News from CASC ON Council!
(EPIC – Education, Promotion, Identity, Connectivity)
Spring 2017 Communique
Peggy Moore, Chair and PPC Rep (OCN) Stephen Yeo (OSW)
Kathy Edmison, Treasurer (OCN) Kara Braun (ONE)
Daina Colbourne, Secretary (OCN) James Graham (ONE)
Vivian Stang, PPC Rep (ONE) Karen Fox (OCN)
David Jones, PPC Rep (OSW) Tracey Hand-Breckenridge (OSW)
Mike Chow (Faculty of CASC Educators of ON) Kerry McLaughlin (Northwest)
The CASC ON Council continues to work hard to represent our members in Ontario with respect to government issues (CRPO, OAMHP, MOHLTC) as they relate to the discipline of spiritual care in Ontario (education, promotion, identity and connectivity).
At the March 3rd quarterly meeting, Bob Bond (as invited guest) shared his wisdom from 10 years of being involved in CASC/CRPO history. A lively discussion was had and the following guiding statements were made to support CASC members in Ontario:
It is the consensus of the CASC ON Council at its March 3, 2017 quarterly meeting that our practice as spiritual care practitioners and psycho-spiritual therapists, at least from time to time, fall under the Controlled Act of Pscyhotherapy, and CASC ON Council is resolved to test this understanding within its Ontario members.
The CASC ON Council will continue to explore practical ways to promote, advocate and educate this position.
Attached are three case studies provided by some members of the Council that illustrate ways in which regular spiritual care practice in hospitals aligns with the Controlled Act of Psychotherapy (written below. You are invited to provide feedback to your Regional PPC Representatives if you agree/disagree with these cases. You are also invited to provide your PPC Representatives with your own case studies, and the CASC ON Council will make sure they are distributed to Ontario members quickly. The Council would like to hear your voices!
Controlled Act (CRPO)
In the course of engaging in the practice of psychotherapy, a member is authorized, subject to the terms, conditions and limitations imposed on his or her certificate of registration, to treat, by means of psychotherapy technique delivered through a therapeutic relationship, an individual’s serious disorder of thought, cognition, mood, emotional regulation, perception or memory that may seriously impair the individual’s judgement, insight, behaviour, communication or social functioning. SeePsychotherapyAct, 2007,section 4.
Some discussion points that led to the above statements include:
· The CRPO Legislation exists to protect the public from harm; it is up to CASC (as the experts in the discipline of spiritual care) to define how it fits the legislation. It is not up to employers or other professionals to define CASC scope and standards of practice.
· The way in which spiritual care (chaplaincy) is delivered in Ontario is not standardized. For example chaplains in correctional facilities and LTC do NOT require CASC training or CRPO registration; rather these facilities require membership in Canadian Multifaith Federation. One LTC employee on the Council shared that her employers notice the positive difference between her practice and the practice of those not certified/registered.
· Two major universities in Ontario (Toronto School of Theology (U of T) and Waterloo Lutheran Seminary (WLU) provide education and training of spiritual care practitioners and psycho-spiritual therapists that also meet CRPO requirements/legislation. These institutions clearly believe that spiritual care falls under the Controlled Act.
· There is consensus and clarity within CASC that psycho-spiritual therapists work under the Controlled Act. PCE programs prepare students to register with CRPO.
· Published research by Healther Vanderstelt exists that suggests the discipline of Spiritual Care is Psychotherapy in hospital situated spiritual care, and therefore falls under the Controlled Act.
Vanderstelt, Heather. (2014). The Presence or Absence of Psychotherapy in Hospital Situated Spiritual Care. In T. O’Connor, K. Lund, & P. Berendsen (Eds.), Psychotherapy: Cure of the Soul (pp. 211-227). Waterloo, ON: Waterloo Lutheran Seminary.
· The CASC ON Council, as a professional body, is committed to promote, advocate and educate for its Ontario members about the practice of spiritual care. This commitment will begin with a request for a meeting with the Registrar of CRPO.
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· The CASC ON Council, through its PPC Representatives will explore, design and seek funding for further research about the ways in which SC professionals fall under the controlled act of psychotherapy.
This is an exciting time for spiritual care in Ontario to define itself as the leaders in spiritual care regardless of work setting (hospital, hospice, correctional facility, LTC, university, congregation, CCAC, private practice). Healthcare in Ontario is in transition so there are opportunities to promote the excellent education/training that SC practitioners and pscyho-spiritual therapists receive. Ultimately the residents of Ontario get better healthcare when spiritual care is part of the team!
FALL NETWORKING DAY - SAVE THE DATE – MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
The Fall Networking Day for 2017 will be held on Friday, September 29, 2017 at Hamilton Health Sciences. CASC members from across the province can sign in through OTN. Further information will follow in the next quarterly communique.
NEWS FROM OAMHP
The OAMHP, through its advocacy efforts, reports that the Ontario Government is contemplating funding psychotherapy services but only through the use of CBT as treatment method because CBT is “evidence based.” At the request of the OAMHP Executive , Dr. Lorna Martin wrote a report entitled Evidence-Based Practice in Counselling and Psytherapy: Registered Psychotherapists Supporting Ontario’s Policy Pillars of Mental Health. This document will be discussed by the OAMHP at its AGM on March 25, 2017. This report will be used for advocacy with the Ontario Ministry of Health. CASC members Bob Bond (Chair of OAMHP Executive) and Tracey Hand-Breckenridge (OAMHP rep from CASC ON Council) will continue to provide updates for CASC ON members.
MISCELLANEOUS – ONTARIO MORGUE POLICIES
Dan Moulton, spiritual care practitionerat Health Sciences North (Sudbury), is looking to connect with spiritual care practitioners in Ontario about hospital morgue policies. In 2010 when Sudbury’s 3 hospitals amalgamated, the morgue at the new one site hospital now called Health Sciences North became a forensic morgue, which means that families no longer have access to the morgue for viewing. Dan's experience is that this policy is spiritually distressing for some staff who have to deny families a chance to see their loved one if that individual was already brought to the morgue. The manager from the emergency department has asked Dan to look into what the morgue policy around viewing is for other hospitals with a forensic morgue. Please contact Dan Moulton at if you have information that can support him.
THANK YOU!