Download scope of practice - Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy

The Counselling Profession,
Labour Mobility and
Professional Regulation
National Labour Mobility Symposium 2009
Labour Mobility Working Group of the
Canadian Counselling Association
HRSDC
CCPA
Today’s Focus
• The context of Labour Mobility in Canada
• Working Papers and Discussions:
– Codes of Ethics and Standards of Practice
– Definitions and Scopes of Practice
– Professional Regulation
Tomorrow’s Focus
• Summary of Today’s work
• Panel Discussion:
– The Importance of Harmonizing
Competencies and Credentials
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Timeline and Accountabilities
Communication Plans
Next Steps
Session Evaluation
How will we Accomplish our Goals?
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Mini-presentations
Focus questions
Small group discussions
Small group activities
Panel discussion
Large group Q and A
Sharing and Networking
Goals for the Symposium
All delegates will
• have current and detailed information related to
labour mobility and counsellor regulation in
Canada and in their area of the country.
• share information with provincial/territorial
contacts affected by labour mobility and
counsellor regulation
• have a list of national contacts with whom to
discuss further developments in labour mobility
and counsellor regulation
Timeline of Regulation of
Counselling-related Professions
Regulation Timeline
QUEBEC
Title
Protection
“Guidance
Counsellor”
Legislation
(1963)
PEI
Legislation being pursued
(2009)
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Preparations, consultations, competency profile
development (1995 – present)
ALBERTA
Health Act
Amended – no
regulation of
counselling (2008)
PEI
Consultations
(2007)
NOVA SCOTIA
Legislation (2008)
1963
QUEBEC
Public
Safety
Ethics
Legislation
(1973)
1973
1995
2004
QUEBEC
Shared competency profile
(colleges, universities – for
entry to practice and
professional practice (2004)
NEW BRUNSWICK
Legislation discussions
begin (1994)
2007
ONTARIO
Regulation (Bill 171)
Transitional Council
pending (2007)
2008
NOVA
SCOTIA
Regulation
pending
(2009)
MANITOBA
Health Act amended
– no regulation of
counselling (2009)
2009
QUEBEC
Reserved Title and Practice Protection Legislation:
psychotherapy/reserved activities/mental heal
evaluations (2009)
NEW BRUNSWICK
Legislation discussions
(2009)
Competency Profiles for
Counselling-related Professions
SPECIALIZED
COUNSELLING
COMPETENCIES
GENERIC
COUNSELLING
COMPETENCIES
ENTRY-TOPRACTICE
COUNSELLING
COMPETENCIES
PLAY
Entry-to-Practice Competencies
• Entry-to-practice competencies for the counselling profession have
been created and validated nationally.
• Entry-to-practice competencies are generic: designed to capture the
elements that would most effectively protect the public from harm.
• In a regulated environment, one of the tasks of Colleges would be to
identify specializations and the expected standards of practice for
registrants in those specializations
• Specialized competencies are not included in the entry-to-practice
competencies because:
– The regulatory process requires competencies to be focused on
the prevention of public harm – a foundational level.
– The greatest area of alignment in counselling practice occurs at
the foundational level.
– Specialization requires intact foundational entry-to-practice skills.
A similar national dialogue on specialty area competencies may
be required.
Regulatory Status of
Counselling-related Professions:
A Pan-Canadian Tour
No action on
regulation
portfolio
STATUS OF COUNSELLOR
REGULATION IN CANADA
No action on
regulation
portfolio
No action on
regulation
portfolio
No action on
regulation
portfolio
Legislation 2007.
Transitional
Council Pending.
Regulation not
yet started.
Preparations and
legislation
discussions
1995 - present
Health Act
amended 2008.
No action on
regulation
portfolio
Health Act
amended 2009.
No action on
regulation
portfolio
Title protection Regulation
1963. Amendments 1973,
2004. Practice Protection
Regulation 2009.
No action on
regulation
portfolio
Legislation being
pursued
Legislation
2008.
Regulation
pending.
Legislation
discussions
Professional Regulation
Mind Map
Interprovincial
labour mobility
Encourages national
standards
Agreement
on Internal
Trade
competencies
credentials
Minimize
Harm
Maximize
Well-being
continuing
education
registration
incompetence
Harms
ethical violations
REGULATION
College
malpractice
discipline
negligence
timely
inquiry
restoration,
mediation
and
correction
guilt or
model
innocence
model
Professional Regulation
PURPOSE OF REGULATION
The goal of regulation is to reduce the risk of harm to the public while
maximizing the well-being of the client.
