by letter or email, try to:

• Be specific about what you're complaining about. Try and clearly set out what happened, giving any information that might be relevant.
• Explain what happened in a clear order.
• Include dates and names if you know them.
• Explain how what has happened has affected you.
• Explain what you want them to do to make things right. For example, would you like an apology, or would you like something to change with your care and treatment? You can ask them to do more than 1 thing.
• Tell them how you would like them to communicate with you about your complaint. For example, if you struggle with meeting in person, be clear about this and suggest a better way for them to contact you.

Not all of us find it easy to write things down. If it's better for you, make your complaint over the phone or in person.

Either way, it might help to make notes on what you want to say to make sure you don't miss any important details. You can use the tips above as a guide for making your notes.

Document things even by video or voice note if you don't feel able to write – Saffron

Tips for looking after yourself during the complaint process

A lot of us find that making a complaint can be a scary process. From the upsetting situation itself, to deciding to complain about it, to waiting for a result, the whole process can feel really stressful.

Try looking after yourself by:

• Being kind to yourself and taking breaks if you need to
• Finding ways to cope with and understand your feelings
• Taking time to do something you enjoy
• Opening up to people you trust about what's going on

Some of the young people we spoke to had this advice:

Coping with difficult feelings

Making a complaint can be a good way of resolving a problem or getting an apology for the way someone has treated us. But not all of us will get the results we hoped for.

You might not agree with the result of the investigation, or the service might not agree with what you've asked them to do to make things right. This can feel stressful and difficult to go through.

To help you cope better, you can try to:

• Talk to someone you trust, like family or friends. If you know someone who's been through a similar experience, you could reach out to them, too. For more information, see our page about opening up.
• Try to recognise any difficult feelings, like disappointment, anger, or sadness. Many of us experience these feelings during a hard time. For more information, see our page about understanding your feelings.
• Remind yourself that just standing up for yourself can be enough. Doing this can make a big difference in the future. The fact that you tried to change things is powerful – fighting for your rights and making your voice heard are really useful skills. For more information, see our page about advocating for yourself.

It can be traumatic to revisit things. Plan fun things to do and distractions in between the stress of making a complaint – Saffron

This information was published in July 2024. We will revise it in 2027.

The quotes on this page are from young people we spoke to while making this information. They've given us their consent to use their quotes in our information. The words, experiences and opinions in the quotes are not related to the young people shown in any of the photographs we use.

References are available on request. If you would like to reproduce any of this information, see our page on permissions and licensing.