This month: Addressing systemic racism, call for BIPOC committee members, no fee increase, and more.
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Looking for information, resources and advice about your practice during the coronavirus pandemic?
We’ve got all that on our website
, plus FAQs we’re updating all the time.
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Shelley Briscoe-Dimock, President
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Message from the President & Registrar
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We wanted to begin this month’s Communique to acknowledge CRPO’s role in addressing systemic racism as it relates to our work in public protection. CRPO recognizes and values the diversity of our province and, specifically, the public whose interests we serve. As a regulator, we are committed to working from an inclusive and holistic anti-oppression lens to protect Ontarians of various cultures, abilities, racialized groups, socio-economic backgrounds, sexual orientations and gender identities.
As an organization, we are pausing to reflect on changes we need to make.
We acknowledge that CRPO needs to take additional actions to support a safe and inclusive Ontario for Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC), as well as individuals from other equity seeking communities. This work is needed in how we engage with and respond to the public, who is at the Council and committee tables, who is hired to work on the staff team and how we apply our regulatory authority.
Given our regulatory mandate, we believe that this work includes participating in supporting access to mental health services for members of BIPOC communities. As you may know, CRPO has a
position statement
on the barriers to access to care; over the coming months, Council will be asked to consider what we need to do to ensure that the barriers that racialized people experience are explicitly addressed through regulatory activities.
CRPO also needs to consider diversity at Council and committee tables. At its November 2019 meeting, Council adopted a set of core competencies and directed staff to continue the work of developing matrices for committee level competencies as well as committee composition; this framework very much contemplates the need for diversity among Council members.
Moreover, you’ll see below we are actively seeking RPs from BIPOC and other equity-seeking communities to sit on CRPO committees. While colleges cannot dictate which public members get appointed by government and which professional members get elected by registrants, this is one step we can take. It provides us with the opportunity and the mechanism to recruit racialized registrants to participate in decision-making and policy development. This will help to ensure that a forthcoming review of standards, guidelines and policies can include the perspective of registrants from and who serve these communities. In practical terms, it means that CRPO will have the needed mix of skills and experience to address issues like guidance around disclosing information to prevent harm or safety planning for clients from racialized and marginalized communities.
We would also note that CRPO has public engagement and consultation sessions planned for the fall. While we cannot do these in person due to the ongoing coronavirus situation, we will use remote focus group meetings and key informant interviews. Running the consultation sessions in this way will allow us to make contact with community agencies that serve marginalized groups – including those who are racialized – as well as community service agencies, law enforcement and child protection organizations who all hold responsibilities for combatting systemic racism.
We hope that registrants will be willing to engage with CRPO over the coming months to participate in developing and enhancing effective multicultural competencies and, as a result, enhanced protection of the BIPOC members of Ontario’s public.
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Engaging Emergency Services in the Context of Wellness Checks
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Recently, public awareness has grown about the sometimes tragic outcomes for people, in particular Black, Indigenous and People of Colour, who experience a mental health crisis in the community. Some RPs are requesting clarification around the need to call 911 for a client who is in crisis.
The guiding principle is to balance client autonomy (by discussing safety planning with the client), with the need to prevent harm to the client or others
.
How that plays out depends on the situation. There is no explicit legal requirement to involve emergency services. The appropriate decision will vary based on various factors, including the client’s wishes, and which third party (e.g. emergency contact person, family physician, mental health crisis service, 911, etc.) is best able to respond to a particular emergency situation.
CRPO will review and update its guideline,
Disclosing Information to Prevent Harm
. While this guideline contains useful principles and procedures, several of the case examples referred to phoning police without enough discussion of the risks or alternatives of doing so. A version without the case examples has been posted in the meantime.
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Council diversity: An invitation to BIPOC RPs
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As part of a governance review CRPO undertook in 2019, Council adopted a number of
regulatory objectives
, including one to promote equality, diversity and inclusion in the provision of psychotherapy services. As part of the work of meeting these objectives, CRPO is actively looking to appoint Black, Indigenous and RPs of colour to serve on a number of committees. Applicants with specific areas of knowledge, skill and expertise are particularly in demand, including RPs who work in community settings and hospitals, have experience working with children, families, immigrants, and people with disabilities, and who have knowledge of internationally trained practitioners. Do you want to make a contribution to public protection?
