Requirements Overview

CRPO registrants are required to renew their registration on an annual basis, before the end of March each year. The renewal form for the next registration year (running April 1st to March 31st each year) is available beginning in February. More information on the process can be found on the Registration Renewal page of our website.

Renewal forms must be submitted and registration fees must be received no later than 11:59 p.m. ET on the deadline stated by the college for that particular registration year.

Registrants are required to maintain professional liability insurance (PLI) in the amount and in the form required under CRPO’s By-laws. Registrants must provide the college with written details within two days of becoming aware of not having PLI as required under the By-laws. The Registrar may suspend a registrant if they do not have the coverage required; audits are occasionally conducted, in which individual registrants will be asked for details of their coverage. More information about your annual registration renewal can be found on the Registration Renewal page of our website; information about PLI is available on the Liability Insurance page.

As a registrant of a regulated health profession, you are obligated to participate in the Quality Assurance (QA) Program. Every health professional registered with a regulatory body in Ontario has the same professional obligation. CRPO’s QA Program includes the following components:

1. Professional Development, which requires the ongoing participation of every registrant.
2. Peer and Practice Review, which includes participation of registrants who are randomly selected.
3. Professional Improvement, which involves participation in a program of remediation or specified continuing education.

A key goal of the QA Program is to engage registrants in a process of reflection on their professional practice, whether through a process of self-review, or review by peers. Doing so:

• Encourages registrants’ continuing competence and professional improvement.
• Helps the registrant to address and manage changes in the practice environment and the broader profession.
• Helps to shape an environment of collaborative professionalism.

As a new registrant, you are required to complete a Self-Assessment within 60 days of becoming registered.

Registrants are expected to regularly engage in learning opportunities relevant to the practice of the profession. It is required that you engage in 20 hours of learning activities in each year (or 40 hours over a span of two years). These activities must be documented in a learning record and you must retain documentation that can verify your participation in your own professional portfolio.

You can learn more about your professional development and peer and practice review requirements by reviewing the Quality Assurance Program page of our website. If you have questions about the QA program, please contact QA@crpo.ca.

All CRPO registrants must follow the established standards for the profession. CRPO’s Professional Practice Standards for Registered Psychotherapists are in place to help you practise in a competent and ethical manner. The Standards provide clear expectations, covering everything from professional conduct to record-keeping and documentation.

CRPO holds all registrants accountable for their conduct and practise. For more information about professional practice standards and CRPO’s regulations, visit the Practice Standards page of our website. You can also review the various acts, regulations and by-laws by visiting the Legislation, Regulations, & By-laws page of our website. If you have questions, please contact us at practice@crpo.ca.

Registrants in the Registered Psychotherapist category are required to maintain 750 currency hours of broadly defined activities related to psychotherapy on a rolling three-year basis.

Inactive registrants also need to be mindful of their currency hours. If an Inactive registrant is short of 750 currency hours in the three years prior to requesting to return to active practice, their request may be referred to the Registration Committee.

Registrants who have completed fewer than 750 currency hours in the previous three calendar years may be required to complete upgrading activities or undergo a peer and practice assessment.

CRPO’s Public Register can be found on our website under Registered Psychotherapist status check. The Public Register contains information about all CRPO registrants and allows anyone to confirm whether a person is a registrant of the college, and to learn the person’s registration status, discipline history (if any) and their employment information.

Registrants can be searched by:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Language
• City
• Province or State
• Postal or Zip Code

Each search filter used further narrows down the results. It is important to note that if you checked the box “Do not publish my language” during registration, anyone searching the Public Register using, for example, the “English” language filter, would not be able to find you because you have not published your language of practice.

It is important for registrants to check their information on the Public Register to ensure that all the information listed is up-to-date and to alert CRPO as soon as possible of any changes. For more detailed information about what is and is not included on the Public Register, please visit the Registered Psychotherapist Status Check page of our website. See the Account & Registration Management page for information regarding making changes to your record.

CRPO registrants are accountable to the College for the quality of care they provide and for their professional conduct. Only individuals who are registered with CRPO or another psychotherapy-regulating college in Ontario are able to use the title “psychotherapist” or to hold themself out as qualified to practise as a psychotherapist in Ontario (no matter what title they use). Anyone using the title “Registered Psychotherapist”, or any abbreviation or variation thereof in any language, must be registered with CRPO.

Registrants of CRPO must use the titles conferred by the College when acting in a professional capacity.

Your title is conferred when you become registered with the College. Your Certificate of Registration will identify the category in which you registered and the corresponding title to use when you communicate to others that you are a registrant of CRPO.

