Applying to CRPO

Those interested in applying for registration with CRPO must determine whether they are eligible to apply and must ensure that each step of the registration process has been fulfilled. Applicants should begin with the self-assessment tool to ascertain whether their clinical practice necessitates registration with the college.

Summary of Application Process

After completing the self-assessment tool, an applicant who believes they substantially meet the registration requirements must:

• create a user account on our secure Member Management System;
• pay for and successfully complete the Jurisprudence e-Learning Module;
• complete and submit the online application form and materials, and pay the application processing fee; and
• successfully complete the Registration Exam after being deemed eligible to write it.

Access to a computer with an internet connection is required to complete most of the application process. A number of supporting documents are also required in order to complete the application. A list of this documentation is included in the Registration Guide.

Applicants who are deemed to meet the registration requirements will be notified via the Member Management System that their application has been approved, or that their application is being proposed for refusal. Regular route applicants who have received notice of approval, will be issued a Certificate of Registration once the College has received their registration fee.

Psychotherapists as Regulated Health Professionals

Regulatory colleges are mandated to regulate professionals in the public interest. In addition to establishing rigorous registration criteria, the College regulates practitioners by establishing and maintaining standards of practice, promoting continued competence and quality improvement, and ensuring professional accountability.

Besides Registered Psychotherapists – who are members of this College – the members of five other regulated professions may practise psychotherapy if they meet the requirements set by their respective colleges: nurses, occupational therapists, physicians, psychologists and psychological associates, and social workers and social service workers. This College has no role in the regulation of members of other colleges whose members may practise psychotherapy.

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Who needs to register?

Anyone whose work falls within the scope of the practice of psychotherapy, and who is not already registered with another Ontario regulatory college whose members can practise psychotherapy (see Psychotherapists as Regulated Health Professionals, above), should consider becoming a member of CRPO. Prospective applicants should begin by using the self-assessment tool to determine their eligibility for membership. However, those described below must be registered:

• anyone using the title “psychotherapist”, “Registered Psychotherapist” or any abbreviation thereof; and
• anyone holding themself out as qualified to practise as a psychotherapist in Ontario (no matter what title they may use).

There is no need for counsellors whose work falls outside the scope of the practice of psychotherapy to become registered. CRPO recognizes that there is a significant overlap between certain kinds of counselling and psychotherapy. Please see the distinction between psychotherapy and counselling, as formulated by the Health Professions Regulatory Advisory Council (HPRAC) on the Definitions page of our website.

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Registration Requirements

CRPO’s Registration Regulation reflects a competency-based registration model. This means that applicants must demonstrate in a variety of ways that they possess the required knowledge, skill and judgment, as opposed to simply possessing a specific academic credential.

Registration requirements are founded on CRPO’s Entry-to-Practice Competency Profile for Registered Psychotherapists. The competency profile also underpins the Registration Exam and will be used as the basis for reviewing and recognizing psychotherapy education and training programs.

Applicants must also complete the following:

• the Professional Practice and Jurisprudence e-Learning Module (individuals must submit an application for registration with CRPO within two years of completing the module);
• a “recognized” education and training program in psychotherapy that includes competency development in Safe and Effective Use of Self (SEUS).
  • Note: SEUS education and training can take the form of coursework, experiential learning and/or personal psychotherapy focused on SEUS (see below for requirements of a recognized program);
• 450 direct client contact hours (some or all can be completed as part of an education and training program or completed subsequently);
• 100 hours of clinical supervision; and
• successful completion of the Registration Exam, i.e. the National Assessment offered by the COMPASS Centre for Examination Development, a national body established to develop and administer this exam.

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Education and Training

CRPO expects that applicants will come from a variety of backgrounds. Sometimes their original professional education and training will have been in a field such as child and family services or pastoral counselling. Some will have completed an independent psychotherapy program offered at the master’s level. Others will have completed a master’s program in a discipline related to the practice of psychotherapy. Still others may have completed a program (or possibly components of more than one program), assessed to be “substantially equivalent” through the CRPO mapping tool.

Whatever their backgrounds, all will be expected to be safe and competent practitioners.

Applicants must have:

• (a) successfully completed a program in psychotherapy or the Indigenous practice of psychotherapy recognized by the Registration Committee, or
• (b) been awarded a master’s degree in a program that has been recognized by the Registration Committee, or
• (c) successfully completed a program the Registration Committee considers substantially equivalent to a. or b.; or
• (d) successfully completed one or more programs of education and training in psychotherapy, or substantial portions of one or more programs, possibly along with other education and training, which taken together evidences, in the opinion of the Registration Committee, successful completion of a program that is substantially equivalent to a. or b.

Note: Because of the intercultural translation that will be required to assess programs in the Indigenous practice of psychotherapy, applicants who have completed such programs will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

A process has been established for reviewing and recognizing education and training programs in psychotherapy, in order to develop a list of recognized programs. Regular applicants who have successfully completed a recognized program can assume that their education and training meets the requirements of the College. For more information about recognized education and training programs, visit the Education Programs page of our website.

