Licensure — psychotherapy (Ontario)
Hold a certificate of registration from the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO). Five classes are prescribed (s. 2): Registered Psychotherapist, Qualifying, Temporary, Inactive, and Emergency. Only a member holding the Registered Psychotherapist certificate may use the title ‘Registered Psychotherapist’ or the abbreviation ‘RP’; a Qualifying member may use only ‘Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)’ / ‘RP (Qualifying)’ (or the French ‘Psychothérapeute autorisé (stagiaire)’ / ‘PA (stagiaire)’) — abbreviating ‘(Qualifying)’ to ‘(Q)’ is not acceptable. REGISTERED PSYCHOTHERAPIST (s. 6(1)) — non-exemptible requirements: successful completion of a psychotherapy programme approved by the Registration Committee, OR a master’s degree in an approved programme, OR a programme the Committee considers substantially equivalent, OR other education and training that together evidences substantially equivalent completion; the registration examinations; clinical experience in psychotherapy including AT LEAST 450 HOURS OF DIRECT PATIENT CONTACT and AT LEAST 100 HOURS OF CLINICAL SUPERVISION relating to those contact hours; and the jurisprudence course, completed no earlier than TWO YEARS before the application. CURRENCY (s. 6(2)): where the education or clinical-experience requirements were not completed within the one-year period immediately before applying, the applicant must additionally have completed at least 750 currency hours in the preceding three years, or upgrading activities approved by a Registration Committee panel. No programme may be approved unless one of its CORE COMPONENTS is designed to develop competency in the safe and effective use of self in a psychotherapeutic relationship (s. 6(3)).
“6. (1) Subject to section 7 and subsection 13 (2), the following are non-exemptible registration requirements for a Registered Psychotherapist certificate of registration: […] 3. The applicant must have successfully completed clinical experience in psychotherapy that includes at least 450 hours of direct patient contact and at least 100 hours of clinical supervision where that clinical supervision relates to those hours of direct patient contact.” … “(3) No program may be approved under paragraph 1 of subsection (1) unless one of the core components of the program is designed to develop competency in the safe and effective use of self in a psychotherapeutic relationship.” — O. Reg. 67/15 (Registration), Psychotherapy Act, 2007 (consolidation period May 16, 2025; e-Laws currency date August 12, 2026)