For example:If you hold a Certificate of Registration in the Registered Psychotherapist category, the appropriate title to use in your written or verbal communications with others is “Registered Psychotherapist” or its acronym, “RP.”

If you hold a Certificate of Registration in the Qualifying category, the appropriate title to use is “Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)” or “RP (Qualifying).”A complete list of the registration categories and their corresponding titles is available in Standard 1.2: Use of Terms, Titles and Designations in CRPO’s Professional Practice Standards for Registered Psychotherapists.

When you convey your name, title and other credentials in your written communications with others, including clients, colleagues and anyone else with whom you interact in a professional capacity, your title should appear prominently beside your name (e.g. Jane Doe, RP).

Where registrants develop print materials, subscribe to directory listings, or are listed by various professional associations, it is the registrant’s responsibility to ensure their designation is correctly presented. Our regulatory requirement that the designation is correctly presented serves public safety by letting potential and existing clients know that you adhere to standards of practice, including professional accountability and professional development. In addition, your correct use of the designation will contribute to building awareness among other health care providers and other stakeholders of the professional standards associated with belonging to a statutory regulatory body.

If you haven’t already reviewed your written materials, including business cards, practice-related templates and forms (such as invoices, service agreements and handouts), websites and office signage, consider doing so since appropriate use of the title is necessary when you’re acting in a professional capacity.

To learn more about advertising and representing yourself and your services, review Standard 6.2 of CRPO’s Professional Practice Standards for Registered Psychotherapists.

If you have any questions about using your professional credentials or advertising, please contact QA@crpo.ca.

Registrants are permitted to use terms, titles and designations conferred by third parties, along with their regulated title, if:

• The title is not honorary and was not awarded purely based on attendance at a course or workshop. The registrant must have acquired knowledge and skill, i.e. competence, associated with the term, title or designation, generally having completed a professional education and training program that included study, mastery and evaluation.
• It is conferred by a recognized credentialing body, i.e. one that is broadly recognized within the profession as legitimate.
• It meets established standards, i.e. standards that are broadly recognized within the profession as legitimate.
• Prominence is given to the registrant’s regulated title.

These conditions will enable registrants to use terms, titles and designations that are meaningful and generally recognized by the profession.

Registrants should be aware that specialty titles used inappropriately could result in misconduct complaints to the College.Registered Psychotherapists will not be permitted to use the title Doctor or its abbreviation Dr. in a clinical setting (i.e. when working with clients or with other professionals in a health care setting), or when supervising students who are working with clients. Registrants will be able to use the title Doctor (Dr.) in purely academic settings and in their personal/social lives. This rule, limiting the use of the Doctor (Dr.) title, is found in the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991, which sets out the professions whose registrants are permitted to use the title.

The College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) regulates its registrants in order to protect the public. As part of this public protection, CRPO has a zero tolerance policy for any form of sexual abuse or sexual boundary crossing by registrants.

Any act of sexual abuse on the part of a CRPO registrant is a misuse of power and a betrayal of trust. Sexual abuse is an extremely serious form of professional misconduct that can result in loss of registration and/or other mandatory penalties.

The Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 (RHPA) defines sexual abuse not only as any physical sexual contact, but also includes actions such as sexually suggestive comments and jokes made by a registrant in the presence of a client.The RHPA states that “sexual abuse” means:

1. sexual intercourse or other forms of physical sexual relations between the registrant and the client,
2. touching, of a sexual nature, of the client by the registrant, or
3. behaviour or remarks of a sexual nature by the registrant towards the client.

“Sexual nature” does not include touching, behaviour or remarks of a clinical nature appropriate to the service provided.

It is important that all CRPO registrants understanding CRPO’s Zero Tolerance of Sexual Abuse by Members Policy and ensure you are maintaining professional boundaries and meeting the minimum expectations for registrant conduct, as laid out in the Professional Misconduct Regulation. If you have any questions about these policies or regulations, please visit the Sexual Abuse in Therapy page of our website or contact us at clientrelations@crpo.ca.

CRPO registrants are expected to practise at all times with integrity and professionalism. Registrants should refrain from illegal conduct related to the practice of the profession, as well as from knowingly practising while your ability to do so is impaired by any condition or substance. In addition, registrants must refrain from conduct that, having regard to all the circumstances, would reasonably be regarded as disgraceful, dishonourable, unprofessional, or unbecoming a registrant of the profession.

