Quality Practice - Summer 2008 Volume 7 Issue 2 Print
Psychotherapy survey
Do the nurses in your setting practise psychotherapy? If so, the College would like to hear about their psychotherapy practice experiences in a brief, anonymous survey.
Go to www.cno.org/surveys/surveyPsychotherapy.htm to complete the survey by July 28.
The survey results will help the College plan how it will support nurses when new regulations about psychotherapy are implemented. The survey will inform the College of what education nurses have completed, how they maintain their competency and what their psychotherapy practice settings are like.
Nurses can also choose to participate in a focus group on the use of psychotherapy in nursing by providing their name, phone number and e-mail address at the end of the survey. Or, they can e-mail contact information to with the word “psychotherapy” in the subject line once they’ve completed the survey.
In 2007, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care introduced legislation to regulate the performance of psychotherapy. Once proclaimed, the legislation will help protect the public by ensuring that all Ontario psychotherapy practitioners, including nurses, have the necessary skills and education to perform it appropriately. The legislation restricts the practice of psychotherapy to members of specific regulated health care professions, include nursing.
The legislation also provides for the creation of a new self-governing college, the College of Psychotherapists and Registered Mental Health Therapists of Ontario. Currently under development, this new college will set registration requirements for entry to practice, implement a complaints and discipline process, and develop standards of practice and a quality assurance program for its members.