Provinces

Ontario

The Transitional Council (TC) of Ontario's "College of Registered Psychotherapists and Registered Mental Health Therapists" has been very hard at work this year (as Tom O'Connor can testify 'from the inside'!). In the springtime, the Council conducted public consultation across the province concerning their 'rough sketch' of the Registration and Misconduct Regulations. CASC-Ontario participated both directly and in concert with the Ontario Coalition of Mental Health Professionals (OCMHP) and the Association of Psychotherapy Training Institutes (APTI) [to which bodies we belong and significantly contribute].

Springtime feedback and conversation led onwards to the first full draft of the Registration and Misconduct Regulations, plus a Quality Assurance Regulation. A consultation on these documents, by way of invited written responses, was conducted in August-September. Here, again, CASC-Ontario's College Working Group provided feedback of its own (concerning matters CASC-specific) and was involved in providing 'umbrella' feedback through OCMHP and APTI.

CASC-Ontario has affirmed aspects of the Regulations, and challenged many others. Our input can be viewed at
http://www.collegeofpsychotherapists.on.ca/pages/Home/Public_Consultations

Beyond the three Regulations, there has been a fresh validation exercise for a TC-drafted set of competencies for Registered Psychotherapists (RP) and Registered Mental Health Therapists (RMHT). All CASC-Ontario members were invited, by e-mail, to 'let our voices be heard'. (What CASC participants found, in this exercise, echoed our previous work via the competency validation exercises of CASC-national and OCMHP-provincial; indeed, that previous work helped define the current work!)

The finalized College Regulations are to be handed off to the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care by year's end. Starting springtime 2012, CASC-Ontario members intending to join the College should be working on their portfolios (as will be described for, and invited from all us 'Grandfathered Members' by the College Registrar). These portfolios get submitted as we line up to register. And then in springtime 2013 the College opens, 'hitting the ground running', as it were.

Alongside these developments, and certainly nurtured by the CASC-Ontario College Working Group, is a significant 2011 'evolution' of the four CASC regions in the province of Ontario, now finding ourselves situated in a brand new CASC-Ontario professional life-and-practice entity, led by a newly-defined CASC-Ontario committee. There is much to do! ..

Respectfully submitted by Bob Bond,
Chair, CASC-Ontario College Working Group