Updating Clinical Experience Hours

All Qualifying registrants will find that their profile on CRPO’s Public Register indicates that they are authorized to practise as a Qualifying registrant. Every Qualifying Certificate of Registration is subject to the Term, Condition and Limitation (TCL) that the registrant must:

• (a) practise psychotherapy with clinical supervision; and
• (b) be actively pursuing the completion of any of the requirements set out in clause 10 (a), (b) or (c) that the member has yet to complete unless the Registrar has provided the member with permission in writing to interrupt the pursuit of one or more of those requirements due to exceptional circumstances.

Clause 10 (a), (b) or (c) refers to successfully completing the Registration Examination, and clinical experience in psychotherapy. That includes at least 450 hours of DCC and at least 100 hours of clinical supervision where that clinical supervision relates to those hours of DCC.

To be eligible to transfer registration categories from Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) to Registered Psychotherapist, a Qualifying registrant must:

• Successfully pass the Registration Examination;

• Successfully complete 450 DCC hours approved by staff; and

• Successfully complete 100 clinical supervision hours, at least half of which are in an individual/dyadic format, approved by staff.

Registered Psychotherapists will not be permitted to practice independently, i.e. without clinical supervision, until they have completed the independent practice requirements. This limitation applies to all registrants and will remain in effect until the registrant satisfies the College that they have completed the required hours. Whether a Registered Psychotherapist has met the independent practice requirement can be confirmed by looking at their status on the Public Register.

The Clinical Experience for Registration Policy states that clinical supervision for RP registrants who have not met the independent practice requirements shall be spread evenly at an approximate ratio of 1 clinical supervision hour for every 10 DCC hours.

Registrants in the Qualifying category are not eligible for independent practice (see Qualifying information above).

To be eligible for independent practice, a RP registrant must:

• Successfully complete 1,000 DCC hours approved by staff; and
• Successfully complete 150 clinical supervision hours, at least half of which are in an individual/dyadic format, approved by staff.

To avoid processing delays, we ask that you only request a review of hours if one or more of the following apply:

• You have started at a new practice site and want to confirm whether the DCC hours and clinical supervision hours meet CRPO’s requirements.
• Your role at a practice site has ended and you are reporting the final DCC hours and clinical supervision hours accrued at that site.
• You have accrued the minimum DCC hours and clinical supervision hours required to transfer from RP (Qualifying) to RP.
• You have accrued the minimum DCC hours and clinical supervision hours required for independent practice in the RP category.
• You have been directed by CRPO staff to update your hours.

Registrants should be aware of the processing times listed at the top of this page. If you have certain deadlines that relate to your clinical experience hours, you are encouraged to submit your request at your earliest convenience. All requests are reviewed in the order they are received; requests cannot be expedited.

If you have completed clinical experience hours and would like to submit them for review, you must follow these steps.

1. Obtain documentation from your supervisor or employer confirming the hours. Documentation must meet requirements.
   • For DCC hours, please use the DCC Confirmation Form.
   • For clinical supervision hours, please use the Clinical Supervisor Attestation Form (linked at the top of the page).
   • In instances where the forms cannot be obtained, CRPO may accept alternative documentation. Please see the Supporting Documents Checklist for information on what is required (linked at the bottom of the page).
2. Go to the “Practice Information” page of your CRPO user account.
3. Click the “Add or edit Practice Information” button.
4. Ensure that your practice site information is up to date. You cannot create entries for clinical experience hours if you have not created the necessary practice site entry. To add a new practice site, click the “Add a new location” button and fill out the required information.
5. In the Practice Sites table, locate the practice site for which you are reporting hours.
6. To add DCC hours, click the “Add” link in the DCC Hours column.
7. Fill out the required information and upload your supporting documentation. Please note that only one document can be uploaded to each entry. Review your responses to ensure there are no errors, then click “Save these hours”.
8. To add clinical supervision hours, click the “Add” link in the Clinical Supervision Hours column.
9. Fill out the required information and upload your supporting documentation. Please note that only one document can be uploaded to each entry. Review your responses to ensure there are no errors, then click “Save these hours”.

10. Repeat these steps for each set of hours that you wish to report.

11. All entries that you have created will appear on the page, with a status of Pending. Once you have created entries for all the hours you wish to have reviewed, click the “Submit my hours for review” button.

Once you have clicked this button, your request will be in the queue for staff review. You will be directed to a confirmation page that confirms this. Please only click the “Submit my hours for review” button one time per request.

Please also ensure that you retain copies of all documents that you submit to CRPO. You will not be able to view documents after you submit them in the Registrant Portal.

If you are a grandparented registrant, you may submit an Independent Practice Declaration Form to confirm that you meet the independent practice requirement. Please review the Independent Practice Declaration Form section at the top of this page for more information and a link to the form.

To avoid processing delays, registrants must ensure that they are submitting complete requests. Missing information or incorrect documentation will result in processing delays and, very likely, the hours will not be accepted. You will also be required to re-request a review, and your request will join the end of the queue.

Common errors and issues to avoid:

• Review the hours that have previously been accepted to ensure that you are not double-counting any hours. For example, the dates listed in each entry should not overlap.
• All documents must have a handwritten or electronic signature. A typed name does not constitute a signature.
• Ensure that your supporting documentation is complete and includes all required information. Documentation that is missing required information will likely lead to the hours not being accepted.
• Check that the forms list the practice site where the hours were completed (i.e., not the name of your supervisor’s practice site). Submit one form per practice site. If you have worked at multiple sites, you will need to create multiple entries and submit multiple forms.
• Ensure that you have uploaded the correct documentation to each entry. If you have multiple forms to upload, we recommend using specific file names to ensure you are uploading the correct documentation.
• Double-check the accuracy of the information before clicking “Save these hours”. For example, the dates in the entry should match the dates in the supporting documentation. Please be aware that you will not be able to edit an entry once you have saved it.
• All DCC hours must be completed under supervision, and all supervision hours must be completed in conjunction with DCC. You must report both DCC and supervision hours in order for the hours to be potentially accepted. In cases where DCC is reported without corresponding supervision or vice versa, the hours will not be accepted. Please ensure that the start and end dates reported on the DCC and supervision forms match or are within a few weeks of each other at most. For example, if the DCC hours start on May 1, 2020, the supervision hours should also start on or around May 1, 2020.
• Be sure to click “Submit my hours for review” once you have created all necessary entries. If you create the entries but do not click this button, your hours will not be reviewed.

You can easily track the status of your review request by looking at the Hours Review tables in the “Practice information” page of your user account. The right-hand column of these tables indicates the status of your hours. This is what each status means:

• Pending – these hours have not yet been reviewed by staff. If you have clicked the “Submit my hours for review” button, staff will review all hours with this status. You will be contacted by email if staff have any follow-up questions.
• Accepted – these hours have been accepted and count towards the clinical experience hours required to transfer categories.
• Not Accepted – these hours have not been accepted. CRPO staff will send you an explanation as to why these hours were not accepted.
• Panel Review – in the case that your hours are not accepted and you are in the RP (Qualifying) category, you have the option to request that the hours be reviewed by a panel of the Registration Committee once you meet all requirements to transfer to RP. Further information about this process will be provided to you by CRPO staff.
• Withdrawn – you can choose to withdraw hours at any time. The hours will not be accepted and will not count towards the clinical experience hours required to transfer categories, but will remain visible in your account. Staff may also mark the hours as Withdrawn if you are requested to re-submit forms or if you have created duplicate entries, since staff do not delete entries.

If your hours are accepted, you will be notified by email. The Hours Summary table in the “Practice Information” page will also update after 24 hours.