Nondiscrimination & Accessibility Statement
No discrimination is to be made against any KBH consumer relative to race, creed, religion, gender, age, national origin, political belief, sexual preference, handicap or nature of complaint that a consumer might institute against KBH.
All treatment programs are to be conducted consistent with basic human rights. While, essentially, only “voluntary” consumers are treated in KBH programs, in cases where KBH clinicians are involved in a Petition for Involuntary Commitment of a patient to a public facility, such procedures will be conducted in a least restrictive manner, consistent with the protection of Patient Rights and dignity and the legitimate protection and needs of the individual and community.
Consistent with these rights all consumers of services shall be assured freedom from abuse, neglect, exploitation, humiliation, and or retaliation.
Kennebec Behavioral Health
Provides free aids and services to people with disabilities to communicate effectively with us, such as:
- Qualified sign language interpreters
- Written information in other formats (large print, accessible electronic formats, other formats)
Provides free language services to people whose primary language is not English, such as:
- Qualified interpreters
- Information written in other languages
If you need these services, please let your KBH provider know.
If you believe that Kennebec Behavioral Health has failed to provide these services or discriminated in conflict with the policy above, you can file a grievance with the Agency. All grievances shall be made in writing. Grievants may write their grievances in letter form or may use the Grievance Form. Grievance forms are available through any KBH staff member.
Formal grievances shall be filed with the Chief Executive Officer. The Chief Executive Officer shall designate a “Complaint Officer “to formally review the circumstances outlined in the grievance and write a response to the grievance with the findings of their review. It shall be the Complaint Officer’s decision as to the formal process for reviewing the Grievance.
A formal written response shall be made within five (5) days, excluding weekends and holidays.
If the agency staff needs a longer period to investigate the circumstances of the grievance, a five (5) day extension shall be made and the grievant so notified. Such written response shall be forwarded to the Chief Executive Officer and sent to the grievant. If the grievant is unsatisfied with the findings at the first level, he or she may appeal the decision to the Department of Health
and Human Services.
Such an appeal must be made within ten (10) days, excluding weekends and holidays.
The Chief Executive Officer or designee shall forward copies of such an appeal to the Department of Health and Human Services.
You can also file a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, electronically through the Office for Civil Rights Complaint Portal, available at https://ocrportal.hhs.gov/ocr/portal/lobby.jsf or by mail or phone at:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue SW
Room 509 F, HHH Building
Washington DC 20201
1-800-368-1019, 800-537-7697 (TDD)
ATTENTION: If you speak a language other than English, language assistance services, free of charge, are available to you. Call our Access Center 1-888-322-2136 (TTY: 711).
Accessibility
Kennebec Behavioral Health is continually working towards making our digital media as assessible as possible according to WCAG 2.1 guidelines. This includes our website, client portal, social media, and electronic PDFs.
If you find you still have barriers to accessing our content, please contact us! Email us at info@kbhmaine.org or call us at 1-888-322-2136.