Counselling therapists to be regulated by College of Alberta Psychologists but questions remain – CBC
Government says answers will come as college works through the process
Mar 07, 2024
Counselling therapists in Alberta will soon be regulated by a professional college, but it won’t be the one they expected to have for the past few years.
The provincial government has asked the College of Alberta Psychologists (CAP) to start work on providing professional oversight, discipline and regulation of counselling therapists.
The surprise announcement from Mental Health and Addictions Minister Dan Williams on Friday is the latest twist in the years-long quest for the Association of Counselling Therapy of Alberta (ACTA) to become a professional college called the College of Counselling Therapy of Alberta.
CCTA was intended to regulate child and youth care and addictions counsellors in addition to counselling therapists in Alberta.
The former NDP government passed legislation that would create the CCTA upon proclamation, but under the governing UCP, that proclamation never came.
A news release on Friday said the section of the 2018 Mental Health Services Protection Act that would create the CCTA would be repealed in the spring sitting of the Alberta legislature. Future legislation would come this fall after consultation with stakeholders.
