A group of psychologists, psychological associates, psychology graduate students and community members march to Queen's Park as they rally against proposed changes to lower Ontario's psychology training standards on Dec. 6.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
More than 1,400 registrants and graduate students have signed a letter urging Ontario’s psychology regulator to remove its registrar amid criticism that proposed changes to training requirements could lower standards and compromise patient safety.
The letter calls for the removal of Tony DeBono as registrar of the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario. It is the latest example of mounting opposition among mental health professionals to lower training requirements for psychologists in the province.
Dr. DeBono could not be reached for comment before publication.
“This letter is an expression of concern that, in our view, the Registrar’s continued tenure has become a significant impediment to restoring confidence among the Ontario public, registrants, and other key stakeholders,” the letter states.
“We believe this impairs the College’s ability to carry out its mandate effectively: protecting the public while regulating the profession fairly, transparently, and proportionately.”
Many psychologists fear the college’s plans carry risks, including an increased chance of misdiagnosing patients.
The college says the proposed reforms, which were approved by its board last September, are designed to increase access to psychologists in Ontario and align the training requirements with those in other jurisdictions.
Among the proposed changes: eliminating the requirement of a doctorate degree to be a psychologist, reducing supervised work for non-doctoral applicants from 4 years to 12 months and removing “scopes of competency” that require psychologists to declare areas of specialization, such as clinical psychology.
Several organizations that represent mental-health practitioners have shared concerns about the plans.
The Ontario Psychological Association has warned the changes could compromise safety in the name of greater access and “strip away educational standards and safeguards, flooding the system with undertrained clinicians and putting the public at risk.”
In a letter last December, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto said the proposed reduction in supervised practice represents a 75-per-cent decrease in hands-on training that would drastically reduce mechanisms designed to ensure competence, ethical judgement and patient safety.
Jennifer Vriend, an Ottawa-based child and adolescent psychologist, wrote on LinkedIn on Wednesday that “years of training aren’t arbitrary.”
“They are how psychologists learn to navigate complexity, uncertainty, and risk with care,” she wrote. “It is not about intelligence or intention. It is about experience, judgment, and understanding risk.”
James MacKillop, a clinical psychologist and addiction researcher at McMaster University and St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, expressed similar concerns.
He signed the letter and said the planned changes would degrade the health care system.
“I think they’re really going to actually harm the public,” Dr. MacKillop said in an interview. “They are purported to improve access. But I think that in doing so, they’re actually going to create more health disparities in our health care system, and ultimately lead to higher costs, too.”
Dr. MacKillop added that research conducted by his lab found “extremely strong disapproval” of the changes. Additionally, consultations conducted by the college that concluded in December found that about 90 per cent of respondents opposed changes.
The college, in a statement posted on LinkedIn, said that the 60-day consultation process did not amount to a vote to reject changes. It added that all submissions were reviewed and that the proposal is now under consideration by the Ontario Ministry of Health.
Dr. MacKillop said he is hopeful Ontario will reject the proposal.
“This letter is basically a cry from the heart from a profession that is saying, ‘Why won’t you listen to us?’”