The Couples Institute will comply with all legal and ethical responsibilities to be non-discriminatory in the promotion of its activities, program content and in the treatment of program participants. The monitoring and assessment of compliance with these standards will be the responsibility of its President, Joe X. Cantu.

While the Couples Institute goes to great lengths to assure fair treatment for all participants, there will be occasional issues which come to the attention of the President which require intervention and/or action on the part of the President. This is 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 President 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 President will:

a. attempt to move the participant to 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 the Couples Institute program, the President will attempt to arbitrate.

Please contact Joe X. Cantu (310) 383-5226, joexcantueft@gmail.com to submit a complaint, or if you have additional questions.

ICEEFT STANCE ON DIVERSITY

At the International Center for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) we are dedicated to developing secure, resilient individuals and successful trusting relationships between partners and within families across the globe. As such, we stand against all forms of racism and discrimination and stand in support of the Black community. With new eyes, we condemn the abhorrent impact of systemic racism in our world, our societies, and in our own organization.

We are committed to listening, learning and growing, so that we can better embody our values of inclusion, equality and diversity. We can and will do better. As a community, we commit to becoming an anti-racist organization, working in close collaboration with our Diversity and Inclusion Group, as well as with members in our community who have experienced marginalization. Together we will fight racism, both as a principle and as a tangible reality in our training programs, our clinical work and our interactions with communities across different countries and cultures.

Our renewed aim is to share our expertise and knowledge in the service of healing racial trauma, helping people value differences and enabling them to also embrace our common humanity. We will take a more focused and deliberate action to welcome and promote greater openness and compassion in all our endeavors.

With inclusion, equity, and diversity as foundational values, our work will continue to remain grounded in attachment science which asserts that we are all wired for connection and share common needs to be seen, valued and supported by others.

With so much to learn we will remain curious and committed to our aspirations to become an equitable organization where everyone can thrive—until we get it right. Working together we will get there.