Psychologists held a rally on Parliament Hill Saturday to oppose proposed changes to training standards by the College of Psychologists and Behavior Analysts of Ontario (CPBAO). Protestors say the proposal would slash the training requirements to become a psychologist by 75 per cent for certain applicants, a change they say would negatively impact clients and the public. The CPBAO disputes these claims and says psychology professional in Ontario would still be required to meet rigorous training and education requirements. Psychologists Deanna Drahovzal calls the changes unprecedented and says they would put Ontario below other provinces in terms of registration standards. “We are here to ask those proposals to be reversed and it not go to the Ministry of the Health Review,” Drahovzal told CTV News Ottawa. The proposed changes would reduce the amount of supervised practice needed by master’s level applicants from four years to one year. Psychologist at the rally said they are concerned reductions in training standards will create unsafe conditions, as new psychologists will lack the depth of training needed to do the job right. “It takes years and years of training to do this work in an ethical, a responsible way, so that we know how to diagnose this population appropriately without risk,” says Laila Din Osmun , child clinical psychologist and rally organizer. “We’re quite concerned with limiting training and how that may impact things especially like diagnosis.” The protestors say the CPBAO is under pressure to make these changes to increase access to the profession and produce more psychologists for Ontarians. If the CPBDAO does not make these changes, some worry it might be dissolved as a college. “A big misconception that people have about psychologists is that all of our work is talk therapy. Well that is a really important part of our work. It’s a small part of what we do. We also do complex diagnosis and assessment and those are the parts that we’re particularly concerned about being affected by this reduction and training,” says Mary Simmering McDonald, child clinical psychologist and rally organizer. CPBAO says modernization is needed In a statement to CTV News Ottawa, registrar and CEO of the CBPAO Tony DeBono said Ontario is behind other provinces when it comes to the availability of psychologists and the proposed reforms are designed to increase availability in the province. “Ontario’s number of psychology professionals per 1,000 residents is amongst one of the lowest in Canada. With modernization, Ontario has the opportunity to become a national leader in access to psychological and behavioural healthcare,” DeBono wrote. “To address Ontario’s urgently growing need for timely, comprehensive, and safe psychological services, the College is modernizing its registration process. The proposed reforms will align with provincial systems and create clearer, streamlined pathways for current and newly graduated professionals to register and practice in Ontario.” According to DeBono, in Ontario, to become a psychological associate, master’s-level graduates are currently required to complete four years of supervised work unevaluated by the CPBAO, followed by one year of supervised practice. The CBPAO registrar and CEO says Alberta, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories and the Yukon require only one year of supervised practice for master’s-level applicants, and Ontario’s current approach creates barriers to entry for Master’s-level psychologists. “The proposed reforms, already well established and in practice in other jurisdictions, will maintain the profession’s high standards while removing unnecessary delays that prevent qualified professionals from entering practice,” DeBono said. DeBono also notes that Ontario currently accepts master’s-level psychologists from other provinces with only one year of supervised practice. “To be clear, these changes are about eliminating barriers, not lowering standards. Our examination, supervision, and oversight requirements remain rigorous and aligned with public protection,” DeBono wrote. Rally attendees disagree with approach “Our main goal - we’re in health care, so we want to protect the public. It’s quite worrisome that these changes might lead to vulnerable people not being properly cared for and not being properly diagnosed, not being properly looked after,” says Jennifer Vriend, child and adolescent clinical psychologist. Rally attendees say they agree that Ontario is in need of more psychologists. However, they don’t agree that reducing training standards is the correct approach. “They’re not going to have the training needed for diagnosing,” says Vriend. “People are either going to be over diagnosing where there’s going to be more people that are diagnosed with all sorts of different disorders or treated for just disorders that they might not have.” “We diagnose mental health disorders. If people aren’t properly trained, that is a high risk, controlled act,” says Drahovzal. “If people get it wrong, someone could be suffering for years with the wrong diagnosis or there’s no diagnosis.” Psychologists are currently required to have either a master’s degree or a PhD to enter the profession. “It’s devaluing the whole idea of competence of education, research based practice and really making it a very low bar for entry to a profession that carries a lot of responsibility for people’s mental health,” says psychologist Maggie Mamen. “It’s like being able to operate on somebody or being able to administer medications to people or to be able to drill their teeth.” It’s uncertain if these changes will be approved, but the psychologists at the rally say they want to make the public aware as they are the ones who would to be affected by this. Drahovzal says 95 per cent of the college members will be voting against the changes, but it seems as though the reforms will be made regardless, which she finds very concerning. The CBPAO is in a consultation period and individuals are able to fill out a survey on their website to voice their opinion on the changes. “I just hope that everyone before December 9th, fills out the survey to the college and let’s their voice be heard,” says Drahovzal. “I think many of us are feeling betrayed by that, we’ve been held to all of these high standards and suddenly they no longer seem important,” says Mamen.