– Professional self-regulation is granted by provincial or territorial
governments as a privilege that requires standards of practice.
– Under the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT), these standards
must be comparable across the nation.
TYPES OF REGULATORY STATUTES
– “Stand Alone” (e.g., Nova Scotia) in which the law refers to a
single profession, setting out its limits and standards.
– “Umbrella” (e.g., Ontario) in which a larger act governs all health
professions, setting out the shared privileges, processes, and
requirements for all.
Professional Regulation
COLLEGES
The entity regulating the profession is typically called a College and the professionals
belonging to the College are known as registrants.
COLLEGE FUNCTIONS
– Registration: determining qualified registrants
• Register qualified candidates/exclude those without competencies or
personal suitability
– Inquiry: responding to public complaints and concerns
• Two models:
– Traditional model: guilt/innocence
– Alternative model: harm restoration, dispute mediation, error correction
• Two types:
– Passive inquiry: publish standards, await complaints
– Active inquiry: education, inspections, audits, college-initiated complaints
– Discipline: providing limits and sanctions for registrants who have
violated professional standards
• Key obligations:
– Follow general standards of all professions
– Separate discipline from criminal, contract, and civil law
– Cooperate with, but not intrude upon, the jurisdiction of other sources of liability
Definitions and Scopes of Practice
Mind Map
cognitive
enhancing promoting
restoring
psychological
disorders in cognitive, affective,
neuropsychological, behavioural functioning
personal resources
psychological functioning
interpersonal
behavioural
environment
emotional mental
Evaluation
spiritual
Domains
Assessment
remediating
resolving
improving Human
function
principled
goals
deliberate
Relationships
therapeutic
Methods affective creative
arts
cognitive
behavioural
SCOPE OF PRACTICE
(shared/individual professions)
Clients
individuals
couples
professional
relational
systemic
verbal/non-verbal
communication
families
groups
ONTARIO
QUEBEC
RESERVED,
RESTRICTED,
CONTROLLED
ACTS
PROTECTED
TITLE
ACTS
communities
NOVA
SCOTIA
Definitions and Scopes of Practice:
– Nine Canadian jurisdictions and organizations were combined
with three general sources and 10 international organizations
to review definitions and scopes of practice for the profession.
– Generally, all definitions and scopes of practice had sufficient
similarities to create a summary statement.
SCOPE OF PRACTICE
– Refers to the procedures and processes permitted for licensed
professionals under legislation.
– Reserved Acts/Restricted Acts/Controlled Acts are
synonymous and refer to acts that only specific licensed
professional group(s) are permitted to provide. This is different
from title protection which restricts the use of a particular title.
– Scopes of practice are in place through legislation in Quebec,
Ontario and Nova Scotia.
DEFINITION
– Prior distinction between counselling and psychotherapy is
diminishing; many practitioners now view their work on a
continuum and/or use the terms interchangeably.
Definitions and Scopes of Practice:
ATTRIBUTES OF COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY
– GOALS: enhance, promote, restore, resolve, remediate,
improve cognitive, affective and behavioural functioning.
– EVALUATION/ASSESSMENT: of psychological functioning,
personal resources, environmental conditions, disorders in
cognitive, affective, neuropsychological, and behavioural
functioning.
– DOMAINS: mental, emotional, psychological, cognitive,
interpersonal, spiritual and behavioural human functioning.
– INTERVENTION METHODS: cognitive, affective,
behavioural, systemic, relational, creative arts, verbal and
non-verbal communication.
– RELATIONSHIPS: professional, deliberate, principled,
therapeutic.
– CLIENTS: individuals (children, adolescents, adults),
couples, families, groups, and communities.
Similarities across Helping Professions
Mind Map
Counselling
Relationships
Professional
Responsibility
Consulting and
Private Practice
American
Association for
Marriage and
Family Therapy
CODES
OF ETHICS
Canadian
Counselling and
Psychotherapy
Association
Canadian
Association of
Psychologists
Canadian
Association of
Music Therapy
Counselling
Relationships
Canadian
Standards and
Guidelines for
Career
Development
Practitioners
STANDARDS
OF PRACTICE
Canadian
Association for
Pastoral
Practice and
Education
Consulting and
Private Practice
Evaluation
and
Assessment
Self-development
and Self-Awareness
Similarities across Helping Professions
–
Nine Codes of Ethics and 5 Standards of Practice were reviewed.
