Psychotherapy Takeover Fears

This discussion paper was originally published September 21, 2014. The full text is available here.

Ontario is in the process of regulating various health modalities, one of which is psychotherapy. The Psychotherapy Act is currently drafted to make the practice of psychotherapy a controlled activity. In other words, only members of the College of Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) and other specified regulated professions (MDs, nurses, OTs, psychologists, social workers) will be allowed to practice psychotherapy.

Some natural health practitioners and counsellors are worried that they will no longer be able to practice their modality because psychotherapy is defined too broadly. An exception for counselling already exists in the legislation but neither definition provides much guidance given the significant overlap between psychotherapy and counselling. Individuals cannot determine exactly what is and is not prohibited. It is also unclear to what extent counselling could be subsumed by psychotherapy techniques or specialties.

The following pages detail the law, the Transitional Council for the CRPO’s (TC) position, consequences of contravening the legislation, and steps you may wish to take if you feel the regulatory scheme will negatively impact your practice.