CRPO Communiqué
November 2017
November 17, 2017


Message from the Registrar 
Deborah Adams Registrar


Self-regulation is based on the idea that the skills, knowledge and experience that a profession possesses are best governed by the people who hold this expertise. Elected professional members of Council bring their knowledge of the practice of psychotherapy to all of the work that the College does. They are integral to ensuring that we carry out our mandate of public protection.
 
The Membership at large also have a role to play in ensuring that the College 'gets it right' when developing tools and resources as well as establishing policies, standards and guidelines that will direct the practice of Registered Psychotherapists across the province.
 
For this reason, it was gratifying to see the positive response to our recent survey on the criteria for clinical supervisors that will come into force on April 1, 2018. Within twelve hours of sending out the link to the survey, we had 400 responses. Currently, we are sitting at more than 800 responses, many of which include thoughtful comments that will inform Council as they further develop relevant guidelines.
 
If you have not yet responded, please consider filling out the survey by the November 24th deadline.
 
Consultations are an important part of effective self-regulation. This is even truer for Registered Psychotherapists where the varied nature of our Members' practices and practice settings means that there is considerable diversity to regulate. Given this, we will be looking to Members to contribute their knowledge and perspective more and more as we develop Quality Assurance tools (see the call for focus group volunteers later in this Communiqué) and other resources. I hope that you will take the time to have input into your College. Your perspective is an invaluable resource in helping us to fulfil our mandate to protect the public.
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In This Issue
Message from the Manager, Quality Assurance 

CRPO maintains a roster of peer assessors to conduct Peer and Practice Reviews (PPRs) as part of the Quality Assurance Program. Peer assessors are trained to conduct PPRs, which are structured, interview-based practice assessments.
 
Who are Peer Assessors?
Peer Assessors are fellow RPs. They are your colleagues - ones who have acted on a calling or sense of duty to contribute to the enrichment of their peers and the profession as a whole. They are responsible for evaluating the competence of Members by way of practice assessment, a process that the College refers to as the Peer and Practice Review.
 
About once a year, the College sends out a call for applications to recruit Peer Assessors, looking for skills and qualifications such as:
Before any candidate can be appointed as Peer Assessor, they must undergo an extensive selection process that includes screening, training and demonstration of skills.
 
This emphasis on the quality of the Peer Assessor is key. Peer Assessors must be able to maintain an ethical balance between peer and College ambassador entrusted to work in the interest of the public. The College is very pleased to be working with the current team of Peer Assessors who have carried out these duties with excellence and integrity.
 
Peer Assessors as Conduits
As they fulfill their role, Peer Assessors are exposed to the myriad ways in which a particular requirement, standard or guideline might be interpreted or applied across Ontario's diverse psychotherapy practice contexts. To tap into this knowledge, the College has established a regular practice of seeking the input of Peer Assessors in the development of QA tools and resources. In this way, Peer Assessors serve as another conduit for the voice of Members.
 
Are you committed to professional excellence? Are you interested in the Peer Assessor role? Please consider applying the next time the College puts out a call for applications.
 
Lene Marttinen
Manager, Quality Assurance 

CRPO Members: Be Sure to Update Your Independent Practice Hours

Until such time as you have completed sufficient hours of direct client contact and clinical supervision to meet the requirements for independent practice, your profile on CRPO's Public Register will indicate that you are practising with a Term, Condition and Limitation (or TCL) on your Certificate of Registration. The TCL will read "This Member, as is the case with all Members, shall practise with Clinical Supervision until s/he has completed a total of 1000 Direct Client Contact hours and 150 hours of Clinical Supervision."

If you have met this requirement but your Public Register profile is still showing this TCL, that likely means that you haven't updated your independent practice hours with CRPO. To have the TCL removed, please contact staff to find out the number of hours that were approved as you'll need to provide an official letter from a clinical supervisor or manager confirming any hours you have completed since approval.

Clinical Supervision
The letter should be signed and dated and include start and end dates (if applicable) for the clinical supervision hours, the type of clinical supervision completed (individual, dyadic or group), the job title/position of the signatory along with a contact phone number and email for verification purposes. 
 
Notes:
  • No more than 50 percent of the additional clinical supervision hours you need to satisfy the requirement can come from group supervision.
  • For Grandparented members, the maximum group size for clinical supervision for is up to 12 participants.
  • For regular route members, the maximum group size for clinical supervision for is 8 participants or less.

  Submitted hours that do not follow these criteria cannot be accepted.


Direct Client Contact (DCC)
If you have accumulated additional DCC hours, the College will need a letter from your employer or clinical supervisor confirming these hours. If the DCC hours were accumulated in a private practice, a letter from a clinical supervisor or colleague is usually sufficient. If you accumulated DCC hours from multiple practice sites, please provide a letter for each site.
 
