Communiqué

December 2023

version française

Canada’s 9-8-8: Suicide Crisis Helpline Has Launched

People across Canada now have access to a new and important source of support: 9-8-8: Suicide Crisis Helpline is available nationwide in English and French, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.   

We have added the link to our contact resource list which you can find here. If there are additional resources you would suggest for the contact list, please let us know. 

New User Management System

We are pleased to be operating our new registrant management system as of this month. The migration from our previous platform to the new one involved a tremendous amount of work across the College, which was led by Kristina Reyes, Manager, Registrant Requirements, and Sarah Fraser, Director, Registration. We are confident that the new system will be more user friendly and will support staff in being more efficient. We are looking forward to launching the Quality Assurance Program platform in the coming months. 

Constructive feedback on the new system is always welcome and we appreciate everyone’s patience as we finalize the work on this project. 

Professional Practice Standards – Public Consultation

We are finalizing the work on a comprehensive review of the Professional Practice Standards, which was started in 2021. You can read about the implementation of the new standards below.

The Quality Assurance Committee has overseen this work and will continue to be involved as we develop guidance documents to support registrants in applying the updated standards. The Diversity Equity and Inclusion Working Group is finalizing recommendations related to the development of diversity-specific standards, which we will look forward to sharing in the future. 

CRPO acknowledges the considerable work done by Pam Bialik, Policy Analyst, and Mark Pioro, Deputy Registrar & General Counsel, on this project. It involved contributions from subject matter experts, professional associations, other system partners and, of course, registrants. Thank you to all of the system partners who took the time to respond to the public consultation. 

Revised Standards Approved

At its December meeting, CRPO Council approved an updated version of the Professional Practice Standards. The standards set out expectations for safe and ethical practice by RPs. The new version comes into effect on January 1, 2024. CRPO will discuss the standards in greater detail in future Communiques. In the meantime, please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the updated document: full version, and abridged version (without commentary). 

Clinical Experience from Education Program Recognized

At its most recent meeting, the Registration Committee granted clinical experience (CE) recognition to the Master of Psychology program at Adler Graduate Professional School Inc. (Toronto). This program has been added to the website. 

Students from this program no longer need to submit individual confirmation forms to report clinical experience hours. Students should contact their program to request that they report the total number of practicum hours (direct client contact and clinical supervision) to CRPO. 

Students from programs without clinical experience recognition and registrants updating CE hours after graduation will still need to submit detailed confirmation forms. 

HST Update

Do Registered Psychotherapists need to continue charging HST? 



As most registrants are now aware, the Government of Canada is proposing to exempt professional services rendered by psychotherapists and counselling therapists from the GST/HST. While this is promising news, until the Excise Tax Act is formally amended, RPs do not appear on the list of professionals whose services are exempt from HST. See our Practice Matters article for information. 

Quality Assurance Program Updates

2023 PD Cycle: Reminder 

If you registered with CRPO in an odd year (i.e., 2015, 2017, 2019 or 2021), your PD reporting cycle ends on December 31, 2023. This means you will need to submit an attestation form declaring whether you completed the required PD activities during your reporting cycle.  

The attestation is now available to complete in your CRPO user account.  

The attestation is due by December 31, 2023. We recognize December is a busy time of year for many registrants. If you are planning down time at the end of the year, please complete the attestation as soon as possible. 

Unsure of your initial registration date? Review your entry in CRPO’s public register. 

Can’t find the reminder email? Here are some troubleshooting tips you could use to ensure you are receiving all CRPO-related communications: 

• If you are using a Gmail account, it is possible that the email is getting filtered into another folder, such as ‘Important’, ‘Social’ or ‘Promotions’. Please check these folders to see if the email was sent there. 
• Try searching for “CRPO” in your inbox. If the email was filtered to another folder outside of your inbox, this could be a quick way to find it. 
• Your email has security features in place that are preventing the temporary password from reaching your inbox. Confirm you have indicated all emails from “@crpo.ca” are “safe senders” or “trusted senders.” 
• You are using an email address that does not match the one CRPO has on file. Contact CRPO at info@crpo.ca if you aren’t sure, you are using the right email. 

Need more info? Please see the QA page and our professional development FAQ or email your questions to QA@crpo.ca.  

2023 Fall CBA Results 

938 registrants completed the CBA between October 27 and November 5, 2023. 

The CBA is the first stage of a peer and practice review (PPR), and all registrants are required to participate approximately every five years. As the cornerstone of the College’s Quality Assurance Program, the CBA is intended to be an educational activity for registrants as well as a screening tool for the College to determine if a registrant’s knowledge and understanding of the Professional Practice Standards is adequate for safe, effective, and ethical practice. The CBA will support Registered Psychotherapists (RPs) to engage with the Professional Practice Standards and continue to think critically about their practice, their professional growth, and their obligations as regulated health professionals. It supports reflective practice and life-long learning, critical components of providing safe and effective care. 

Registrants in the “successful” category have concluded their peer and practice review and no further action is required. These registrants can expect to complete the CBA again in approximately five years.

Registrants in the “Self-directed review” review are required, under their own initiative, to address the potential gaps identified by the CBA as part of their usual 40 hours of professional development (PD). At the end of the relevant PD reporting cycle, these registrants are required to submit their learning record for review. These registrants can expect to complete the CBA again in approximately five years.

Registrants in the “Peer-assisted review” category will be provided with support and a second opportunity to complete the CBA. If their second attempt is also in the peer-assisted review category, they will be assigned a peer coach, who will provide further support and help the registrant develop a learning plan for their next cycle of 40 hours of continuing education.

The 2024 Spring CBA is scheduled between April 26 and May 5, 2024. All selected registrants have been notified. Please check your email and ensure that qa@crpo.ca and QAassessments@crpo.ca are added to your contact and safe sender lists.

MAiD Survey

Thank you to the more than 2750 registrants who responded to the survey and provided information on their experience and opinions regarding MAiD. The survey is now closed, and staff has begun analyzing the data. 

The results of the survey will be shared with relevant system partners to assist in their support of RPs. 

For CRPO registrants: Please do not unsubscribe. CRPO uses email to communicate with registrants about important College updates. If you choose to unsubscribe, it is then your responsibility to regularly check our website to keep yourself informed about your College obligations. It is the responsibility of each registrant to make sure CRPO has your current contact information, updated within 30 days of a change, and ensure that the organization you work for does not block CRPO emails. CRPO may collect information about whether a recipient has read a message. CRPO may use this information for communication planning and record-keeping.