Standard 6.2: Advertising

Clients rely on registrants to provide accurate and verifiable information about their qualifications and experience, and to be transparent in the way they represent themselves and their services.

Registrants may advertise their professional services, as long as the information provided is relevant, and assists prospective clients in making an informed choice regarding health care services. Advertising must be truthful, factual, clear, and easily understood.

Registrants must ensure that advertising does not convey information that misleads clients or confuses the public. This includes omitting relevant information, or including irrelevant, false, or unverifiable information that may be misleading.

Examples of inappropriate statements in advertising could include:

• “you’ll get the job you always wanted”;
• “the best therapy available”;
• “the most caring treatment”; and
• “avoid being alone, come in for therapy”.

Registrants must take reasonable steps to ensure that advertising placed by others (e.g., employers, employees, marketing consultants) meets these same objectives. Related, registrants must not falsely advertise someone else as a registered psychotherapist (e.g., referring to an unregistered practicum student as a “psychotherapist”).

In advertising, registrants:

• may list psychotherapy-related education and qualifications, but not degrees unrelated to the provision of psychotherapy;
• may describe areas of practice or specialization and populations served in alignment with Standard 2.1, but must not exaggerate the conditions they can treat or the modalities they are competent to use;
• may outline a philosophy or approach to practice; and
• may identify registration in the College, but must not use the College logo in advertising or suggest that they are recognized by the College as qualified in a specialty area.

Some online directories require therapists to use dropdown menus or pre-filled selection options to display psychotherapeutic techniques, issues treated, and client populations served. RPs must take special care to review each individual selection. Registrants who do not have verifiable training in a particular area of practice do not advertise or provide that service. Some specialized issues (e.g., addiction, eating disorders, etc.) may require advanced training beyond entry to practice requirements.

Testimonials from clients, former clients, or other persons regarding a registrants’ practice are not permitted in advertising. Testimonials are subjective and may be unreliable. They may also be misleading, as each client is unique and each situation is different; a technique that works well for one client may not work for another. A client’s plan of therapy shall be based on the individual client’s needs, not on the experiences of others. Testimonials may also lead to concerns that clients have been pressured into providing them, which is not in the best interest of the client or the therapist.

This rule does not prevent clients or others from reviewing or endorsing registrants (e.g., on third party Internet sites for rating professionals), provided registrants do not request them to do so, and provided registrants do not influence which reviews or endorsements are published.

Similarly, registrants are expected not to advertise or promote third party reviews or endorsements about them, as doing so could be misleading. For example, a therapist’s five-star average rating does not imply that the registrant is in the best position to treat a particular client.

Soliciting individuals in a way that pressures them to engage the registrant’s services is not acceptable. Registrants are permitted to solicit individuals only in accordance with the Professional Misconduct Regulation, as follows:

1. The person who is the recipient of the solicitation must be advised, at the earliest possible time during the communication, that,
   1. The purpose of the communication is to solicit use of the registrant’s professional services, and
   2. The person may elect to end the communication immediately or at any time during the communication if he or she wishes to do so, and
2. The communication must end immediately if the person who is the subject of the solicitation so elects.

These rules are not intended to prevent registrants from contacting clients to provide reminders about appointments and follow-up services.

Clients are entitled to know the name of the registrant with whom they are dealing, and to verify the registration status of any registrant. In addition, the College must be able to identify and locate a registrant if it receives a complaint or report about the registrant.

In their professional role, a registrant must identify themself using the name recorded in the Public Register of the College. This applies when identifying themself orally or in writing on documents such as invoices, business cards, and pamphlets. Registrants may use nicknames or other variations of their name with clients, as long as these names are registered with the College.

Registrants may also create and use business names (e.g., Riverside Therapy Services), as long as they use their own name as set out in the College Register on official documents and when identifying themselves to clients.

CRPO expects advertisements to be easily identified as such. This means paid advertisements must not give the appearance of an independent review, endorsement, or testimonial. Websites or social media owned by registrants shall be clearly labeled as such. Additionally, any paid placement on blogs or in media (for example, an article exploring local psychotherapy or mental health services) must be clearly identified as a paid placement.

If an RP is unsure whether their advertisement, websites, or social media accounts are easily identified as such, additional measures shall be taken to ensure clarity.