In December 1975, the same month that they awarded Registration Certificate #1000, the Ontario Board of Examiners in Psychology (OBEP) issued a 3-page Bulletin. As they wrote in the Bulletin:
The Board at its meeting in October decided to introduce a procedure for reporting information, on a regular basis, to psychologists registered in Ontario. It is for this purpose that the Bulletin is being instituted. It is intended that an account of regular activities relating to Registration will be reported and that Psychologists will be informed about changes in policy, Regulations to the Psychologists’ Registration Act and Guidelines as they occur.
Even in that first Bulletin, OBEP was providing its registrants with advice, such as “The Board wish to warn psychologists that it is not acceptable practice to work under the supervision of a physician who then bills OHIP for the psychologists’ services.”
In August 1994, the new College of Psychologists of Ontario (CPO) took over the publication of The Bulletin. The shift from OEP to CPO reflected the changes in legislation, with the shift from the Psychologists Registration Act, 1960 with the full implementation of the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 and the Psychology Act, 1991. While The Bulletin shifted to Headlines in July 2020 (and is now in html and pdf rather than mailed in paper), one thing has remained constant – it has been the primary method of communication by the regulator with its registrants.
That changed this month, with the enactment of the Psychology and Applied Behaviour Analysis Act, 2021. Since 2021, the College has been working with the Ontario Behaviour Analyst community to ensure that the College was prepared to register the province’s Behaviour Analysts.
While a unique challenge, as Ontario is our country’s first province to regulate Behaviour Analysts – so had no comparable Canadian counterpart to learn from, the College staff and leadership have spent countless hours ensuring that the College would be ready for this extensive change. Everything from large projects, such as updating our Standards of Professional Conduct and the College policies, to smaller projects, such as updating the website and Zoom virtual backgrounds, all were revised to reflect our new College – the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts (CPBAO).
With this change, the College of Psychologists of Ontario has joined the Ontario Board of Examiners in Psychology as part of our history. We now move into a new future with Applied Behaviour Analysis as partners with Psychology in the new College.
I have heard some misunderstanding in some quarters about this change. For example, the Behaviour Analysts in Ontario are NOT under Psychology. While the scope of practice is different, ALL registrants must follow the CPBAO Standards of Practice, meet rigorous entrance requirements for registration in CPBAO , have access to protected titles, participate in CPBAO programs (e.g., engage in and report their continuing professional development, develop a self-care plan), respond to the CPBAO (e.g., provide information to CPBAO investigators when requested), and pay annual CPBAO membership fees.
This is the first major shift in over 30 years for our College. As it now says on our website, our “mandate is to protect the public interest by monitoring and regulating the practice of psychology and applied behaviour analysis”. For those who have been members for several years, you will see some changes.
For those who are new to the College, and professional regulation, welcome. We hope you will find your first issue of Headlines as valuable as Psychology members have found it to be since 1975.