Should a complaint be filed against you, you are obligated to fully cooperate with the College during an investigation of yourself or another registrant. It is expected that you will cooperate in a timely manner, including providing access to facilities, records, or equipment relevant to the investigation. You must also exhibit appropriate behaviour during the investigation and not subject the investigator to rude, threatening or obstructionist behaviour. Similarly, once evidence of the appointment of a formal investigator by another college is made known to you, you are obligated to cooperate with that investigator. This responsibility reinforces the registrant’s obligation to assist that college in protecting the public by investigating any complaint or report. More information can be found in Section 1: Professional Conduct of the Professional Practice Standards for Registered Psychotherapists. If you have questions about the complaints process, please visit the Filing a Complaint page of our website or contact us at complaints@crpo.ca.

One requirement of being a registrant of a regulatory body is self-reporting certain events to the college, such as a finding of professional negligence or malpractice in any jurisdiction, a refusal by a regulatory body to issue registration or a license, change of name or contact information, etc. As a CRPO registrant you are also required to report certain information about another registrant to the College, such as if you have reasonable grounds to believe another registrant practised unsafely, that they have sexually abused a client, etc.

If you have any questions about these reports, please contact us at complaints@crpo.ca.

The application and registration processes for an individual who resides in another Canadian province is virtually identical to the registration process that an Ontario-based individual would follow. All registration requirements and fees are the same, whether a person resides in Ontario, in another Canadian jurisdiction or internationally. Once a registrant is registered, they must meet additional requirements before they can practise independently – these include completion of the registration exam and obtaining a set number of clinical supervision and direct client contact hours.

Whether a registrant resides in Ontario or in another jurisdiction, all must adhere to the same general professional obligations. These include, for example:

• Using the title that was conferred by CRPO in accordance with the Professional Practice Standards
• Upholding the Code of Ethics and abide by the Professional Practice Standards
• Engaging in the annual renewal process, which includes providing updated information and paying the annual registration fee
• Maintaining professional liability insurance
• Engaging in the Quality Assurance Program
• Responding appropriately to communications from the College, where it is necessary to do so

In addition to upholding the Code of Ethics and abiding by the Professional Practice Standards, registrants of CRPO must be in compliance with the Regulated Health Professions Act and the Psychotherapy Act, and any regulations made under those acts. There are a number of province-specific laws that guide the work of health care professionals; for example, health care consent laws, information privacy laws, vulnerable person protection laws, and so on. Registrants of CRPO who practise in another jurisdiction must be able to comply with the laws where they are located in addition to the requirements that apply as a registrant of CRPO.

If a complaint is made against a registrant who resides in another province, the registrant would be subject to CRPO’s complaints process.

Anyone with questions about regulation and/or professional practice may contact the Practice Advisory Service for information.

Regulated health professionals in Ontario need to comply with the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (“PHIPA”). If you engage in commercial activities involving the collection, use or disclosure of personal information outside of Ontario, then you will also need to comply with the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”). PIPEDA may also apply if you collect, use or disclose information that is personal, but not health information, in the course of commercial activities in Ontario (for example if you collect a home address and credit card number to process a sale that is unrelated to your duties as a health professional). Health professionals also need to comply with Canada’s anti-spam legislation, which requires consent to send electronic messages of a commercial nature

PHIPA protects personal health information. Personal health information is defined as information that can identify an individual (or can be combined with other information to identify an individual) and that relates to:

• the physical or mental health of the individual (including family health history);
• the provision of health care to the individual (including identifying the individual’s health care provider);
• home and community care;
• payments or eligibility for health care or coverage for health care;
• the donation or testing of an individual’s body part or bodily substance;
• the individual’s health number; or
• the identification of the individual’s substitute decision-maker.

Personal health information can be either oral or recorded (in written or electronic form). PHIPA also covers mixed records that contain both personal health information and other non-health identifying information about an individual (for example, a record that contains an individual’s home address, telephone number and health history).

The main obligations under PHIPA include:

• to obtain consent to collect, use or disclose an individual’s personal health information (except in limited situations discussed below);
• to maintain security over personal health information by taking reasonable steps to protect against theft, loss and unauthorized use or disclosure (this includes an audit log for electronic health records and maintaining security on electronic devices, for example by encrypting data);
• to ensure the accuracy of personal health information;
• to collect, use or disclose only as much personal health information as is necessary in the circumstances;
• to provide individuals with access to their personal health information upon request (except in limited situations, including where the information was created primarily for use in a legal proceeding or where providing access could result in a risk of serious harm); and
• to correct personal health information if the record is incomplete or inaccurate (except where one is not in a position to correct the information in a record created by another custodian or if the information consists of professional opinion or observation made in good faith).