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Currency

All applicants must be “current” in the practise of the profession. Specifically, they must have engaged in professional activities related to psychotherapy in the three-year period immediately prior to application. Someone who completed their education and training several years earlier, but never practised, would not be current, and therefore would be ineligible for registration.

Regular applicants must have completed their education and training program or their clinical experience requirement, i.e. direct client contact and clinical supervision hours, in the year immediately prior to application; or they must have completed 750 currency hours within the three years immediately prior to application, or completed acceptable upgrading activities.

Note: There is no “in Canada” currency requirement for regular applicants.

Currency hours are defined broadly and include a range of professional activities related to psychotherapy, in addition to direct client work. “In Canada” is also defined broadly, and includes work done by Canadians stationed abroad with the Canadian Forces, a Canadian government agency, or a non-governmental organization (NGO) engaged in international development or humanitarian work, where psychotherapy services are provided to Canadians.

The three year period for demonstrating currency is the three years immediately prior to the date on which an applicant’s completed application and fee are submitted using the College’s secure online Member Management System. The purpose of the currency requirement is to demonstrate recent professional activity related to the practice of the profession.

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Application Process and Fees

Applicants will use a secure, online application form, accessed through CRPO’s website. In order to access the online application form, an applicant must have created a user account on the Member Management System and completed the Professional Practice and Jurisprudence e-Learning Module.

When completing the application form, applicants should have details of their education and training, clinical experience, etc., readily at hand.

On the application landing page, a link to the application fee invoice is provided; follow this link to pay your application processing fee. You can pay the fee before, during or after you complete your application; however, the College must receive a cleared payment before the “Submit Application” button will activate to allow you to submit an application.

Payments can only be made via bank-to-bank-transfer. CRPO does not accept credit card payments, Interac e-transfers, PayPal, etc. It takes at least three to five business days for payments to clear if you bank with one of the major domestic banks.

Fees are prorated on a monthly basis for new Members. Up to date fee information can be reviewed on our fees page.

Fees paid to CRPO are non-refundable.

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Professional Liability Insurance

All applicants for registration are required to have proof of professional liability insurance (PLI) coverage in the amount and in the form required under CRPO’s By-laws, either individually or through your employer. Alternately, you may undertake to provide proof, within 30 days of the issuance of the Certificate of Registration, of having PLI. The insurance must be effective from the day on which the Certificate of Registration is issued.

More information can be found on the Professional Liability Insurance page of our website.

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Labour Mobility

Ontario is a party to the national Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) which provides for labour mobility of regulated professionals between provinces. In addition, Ontario passed its own Labour Mobility Act in 2009, implementing AIT. For more information, please refer to the Labour Mobility page or the Labour Mobility Application.

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Registration Categories & Use of Specialty Titles

Once registered with CRPO, all members must use the title indicated on their Certificate of Registration. Details of the different categories, as well as specialty titles, can be reviewed on the Registration Categories page.

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Disclosure Obligations

As part of the application process, all applicants will be asked to provide personal contact information, including information required by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC), and other background information.

Applicants are required to disclose any of the following information about their past conduct:

• findings of guilt for any criminal offence or offence resulting in either imprisonment or a fine greater than $1,000;
• current proceedings or past findings of professional misconduct, incompetence, incapacity, or any similar finding, in relation to any regulated profession in any jurisdiction;
• findings of professional negligence or malpractice in any jurisdiction;
• a refusal by any body responsible for the regulation of a profession in any jurisdiction to register or license them;
• current and past registration with any body responsible for the regulation of a profession, and whether the applicant is/was in good standing; and
• any other event that would provide reasonable grounds for the belief that the applicant will not practise psychotherapy in a safe and professional manner.

The final item in the above list is intended to include a variety of conduct not captured by the previous items in the list. For example, it includes complaints, discipline or dismissal involving a professional association, employer or educational institution. Applicants are also expected to disclose instances of serious impropriety such as fraud or having sexual contact with a current or former client.

The College will evaluate the significance of such disclosures. It is possible that a past event no longer reflects significantly on an applicant’s suitability to become a Registered Psychotherapist. Alternatively, the College may place a term, condition or limitation on their Certificate of Registration. If an application for registration is refused, there is a process to allow for an appeal before an independent body.

If an applicant misrepresents themself, their conduct or their qualifications in the registration process, and are found to have done so, their application will be refused or their registration revoked.

Applicants are asked to declare if they suffer from any physical or mental condition or disorder which may impair their ability to practise psychotherapy safely and competently and which, if left untreated, would impair their ability to practise psychotherapy. Such a disclosure does not mean that an application will be refused, but could result in a term, condition or limitation being attached to the Certificate of Registration.

Applicants will be required to establish that they are reasonably fluent in English or French (written and spoken) and have professional liability insurance coverage.

Each applicant will also be required to sign a consent form, authorizing the College to seek further information related to their application, as necessary, from outside sources.

In addition to the above, all applicants will be required to submit a statutory declaration attesting to the truthfulness and completeness of all information provided in their application. Unlike a passport application, it cannot be signed by a supervisor, a regulated health professional, or someone you know. The statutory declaration template must only be signed by an authorized individual, which is limited to a lawyer, notary public, judge or magistrate.  

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