Communiqué

May 2024

Council Nominations & Elections

The nomination period for the CRPO Council elections closed on May 1, 2024.

One nomination was received for District 1 (West) – Heidi Ahonen, RP
Five nominations were received for District 5 (South West) (candidates listed below)
One nomination was received for District 6 (Central West) – Radhika Sundar, RP

Since no other nominations were received by the deadline, Heidi Ahonen (District 1) and Radhika Sundar (District 6) have been acclaimed to serve on CRPO Council, each for a three-year term. Congratulations!

An election is required in District 5 and online voting is now open. Eligible voters have received an email from CRPO via Simply Voting, a web-based online voting system, with instructions on how to vote. Voting closes on May 31 at 12:00 noon eastern time.

We are pleased to share the following candidates are seeking election to Council:

District 5 (South West)

Kayleen Edwards, RP
Ryan Janssen, RP
Miranda Monastero, RP
Jason Stotts, RP
Cayla Townes, RP

Click here to read the candidate statements: Election 2024 Candidates – College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (crpo.ca)

Can a student work in an employment or private practice setting, if they are a CRPO registrant?

We have updated our Practice Matters article on this topic. The update emphasizes the need for registrants to provide competent care, be transparent about their qualifications, receive appropriate supervision, and follow the requirements of their education program, practicum placement, and clinical supervisor.

Quality Assurance Program: 2024 Fall CBA

In early May 2024, about 1000 registrants were notified that they had been selected to participate in a peer and practice review (PPR) as part of CRPO’s Quality Assurance Program.

The first step of a PPR is to complete an online, case-based assessment (CBA). In addition to helping the College identify potential risks in a registrant’s practice, the CBA is also intended as an educational tool for registrants. The CBA engages registrants with the Professional Practice Standards; assesses registrants for potential gaps in their knowledge, skill and judgment; and provides evidence that registrants can use to make effective use of their professional development activity hours. 

The 2024 Fall CBA will be available between Friday, October 25 and Sunday, November 3, 2024.

When you are selected to participate in a PPR, you will receive an email from SurveyMonkey asking you to complete a pre-questionnaire and confirmation form. Please check your email and ensure that qa@crpo.ca and QAassessments@crpo.ca are added to your contact and safe sender lists.

Questions about the CBA? Visit the peer and practice review FAQ page of our website or email your questions to QAassessments@crpo.ca.

Questions about your self-assessment and professional development (PD) cycle requirements? Visit the https://www.crpo.ca/pd-faq/ or email your questions to qa@crpo.ca

Town Halls – hear what’s going on with your regulator

As noted in the April communique, CRPO will be hosting monthly, virtual town hall meetings on various topics throughout the year.

Date	Topic
Thursday May 30 @ 8 am EST	Governance and Regulation 101
Wednesday June 5th @ 4:00 EST	Trauma Informed Regulation: what recommendations resulted from the independent review of the College's conduct processes and what is the College doing with them?
Monday September 23rd @ noon EST	Quality Assurance update: how is the Case Based Assessment going?
Tuesday October 29th @ 8:00 am EST	L'année en revue et l'année à venir: le point sur le travail de l'OPAO.
Monday November 18th @ noon EST	Private Practice and Self-Regulation: Issues for RPs who are in (or thinking about going into) private practice
January - date TBD	Conduct issues: information about what kinds of complaints the College is getting and how they are being addressed
February - date TBD	Clinical Supervision & Registration Requirements
March - date TBD	Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Efforts at the College: an update on the work CRPO is doing to ensure that the principles of DEI inform the work of public protection

Reminder emails, with a link to a survey where you can pose questions about each topic, will be sent out before each town hall. All sessions will be recorded and made available on the College’s YouTube channel so they can be viewed at your convenience. Copies of any relevant materials and a summary of the questions and answers from the meetings will also be posted to the College’s website.

The first session – a look back at the work that happened in 2023 and a summary of initiatives that are in progress over the coming year - was held on April 24 from 12 noon until 1:00 pm and was attended by more than 200 registrants. Thank you to those who took the time to listen and to pose questions.

Education Programs Recognized

The Master in Music Therapy One-Year and Two-Year programs at Wilfrid Laurier University are the latest educational programs to receive academic recognition from CRPO. This means that the programs sufficiently enable students to develop the required competencies for entry-to-practice in psychotherapy. Visit our website for more information about the recognition process or to review the other recognized programs.

Clinical Experience from Education Program Recognized

At its most recent meeting, the Registration Committee granted clinical experience (CE) recognition to the Master of Arts in Clinical Counselling program at Tyndale University. 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.

Accepted Language Assessments

Applicants can now submit Pearson Test of English results as proof of fluency in English. Please see the updated Language Proficiency Policy.

Clinical Supervision Support Tool

The College’s Examination Committee recently approved a comprehensive clinical supervision support tool.

While the tool was developed and will be used to assist RP (Qualifying) registrants who are preparing for a third attempt at passing the Registration Examination, the College believes that it could be useful to many supervisees in getting the most benefit out of clinical supervision.

The tool consists of five reflective modules that have been designed to help Qualifying registrants and their clinical supervisor to:

Evaluate and assess the supervisory relationship to ensure it is beneficial to the RP (Qualifying).
Review the supervision agreement to ensure it is clear and outlines the scope, goals and responsibilities for both the clinical supervisor and RP (Qualifying).
Reflect on the relationship between insight, competence, and clinical experience.
Review and self-assess the Entry-to-Practice Competency Profile to determine what competency areas the RP (Qualifying) needs to better understand and practice.
Develop a learning plan that will guide the process and content of supervision leading up to an exam attempt.

A PDF version of the Supervision Tool is available on the College’s website.

Clients’ Right to Complain

In each Communique for 2024, we will be highlighting aspects of the Professional Practice Standards, which came into effect on January 1. This month discusses updates to Standard 3.6: Complaints Process.

Standard 3.6 now expects that as part of the consent process, registrants inform clients that the registrant is registered with CRPO, including that CRPO is the organization that sets the rules for and considers complaints about registered psychotherapists. The previous version of the Standards noted, in the introduction to section 3, that registrants must ensure that clients understand their right to make a complaint to the College. While the expectation is not new, it has been brought into the standard for the first time. This requirement was also recommended as part of a trauma-informed review about the investigation process that was commissioned by CRPO.

Standard 3.6 is intended to be flexible. Registrants can decide when and how to inform the client. It could be on a form or as part of a discussion. The registrant can decide on the exact wording to use. The Standard is not intended to invite complaints from clients about the registrant. Rather, it helps empower clients. A client might realize they have the right to file a complaint about a different regulated professional who acted in a questionable manner.

This Standard is related to use of title. By consistently using their regulated title, such as RP or RP(Qualifying), registrants are indicating that they are part of a profession that holds them accountable for meeting professional standards.

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.