–
Generally, all Codes and Standards protect the public from harm.
–
Differences occur in specific areas. These differences relate to
the specialized form of therapy or intervention that the
Association members provide to the public.
–
The Codes of Ethics for the Canadian Association of Music
Therapy, the Canadian Association of Psychologists and the
Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association aligned
most closely with each other.
–
The Canadian Standards and Guidelines for Career
Development Practitioners, the American Association for
Marriage and Family Therapy and the Canadian Association for
Pastoral Practice and Education closely followed in alignment
with these three associations.
–
Specific areas of alignment occurred in the following domains:
- Professional Responsibility
- Consulting and Private Practice
- Counselling Relationships
Similarities across Helping Professions
– The Standards of Practice for the Canadian Psychologists
Association and the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy
Association are aligned in almost every domain.
– Specific areas of alignment in all Standards of Practice occurred
in the following domains:
- Counselling Relationships
- Consulting and Private Practice
- Evaluation and Assessment
- Self-development and Self-Awareness
• Where some Associations have divided their Ethics from Standards,
others have merged the two documents. When Codes of Ethics and
Standards of Practice are combined, alignments are increased.
• In the helping professions, we have more in common with each
other than we have differences.
Panel Discussion
The Importance of Harmonizing
Competencies and Credentials
What Are We Discussing?
CREDENTIALS
COMPETENCIES
CAPABILITIES
Today’s Definitions
• A credential is evidence of qualification,
competence, or authority issued to an
individual by a third party who is assumed
by practice, by assumed competence, or
by law to have authority to do so.
Today’s Definitions
• Competence refers to a required
standard for an individual to properly
perform a specific job. It reflects
knowledge, skills and behaviour. More
generally, competence is the state or
quality of being adequately or well
qualified, having the ability to perform a
specific role.
Today’s Definitions
• Capability is the ability to perform
actions. In terms of labour, capability is
the sum of and individual’s expertise and
capacity.
In context of today’s discussions
CREDENTIALS
• An educational achievement
(degree/diploma), or
• A professional designation or license
• Generally a document
• Given to a person
• Issued by an authority
In context of today’s discussions
COMPETENCIES
• Occupational competencies
• Array of abilities
• Acquired through formal and informal
learning
• Competency profile
• Abilities carried by the individual
• Drawn upon as necessary, as they work
• Integrated - each competency informs the
other
In context of today’s discussions
CAPABILITIES
• The “Mix” of skills
• Brought to:
– Work place
– Job task or contract
– Position or appointment
– An employer, partnership or practice
• Expectations around performance
• Speaks to potential
Regulated and Non-regulated
Occupations
• Regulated - specific public assurance by the
regulator (at the timer of acceptance for licensure)
of ability to practice safely and effectively in a
Canadian context; and continuing thereafter
• Non-regulated - general expectation by society of
“ability” or “readiness” to join the workforce and
work safely and effectively in a Canadian context
(Occupational Health and Safety); continuing
thereafter
• Employers/Clients – seek both competencies and
capabilities - whether regulated or non-regulated
• Workers – seek acknowledgement of prior learning,
credentials, competencies, capabilities to obtain
employment
Harmony – Just one example: due diligence
• Credentials Assessors
–
–
–
–
Due diligence about institution and program
Authenticity
Equivalence
Assessment in advance of admission to further study,
admission to regulated profession or employment
• Regulators
– Due diligence about the individual
– Usually includes assessment of competencies (including
recognition of credentials as reflection of competency), as
well as vetting for all other admissions requirements
• Employers
– Due diligence about the individual (talent spotting)
– Also includes assessing competencies and credentials in
addition to many other less-defined attributes
Panel Discussion:
Harmonizing the 3 “C”s
• What are the links and overlaps?
• Does each “C” inform the other?
• Can we achieve greater understanding and
greater/new linkages?
• How can we strive for a no-less-safe, yet more
productive employment path for counsellors?
• Can harmonization be done in a fair, consistent,
transparent and rigorous manner?
Delegate Recommendations
Thank you / Merci
Safe travels / Bon voyage
For Further Information:
Canadian Counselling and
Psychotherapy Association
16 Concourse Gate, Suite 600
Ottawa, ON
K2E 7S8
Tel: 1-877-765-5565
Fax: 613-237-9786