The letter must be signed and dated and include the number of DCC hours accumulated since you submitted your application; the start and end dates (Day, Month, Year) (if applicable); contact information and credentials for the signatory.

Members should scan and upload a copy of the letter(s) to the "Documents" tab of your CRPO user account and send a message to let staff know this has been done so it can be reviewed. Please note that we do not receive notification when documents are uploaded.

To view your profile on the Public Register, please visit the Find an RP section of CRPO's website. The Public Register contains information about all CRPO Members and allows anyone to confirm whether a person is a Member of the College, and to learn the person's registration status, discipline history (if any) and their employment information.

It is important for all Members to regularly check their information on the Public Register to ensure that all the information listed is up-to-date and to alert CRPO as soon as possible of any changes.
Application Status Update

Du e to the significant volume of grandparenting applications undergoing review, there continues to be an increased timeframe between the application submission date and the start of a review.  To minimize delays to processing for everyone, we are not able to respond to questions about when an individual application will be processed. 
Applicants can easily track the progress of their application through the review stages by checking the status indicator located on the application landing page (i.e., the page with hyperlinks to all the sections of the form) in their CRPO user account .
 
What does each status mean?
 
Received:
Your application has been submitted successfully and is in the queue for processing; staff review has not yet begun.

Under Review:
Review of your application is now underway. A detailed assessment is conducted to determine, first, whether the application is complete and, second, whether the applicant meets the minimum registration requirements.
 
Check your e-mail inbox (including spam folders) regularly for the alerts CRPO sends when a message has been placed in your user account and be sure to respond to requests for clarification or more information as soon as possible.

Registrar Review:
First-level review of your application is complete; a second, senior-level review is in process.

Approved:
You have met the minimum requirements for registration; your application has been approved.

Recommend to Panel:
Applications that do not clearly meet the registration requirements, for one reason or another, are referred to a panel of the Registration Committee for a third-level review.
 
This review panel includes professional members of Council (that is, practicing Registered Psychotherapists) as well as publicly appointed members. Professional members bring their clinical perspective and experience to the process and work with the other panel members to ensure that registration decisions are fair and appropriate.

 
Correspondence with CRPO about Your Application
Staff may contact applicants with questions once the review of their application begins. If you submitted an application, please monitor your CRPO user account or your e-mail inbox regularly for the notifications we send alerting you to a system message, and respond to any questions or requests for additional information as quickly as possible to prevent delays. To facilitate the processing of applications:
 
  • If a staff member has questions after the first review of the application, they will send a detailed message to the user's online account addressing the concerns.
  • If more information is required after receiving the response, a staff member will follow-up for a second and final time.
  • If we do not receive a substantive response within two months of the date of the initial request for clarification, or the two attempts fail to result in satisfactory information, the application may then be referred to a panel of the Registration Committee for further consideration and possible refusal.

 

We thank you in advance for your patience while you await the outcome of the review of your application.

Important Information about Renewal of Membership for 2018-19 
 
CRPO Members are required to renew their membership on an annual basis, before the end of March each year. The Renewal form for the 2018-19 membership year will be available beginning in January 2018 under the "Renewal" tab found in Members' user accounts. In addition to the online Renewal form, Members will find their membership fee invoice for the next year (April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019) under the "Invoices" tab.
 
Members are advised to pay the membership fee early in the renewal period but no later than March 27, 2018 to allow at least three business days for the bank transfer payment to clear before the deadline on 11:59 p.m. ET on April 3, 2018 (Please note CRPO's office will be closed on April 2, 2018 for the Easter holiday). Once the payment has cleared, you must remember to return to the online Renewal form and click "Submit" to send the Renewal form to us before the deadline on 11:59 p.m. ET on April 3, 2018, or risk incurring a late fee. 

Note: The College continues to use bank-to-bank transfer as a secure and economical way of accepting payments. While this method involves a slower turnaround time, it lessens the possibility of fraudulent access to Member's accounts and is only a fraction of the cost of credit card access, allowing us to better manage Member fees.

It normally takes a regulatory body several months to review all membership renewals. Members can continue to practise as usual while their renewal is being processed.

Registration staff will send a message through Members' user accounts if there are questions about their renewal (e.g. about currency hours, or if more information is required). Members will not receive a new Certificate of Registration for every membership year but any changes to names, employers or practice sites, will be updated on the Public Register.

Detailed instructions for completing your renewal will follow early in the New Year. If you have general questions about the renewal process, please send them to  info@crpo.ca .

Transferring to the Inactive Category
Inactive Members are practitioners who, for one reason or another, are not currently engaged in the practice of the profession, or need to take an extended leave from active practice, but wish to maintain membership with CRPO.
 
A Member should carefully weigh their options before applying to transfer into this category since Inactive Members are prohibited from:
  • providing or supervising direct client care;
  • providing supervision; and
  • making any claim or representation to having any competence in psychotherapy.
Members in the Inactive category must use the appropriate title: Registered Psychotherapist (Inactive) or the acceptable abbreviated form, RP (Inactive).

