Who can provide clinical supervision to students, qualifying members and others? In all instances, supervisory relationships must adhere to Professional Practice Standards, particularly those set out in section 4: Clinical Supervision.
Students: Only registrants of six Ontario colleges* will be authorized to perform the controlled act of psychotherapy. Students intending to join CRPO will need to be supervised by an RP in order to perform the controlled act of psychotherapy as part of their education. The RP supervisor must meet CRPO’s definition of a clinical supervisor.
Students may still receive clinical supervision from another psychotherapy-practising professional* (as long as the supervisor meets the definition of clinical supervisor). However, that supervision will not enable the student to perform the controlled act of psychotherapy.
As a reminder, the controlled act of psychotherapy is a subset of the broader scope of practice of psychotherapy. All of this supervision (from an RP or another psychotherapy-practising professional) can be counted towards meeting CRPO’s registration requirements, as long as it meets CRPO’s definitions and is supported by documentation.
RP (Qualifying) members of CRPO can receive supervision from anyone who is a member of a psychotherapy-practising profession* who meets CRPO’s clinical supervisor definition. Details of the RP (Qualifying) category are available here.
RP (does not qualify for independent practice) members must receive ongoing clinical supervision until they have completed a total of 1,000 direct client contact hours and 150 hours of clinical supervision. These members of can receive supervision from anyone who is a member of a psychotherapy-practising profession who meets CRPO’s clinical supervisor definition.
RP (qualifies for independent practice) members may engage in voluntary clinical supervision or may find it is necessary to do so in order to meet Professional Practice Standard 2.0: Competence. Members in this category who obtain clinical supervision for professional growth or due to self-identified needs do not need to receive the supervision from someone who meets the criteria set out in CRPO’s definition of clinical supervisor. Members who rely on such supervision to meet QA or currency requirements must ensure the supervisory relationship aligns with the Professional Practices Standards, particularly those set out in Section 4: Clinical Supervision. CRPO recommends that members in this registration category take a common sense approach to clinical supervision, ensuring that the clinical supervisor has the knowledge, skill and judgement necessary to meet the needs/goals of the supervision.
A member who is involved in a proceeding before a panel of a committee may be required to engage in clinical supervision as part of an undertaking, a program of specified continuing education and remediation (SCERP), or as a term, condition or limitation placed on the member’s certificate of registration. In such cases, the panel would have the authority to determine the requirements for the clinical supervisor and the parameters of the clinical supervision.
For more information about being supervised by a clinician who is a member of a different profession, please consult our Clinical Supervision FAQ.
* The other professions who are permitted to provide psychotherapy services in Ontario are members of College of Psychologists of Ontario, Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers, College of Nurses of Ontario, College of Occupational Therapists of Ontario, and College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.