Calls grow for Alberta to regulate counselling therapists

Mental health advocates are urging the Alberta government to move faster on regulating counselling therapists, noting that the province still lacks basic standards and protections for the profession.

A group of over 4,000 counselling therapists is asking for change.

“People are at risk of receiving mental health support individuals who are not qualified to give that support,” said Samantha Howe, Master of Counselling student.

Howe is in school taking her master’s in Counselling Therapy, a career choice she says came after seeing the industry had little to no rules and standards in Alberta, meaning an untrained person could be taking on patients.

“As someone who has had their own struggles in finding an appropriate counselor and someone that I felt safe with, it just really motivated me,” said Howe.

The Association of Counselling Therapy Alberta says they’ve been pushing for the change for years.

“It’s 100 per cent for public protection,” said Laura Hahn, CEO and registrar of the Association of Counselling Therapy Alberta (ACTA).

Hahn has been working to bring changes to regulation for the over 4,000 counselling therapists in Alberta.

She says while the Alberta government committed to having regulations in place by 2025, not much has changed since that announcement a year and a half ago and that is causing frustration.

“There are people leaving the province to work in other jurisdictions that are regulated so they can work in hospitals, in different primary care networks, and provide services through non-insured health benefits for First Nations. None of that’s available unless you’re regulated.”

The College of Alberta Psychologists would oversee the changes and regulations; they also want the province to provide more direction on how to move forward and where the money for this change would come from.

“We don’t know what the trajectory would be here, and we’re hoping we can get this done much quicker,” said Dr. Troy Janzen, deputy registrar & chief of practice, College of Alberta Psychologists.

In a statement to CityNews, a spokesperson for Alberta’s Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction says it’s working with the organizations to create guidelines, but they have no timelines.

The statement said:

“The Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction continues to be committed to improving the standards of care for mental health services through the regulation of counsellors in the province.”

For people like Howe, who want to help those in need, she wants the answers to what a career in her field will look like sooner, rather than later.

“As someone who is going back and forth on do I want to be a counselling therapist, or do I want to be a professional psychologist, it provides me with a lot of unease, sort of not knowing what the road is going to look like for either option,” said Howe.