One ‘take home’ message from Consultation meetings held this spring was that proposed education requirements, especially for registered psychotherapists, are controversial, and for some participants, confusing.
Developing appropriate education requirements has been challenging, due to the diverse training and education backgrounds of future members, and their many and varied fields of practice.
Flexibility is key
The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has been clear from the beginning that education requirements for both categories of members should be flexible, and in particular, that a master’s degree requirement for Registered Psychotherapists would not be supported.
The transitional Council was urged to take a “competency-based approach,” one employing several methods to determine eligibility for registration: education & training background, clinical experience, registration exam, and jurisprudence/ professional practice exam, for example. This does not mean there will be no formal education/training requirement; rather, it means that education and training requirements will be flexible, and that acceptable programs should prepare students with certain defined competencies.
'Framework' approach
One solution suggested by the Ministry earlier this year was to simply include in the Registration Regulation, the requirement that an applicant for either category of membership had successfully completed “an education and training program acceptable to the Council of the College.” Details of acceptable programs would then be developed in a “framework” (policy document) outside the regulation, setting out the criteria and process for reviewing and recognizing programs.
To help future members understand this approach, the Registration Committee prepared the document: Sample Registration Requirements, Information for Applicants, which attempted to set out what the education requirements might actually look like, including sample competencies and coursework. For programs preparing psychotherapists, this included the stipulation that approved programs would require an undergraduate degree for admission. Note: a revised version of this document will be made available for the upcoming formal consultation period.
Undergraduate degree
This requirement of an undergraduate degree for psychotherapists has proven controversial, almost as controversial as the ‘no master’s degree’ proposition. Possibly a sign we’ve found the workable middle ground?
Following the consultation meetings in March and April, events in the real world of professional regulation came into play, and the Ministry withdrew its support for an open-ended, ‘acceptable program’ approach, which would have given future Councils great leeway in modifying the criteria for approving education and training programs.
Alternatives explored
Registration Committee Chair, Pat DeYoung, and staff met subsequently with the Ministry to explore alternatives – ones that provide flexibility, while including some details about education requirements within the regulation itself (number of courses, hours of didactic training, etc.). The final draft regulation includes such details and was approved by Council June 22nd.
Please note that all of the above applies to full registration requirements. In addition, there will be a ‘grandparenting’ route for established Ontario practitioners, who will be assessed using a weighted point system, taking into account their clinical experience, education & training, teaching, supervision, professional development activities and, possibly, other parameters.
Formal consultation
The next step will be a round of ‘formal’ consultation commencing (we hope) in late July, during which we will solicit written submissions on the Registration Regulation as well as the Professional Misconduct and Quality Assurance Regulations.
