Information from the British Columbia Branch of CACFT

Hello MFTs of British Columbia:

As you may have heard, the College of Health and Care Professionals of BC (CHCPBC) plans to regulate the practice of psychotherapy starting November 29, 2027. At that time, those of us who wish to continuing practising psychotherapy may need to be licensed as Psychotherapists by the College, which is directed by the BC Ministry of Health. While the requirements are yet undecided, CACFT/ACTCF is confident in the qualifications of each RMFT as some of the most highly educated and trained psychotherapists in the country.

The College hopes to open applications for current clinicians in June 2027, who may then immediately become licensed effective November 29, 2027. The College has not yet determined the application requirements at this time, however the process has closely followed the steps of the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO). As such, in review of CRPO's path as well as recommendations from like professions across different jurisdictions, the BC Branch Board shares the following suggestions and information:

• Transcripts - If required, the College may request transcripts arrive directly from your educational institution. Begin determining the process for requesting your relevant transcripts, as well as any related costs.
• Diplomas - Locate and obtain copies of your respective diploma(s) in case they are requested. A good cellphone picture may suffice in cases where restrictive framing makes copies challenging.
• Currency Hours - There is high potential the College will request documentation for the number of client hours, or "currency hours," you have provided within a certain time frame, such as "the last 2 years." We do not currently know the requirement or time frame, however it would be prudent to assess your current hour tracking abilities. Most therapy scheduling and billing software can provide reports of hours scheduled, seen, and/or paid for, which can be easily anonymized. For those using pen and paper systems, consider how you might substantiate an hours requirement, perhaps with anonymized financial and/or scheduling records.
• Supervision Documentation - Locate, obtain, and store records of your supervision hours. While these may or may not be requested or considered by the College, we would prefer for RMFTs to be overprepared than caught off guard. 

---

In addition, FACTBC Contractor Elaine Unger has requested we share the following with RMFT members:

Share a Story: Looking for Possible Interviewees in the Greater Victoria Area

As FACTBC continues to advocate for an inclusive regulatory framework, practitioner experiences and the stories of the clients you support are more important than ever.

The voices of practitioners who work with some of British Columbia’s most vulnerable individuals can help demonstrate the essential role FACTBC member-practitioners play in the mental health system. Sharing your experiences will help raise awareness of the value, accessibility, and diversity of care provided by FACTBC practitioners — and the potential impact on clients and communities if these practitioners are excluded from regulation. Names and specific details should be anonymized to protect client confidentiality. 

Here is a sample snippet from an interview: Katherine, Music Therapist, Shares the Story of Tomoya

If you are a practitioner and would be willing to share your story through a video interview with Elaine Unger at FACTBC, please email her at elaine@factbc.org. She will be in the Greater Victoria Area on Thursday, September 17 recording interviews. Each interview takes approximately 30 minutes including set up. A quiet, well-lit indoor or outdoor space is required. Your perspective can help ensure that the experiences of practitioners and the clients they serve are represented in ongoing regulatory discussions. 

---

The Board of the BC Branch looks forward to sharing information, suggestions, and excitement as we approach the upcoming regulation. We are planning our AGM for January and will be requesting your thoughts for planning in the next few months. In the meantime, we wish the rest of 2026 brings the best for you, your families, and the communities you serve.

Sincerely,
BC Branch Board
CACFT/ACTCF

From the June 2026 ACTA newsletter:

"Dear Counselling Therapy Professionals,

ACTA is pleased to announce Board-approved registration improvements and temporary Summer 2026 registration incentives designed to reduce barriers to registration and support the counselling therapy profession's readiness for regulation.

Whether you are a recent graduate, an experienced practitioner who has not yet registered, or a former member considering a return to ACTA, there has never been a better time to register..."

Click here to continuing reading

Update from FACT-NL:

"...we have received ministerial direction to add counselling therapists to the Schedule to the Health Professions Act. We will now proceed to advance this for further consideration and approval. As you know, s. 3(2) of the Health Professions Act provides that “the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may, by order and upon recommendation of the minister, add a health profession to the Schedule to this Act designating it as a profession to which this Act applies”. This direction from the Minister will serve as a formal recommendation as we advance to the next stage of the process.

If we receive approval to add the profession to the Schedule, this will serve as notice to the public of an intention to regulate the profession. This will help facilitate any further consultations as may be required. It would also mean that we would be able to proceed with actually drafting regulations in collaboration with the Office of the Legislative Counsel.

This means that we've received ministerial approval, which is an important initiating step. From here, we should expect three phases:

1. Legal procedure: Following ministerial approval (done ✅ ), the Lt. Gov in council issues a regulation to add RCTs to the NLHPC Act.
2. Regulation development: regulations for entry to college or basic entry to practice standards, regulations for scope of practice, CE requirements (for candidates specifically and beyond), complaints and disciplinary procedures and any other relevant pieces. Submitted for Min. approval.
3. Proclamation: Added date for the college rules to come into effect.
4. Implementation and Onboarding: This will include an initial 1yr for current practitioners (grandparenting), etc. Announcement of date deadline after which the act of counselling therapy cannot be practiced without title.

..."

The now forming College of Health and Care Professionals of BC and its registrar, Dianne Millette, provided valuable updates about the ongoing work towards regulation of psychotherapy in British Columbia earlier this month. Here is some information, some of which will be relevant to us and some is just about the general process:

Dates

• 1 April 2026 (firm) - HPOA goes live and comes into play. This is most applicable to people who are already regulated and licensed.
• 1 June 2026 (hopeful) - The College aims to have all of the regulated professions integrated into one software system online for management.
• September/Fall 2026 (hopeful) - The College looks forward to having a new website.
• 22 June 2027 (hopeful) - The College is looking to opening applications for psychotherapists, including those who will be accepted through a legacy route, in advance of a November launch. 
• 29 November 2027 (firm) - The College has firmly restated this date as the official Psychotherapy onboarding, with the profession online and those who applied in June now confirmed within the system.

Details

In harmonizing details between professions, the College is seeking to affirm firm public safety by a strong standard. Some of the standards they are pursuing, which is already in alignment with our ethics and best practices under CACFT, are as follows:

• 16 year records retention (or age of majority +16 years for minor clients). This aligns with the current medical standard in BC.
• Sexual relationships with clients, past and present, are forbidden regardless of time passed. This aligns with our standards at CACFT.

Ongoing Direction

The College is continuing to work through the process for all of structuring and integration they have ahead. There is a heavy lean towards the precedent set by CRPO. Meanwhile, our members would do well to get to know the College's website and its resources: https://chcpbc.org/. In particular, the website has recordings of previous webinars related to the HPOA: https://chcpbc.org/legislation/hpoa/webinars/

From FACT-MB:

"On Friday, September 12, 2025, we received notification from Neil Duboff, Chair of the Health Professions Advisory Council (HPAC), that HPAC has completed their review of our application for regulation (submitted in May 2021). HPAC has now submitted its report with recommendations to the Minister of Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care. That report is now ‘under active consideration' by the Minister’s Office."