After more than a decade of advocating for better mental health and addictions support, one local counsellor's dreams are on the verge of coming true thanks to a proposed law regulating counselling therapists.
“We have been working together for many years to advocate for the regulation of our profession,” said Nicole Imgrund, counsellor at Rivers Edge Counselling and chair of the Federation of Associations for Counselling Therapists in Alberta.
On Tuesday afternoon, the NDP government introduced legislation that would bring the counselling profession under the current Health Professions Act.
There are currently 30 regulated professions under the act – including dentists, nurses and social workers – but counselling therapists remain unregulated in the province. That means anyone can call themselves a counsellor and provide counselling services.
“This legislation is so important, because lack of regulation for counselling therapy can lead to serious harm to public safety,” said Imgrund, who has personally been advocating for the changes for 15 years.
The Mental Services Protection Act would create the College of Counselling Therapy of Alberta. If the bill passes, the college would act as a watchdog, making sure professional practice standards are being met.
It would also ensure only licensed practitioners can hold the titles of counselling therapists, addiction counsellors, drug and alcohol counsellor, and child and youth counsellors.
Under the bill, licences would have to be renewed every four years.
“For too long, Albertans looking for a therapist or private substance-use treatment facility have been left to figure it out on their own,” said Sarah Hoffman, minister of health for the NDP provincial government.
If passed, more than 5,000 unregulated counsellors in Alberta would be impacted.
Imgrund said currently patients are at risk when they see a professional who lacks the knowledge to help them.
It can lead to poor professional boundaries, inability to provide proper treatment, unethical business practices, unprofessional biases, discrimination or failure to recognize a client is suffering from a serious mental health illness.
“Asking for help is not easy,” she explained. “When someone reaches out for help and seeks counselling as a pathway towards their healing, they should be able to trust that the person they reach out to has the proper training to provide it safely and effectively.”
Between 2012 and 2017, Alberta Health received 35 formal public complaints, mostly from private residential treatment centres.
The concerns ranged from payment issues to safety concerns and poor quality of care.
In 2007 Taylor Argent, 17, died as the result of drinking antifreeze while staying at an addictions treatment centre in Red Deer.
According to a public fatality report, the owner of the facility had no formal training, but had 20 years of experience with addictions and treatment.
Likewise, staff did not have more than a bachelor of social work and a certificate in counselling.
It noted that the facility had policies and procedures in place, but staff weren’t adequately trained how to follow them.
Under the bill, service providers of residential addition treatment facilities would need to apply for a license on July 1, 2019, and obtain one by Nov. 1, 2019.
Those who don’t follow the rules can be issued a stop order and fined administrative penalties up to $10,000 daily. A court-ordered fine can be issued for up to $100,000.