* Qualifying Members and RP (Temporary) Members cannot transfer to the RP (Inactive) category.
 
Fees
The annual membership fee for a Member who transfers into the Inactive category before the renewal period is $286 +HST.
 
Note : The College does not provide any credit, refund or reimbursement to a Member who moves from RP status to Inactive at any point during the membership year, which runs from April 1 - March 31.
 
Professional Liability Insurance
CRPO requires that Inactive Members carry liability run off coverage (sometimes called enduring or tail coverage) for a minimum of two years since last practising in Ontario. Review the Professional Liability Insurance section of CRPO's website for more information about insurance requirements. Contact your insurance provider to discuss your options.
 
Note : Members who are covered by employer liability insurance should contact their employer for more information about coverage during leave. The onus is on the Member to ensure they have liability coverage which meets the criteria stipulated by CRPO.
 
Renewal of Membership
If you would like to switch to the Inactive category for the upcoming 2018-19 membership year, you must notify CRPO in writing no later than March 2, 2018 and everything needs to be complete with your renewal (i.e. complete and upload the Transfer form to your CRPO user account , pay your Inactive category invoice allowing at least three business days for funds to clear the banking system, and complete and submit the online Renewal form) all by April 3, 2018 to avoid incurring a late fee.
 
For more information about the Inactive category or to complete the Transfer form , please visit the Transferring to the Inactive Category section of CRPO's website.

Call for Focus Group Volunteers

The College is looking for 10 experienced RPs who will join us in a focus group webinar to provide feedback on the draft Informed Consent Workbook. The focus group webinar will be held on Dec. 13, 2017.

The intent of the Workbook is to help members understand the law and their obligations with respect to the informed consent process, including:
  • assessment and treatment;
  • collection, use and disclosure of personal health information;
  • recognizing when it may be necessary to consult with an appropriate substitute decision-maker;
  • identifying the appropriate substitute decision-maker; and
  • consent in exceptional circumstances.
If you can be available to join a focus group webinar on Dec. 13, 2017, and meet the criteria listed below, please send your CV to QA@crpo.ca . CVs must be submitted before November 27th in order to be considered

Those selected to participate in the focus group webinar will be expected to review the 40-page Informed Consent Workbook in advance. No remuneration will be provided for this focus group.

In order to be considered eligible, you must:
  • have practised the profession for at least five years;
  • be currently practising and engaged in direct client work;
  • hold  a current Certificate of Registration as a Registered Psychotherapist and meet the annual renewal requirements;
  • have no prior history with the College or another regulatory body resulting in a decision of the ICRC, the Executive Committee, the Fitness to Practise Committee or the Discipline Committee, other than a decision to take no action; and
  • have successfully completed (or are up-to-date with) all requirements under the Quality Assurance Program.
CRPO makes every effort to reflect the diversity of the profession in its selection processes - participants will be selected based on a combination of experience and professional background.

CRPO News
  1. Discipline Committee Decision Now Available
  2. Practice Advisory Service 
  3. New Website
1. Discipline Committee Decision Now Available
The Discipline Committee is responsible for holding hearings into allegations of professional misconduct and incompetence about College Members.

Following the conclusion of each Discipline Committee hearing, the panel's Decision and Reasons (or a summary of those reasons) are published. This is to ensure a transparent process and to educate Members and the public about the standards expected by the College.

The following decisions are now available online: Wisam Al-Dabbagh - March 3, 2017

2. Practice Advisory Service 
CRPO offers a practice advisory service that Registered Psychotherapists (RPs) can access in order to discuss matters relating to professional practice, ethics and standards. By connecting with the practice advisory service, RPs will be provided with helpful information and resources.

The structure of the practice advisory service has recently changed so that RPs can be matched with a Practice Advisor who has a related professional background. Our six Practice Advisors are fellow RPs with extensive clinical experience.
 
RPs who have practice-related questions, who are facing ethical conundrums, or who simply want to discuss professional practice, are invited to connect with an Advisor by:
 
or
  • Phone: 416-479-4330, ext. 222
You will hear back from a member of the CRPO practice advisory team within three to five business days.

3. New Website 
Based on feedback received from last year's communications survey, CRPO has been busy working on a new and improved website. The site will feature our new branding, as well as a re-organized structure to allow members, stakeholders and the public to more easily access the information they need. Our website address will remain the same, www.crpo.ca . Please look for our new website, launching at the end of this month. 

Please do not unsubscribe.
CRPO works on the assumption that our Members receive all of our e-mails. CRPO uses e-mail to communicate with Members about important College updates. If you choose to unsubscribe, it is then your responsibility to regularly check our website to keep yourself informed. 

It is the responsibility of each Member 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.