Click here for more info
.
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CRPO’s
by-laws
provide for a fee increase every two years to align with the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for goods and services over that time period. An increase was scheduled for June of this year. Considering the financial impact that the pandemic has had on many registrants as well as the ongoing economic uncertainties, CRPO’s Executive made the decision not to implement the increase. Given this, all
CRPO fees
will remain at their current rates until at least June 2021.
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Resources: COVID-19 Infection Prevention and Control for Regulated Health Professionals
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Public Health Ontario recently hosted a webinar about COVID-19 Infection Prevention and Control for Regulated Health Professionals. Click
here to view the webinar recording
Other resources are also available:
If you have further questions about Infection Prevention and Control, please contact
pratice@crpo.ca
.
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Council President Shelley Briscoe-Dimock and Registrar Deborah Adams will provide updates for each of the core areas of our work, explain recent developments in the regulatory community and invite your thoughts on issues facing the profession.
We want to hear from you to help build our agenda. We are asking registrants to complete a survey indicating what areas are of particular interest to you and what issues that are unique to your community of practice. Once you have registered to attend the town hall in your region, you will receive a link to complete the survey.
Not sure which electoral district you are in?
Login to your CRPO user account and click on the “Elections” tab or check out the
district maps
.
Given that we won’t be able to travel to meet with you in person, the survey will be key to making the sessions as interactive as possible. Please take the time to let us know what areas you most want to hear about.
Click on your electoral district to register for your region’s Town Hall:
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Peer and Practice Reviews
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The
2020 administration of the Peer and Practice Reviews (PPRs) for randomly selected registrants is in progress. All registrants have been notified.
Being randomly selected to participate in Peer and Practice Review (PPR) is a normal part of being a regulated health professional in Ontario. CRPO’s two-step PPR process is designed to assess a registrant’s knowledge, skill, and judgement and identify areas of strength as a health care professional, as well as any areas that may benefit from enhancement or more assessment.
All registrants selected for a PPR will undergo the first step that consists of:
- completing a pre-questionnaire
- providing 3-5 examples of professional advertising / self-representational materials for review
- providing an example of an invoice that represents usual billing practice for review
- participating in an interview conducted by phone
The peer assessors who conduct the assessments are fellow CRPO registrants who have been trained to conduct the PPRs. They, and the College, are committed to collaborating with registrants and supporting them to meet their professional obligations, many of which are laid out in the
Professional Practice Standards for Registered Psychotherapists
.
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Attention 2016 and 2018 Registrants – You have a deadline on November 30, 2020
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Your Professional Development submission deadline of November 30, 2020 is a few months away. RPs who registered in 2016 and 2018 need to have the following submitted on or before November 30:
1. Self-Assessment (SA)
is a tool to help you assess your knowledge, skill and judgment in select areas. It includes exercises designed to help you contemplate the more interpersonal aspects of your practice. You must submit at least one SA with both sections completed, though if the nature of your practice changed during your submission period, then another SA must be completed within 6 months of the change. Your submission period or reporting cycle is from your date of registration in 2016 or 2018 to November 30, 2020.
2. Learning Plan (LP)
is a tool to help you set your professional goals. You are free to include as many goals as you can reasonably achieve for your submission period. At least one of those goals in the LP must have all three parts filled in before you click the “submit” button.
3. Learning Record (LR)
is your record of learning activities that occurred during your submission period or reporting cycle. If your initial date of registration falls in 2016 you need at least 80 hours of learning activities; if your initial date of registration falls in 2018 you need at least 40 hours of learning activities.
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The next meeting of CRPO Council will take place on
August 20, 2020, 9:30 to 3:30
. Want to attend? Register ahead of time and review the
guidelines on attendance
.
Given the uncertainty around when restrictions will be eased to allow in-person meetings, CRPO is waiting to determine whether this session will be virtual. If we can hold an in-person meeting, please note that seating is limited and so you are asked to ensure you have a confirmation before attending.
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A reminder that, although the CRPO offices are physically closed and staff are working offsite, our day-to-day business is ongoing. This includes processing registration applications. Staff are currently reviewing applications that were submitted in February. Be sure to
follow us on Facebook
where we post updates about which batch of applications we’re reviewing.
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Follow our feed for the latest on new resources, Council election
updates, governance decisions and more!
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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.
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