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/