Health professionals have different levels of responsibility depending on whether they are the health information custodian or an agent. If you are a regulated health professional or you operate a group practice, and you have custody and control of personal health information in connection with your duties, then you are a health information custodian for purposes of PHIPA. However, even if you fall under the definition of a health information custodian, if you work for or on behalf of another custodian (such as another regulated health professional, a group practice or a hospital), then you are considered to be an agent of that health information custodian.

A health information custodian is ultimately responsible for the personal health information in his or her custody or control, but may permit an agent to collect, use, disclose, retain or dispose 3 of the information if certain requirements are met. The agent must ensure that the collection, use, disclosure, retention or disposal of the information is permitted by the custodian, is necessary for purposes of carrying out the agent’s duties, is not contrary to law and complies with any specific restrictions imposed by the custodian.

Health information custodians have these additional administrative duties:

• to develop and comply with policies (known as “information practices”) with respect to:
  • when, how and the purposes for which the custodian routinely collects, uses, modifies, discloses, retains or disposes of personal health information; and
  • the administrative, technical and physical safeguards and practices that the custodian maintains with respect to personal health information.

• to designate a contact person to:
  • facilitate the custodian’s compliance with PHIPA;
  • ensure that all agents are informed of their duties under PHIPA;
  • respond to public inquiries about the custodian’s policies;
  • respond to requests for access or correction; and
  • receive public complaints about alleged privacy breaches

• to display or make available a written public statement that:
  • provides a general description of the custodian’s privacy policies (including the purposes for which personal health information is collected, used and disclosed);
  • describes how to contact the contact person or the custodian;
  • describes how an individual can seek access to or correction of a record; and
  • describes how an individual can make a complaint to the custodian and to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario.

Health information custodians must also notify the individual about whom the information relates if the individual’s personal health information is used or disclosed in a manner that is outside the scope of the description set out in the written public statement.

No, PHIPA provides that consent may be express or implied. Express consent is required where personal health information is disclosed to a person who is not a health information custodian (such as an insurance company) or it is not disclosed for the purpose of providing health care. Express consent is also required for certain fundraising, marketing and market research activities.

In other situations, implied consent is sometimes sufficient. For example, when a client answers questions about his or her health history – in a context where it is obvious that the information will be used to assess and treat the client – a health professional can infer consent to collect that information.

Importantly, health professionals can assume that they have an individual’s implied consent to collect, use or disclose personal health information for the provision of health care if the following conditions are met:

• the information was received from the individual, the individual’s substitute decision maker or another health information custodian;
• the information was received for the purpose of providing healthcare to the individual;
• the information is collected, used or disclosed for the purpose of providing health care to the individual;
• if information is being disclosed, it must only be disclosed to another health information custodian; and
• the individual has not withheld or withdrawn consent.

This is commonly referred to as sharing personal health information within the circle of care.

In addition, there are limited exceptions where personal health information can be collected, used or disclosed without consent. For example, consent is not required in the following circumstances:

• to collect personal health information from an individual, even if the individual is incapable of consenting, if it is reasonably necessary to provide health care and consent cannot be obtained in a timely manner;
• to disclose personal health information about an individual if the custodian believes on reasonable grounds that disclosure is necessary for the purpose of eliminating or reducing a significant risk of serious bodily harm;
• to disclose personal health information in the context of a legal proceeding if the custodian or agent is a party or witness; or to disclose personal health information to a regulatory College (for example, in the context of an investigation of a complaint).

If personal health information has been stolen or lost or if it has been used or disclosed without authority (this includes the unauthorized viewing of health records):

• The health information custodian must notify the individual about whom the information relates at the first reasonable opportunity. The notice has to inform the individual that he or she is entitled to make a complaint to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario.
• In serious situations the health information custodians will also have to notify the Commissioner immediately. The Commissioner also needs to be notified of all privacy breaches in an annual report filed with the Commissioner’s office.
• An agent that handled the information must notify the responsible health information custodian at the first reasonable opportunity.

Health information custodians have additional reporting obligations to regulatory Colleges (which include the Colleges under the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 and the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers) if the custodian takes disciplinary action against a member of a College for the unauthorized collection, use, disclosure, retention or disposal of personal health information.

If a health professional fails to comply with PHIPA, an individual may make a complaint to the organization’s contact person (or directly to the custodian if there is no contact person), to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario or to the relevant regulatory College.

The Information and Privacy Commissioner can review complaints and order members to comply with PHIPA. The Commissioner can also impose a monetary penalty. The affected individual may also commence a civil action for damages. Depending on the circumstances, a complaint to the College may result in a referral of allegations of professional misconduct to the Discipline Committee.

If a health professional’s contravention of PHIPA was deliberate, he or she may be guilty of an offence, punishable by a fine of up to $200,000 and imprisonment for up to one year.