First things first, a VACATION!

Then…

When I look ahead to my future career within mental health care there are two pretty gigantic areas to consider when conceptualizing my career.

I mean, I guess getting a job is pretty important too, right? Anyone want to hire me?

Day-to-day work aside, as I come to the end of this degree I am being to consider registration and additional training.

Registration:

This is the first first first thing that needs to happen so I can legally practice in the province of Alberta. I am not big of skirting the law in this area! Parking, sure! But I have no chill when it comes to unliscened counsellors and psychologists.

We are in an interesting time of transition in Alberta at the moment. Election aside, there are big discussions about creating a college of Alberta counsellors, and more significant regulation of the word counsellor within the province. I don’t have a good, nuanced understanding of this (yet!) so I encourage you to visit FACT Alberta for all the good info.

But at the moment I am diving into two different regulatory bodies for a licence to practice.

First up: Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association

Through the CCPA I will register as a Certified Canadian Counsellor (CCC). According to the CCPA:

Counselling is a relational process based upon the ethical use of specific professional competencies to facilitate human change. Counselling addresses wellness, relationships, personal growth, career development, mental health, and psychological illness or distress. The counselling process is characterized by the application of recognized cognitive, affective, expressive, somatic, spiritual, developmental, behavioural, learning, and systemic principles (CCPA, 2019).

The CCPA has it’s own standards of practice that all counsellors must adhere to.

Then: The College of Alberta Psychologists

It’s CAP’s job to regulate psychologists within in the province. The process for this is a lot longer and involves significant additional supervision, some exams, and much more time.

Our mandate is to serve the interests of the public and guide the profession of psychology.
The College of Alberta Psychologists (the “College”) is the regulatory body for the profession of psychology in the province of Alberta. Self-regulated professions establish entrance criteria and apply ethical codes and practice standards for the profession. The regulatory body also investigates complaints of unprofessional conduct and, where appropriate, takes steps to enhance the practice of its members to protect the public. Information about the College and about registration processes, professional conduct, legislation and privacy, as well as a members registry, are available on this website. It is not a post-secondary or educational institution (CAP, 2019).

Under CAP we are required to adhere to the Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists (4th Ed.) (2017). This is large document that governs our work, our work places, our conversations with colleagues, clients, and the larger systems that we operate within (legal, medical, etc.).

To ignore this document is to do great harm to our clients and to helping professions in general. Adherance to this document feels like the most important and significant commitment to make when entering this profession. I believe we must have ongoing conversations about ethics. If we cannot count on ourselves and our colleagues to operate in an ethical manner how can we begin to break down the stigma of accessing mental health care? I don’t think we can.

and EVENUTALLY…

AASECT: American Association of Sex Educators, Counsellors and Therapists

Training:

I am an absolute school nerd! I love being in school and I love training. I know I will continue to attend conferences and training as I move throughout my career.

There are two things on the horizon for the spring of 2019 that I am very excited about.

May 2019:

I am headed to the University of Guelph with a dear friend and classmate for their 5-day Sex Therapy Intensive.

Engage in specialized training and gain the advanced skills necessary to assess and treat the sexual concerns of individuals and couples. This five-day intensive course includes theoretical models and content materials for sex therapy with a range of clients. The focus of the course is to increase your awareness of diverse sexuality and sexual difficulties, and how issues of sexuality arise and are addressed in clinical settings.

This course is primarily designed for people in the clinical field, with course material and assignments that focus on working with clients; however, given the course is an introduction to sex therapy as a field and practice, applications are welcome from a wide range of professions—including those who have a basic background and some training in sexuality (e.g., educators) and/or have some form of clinical training (e.g., nurses, social workers, etc.) (University of Guelph, 2019).

August 2019:

I am attending a three-week externship at the Calgary Family Therapy Centre in order to begin my training in Systems Family Therapy.

This externship training course offers an in-depth exposure to post-modern systemic family therapy as practiced at the Calgary Family Therapy Centre (which is affiliated with the University of Calgary). Ten full days of learning will be provided with theoretical explorations in the mornings and observation of clinical interviews in the afternoons. Externs will be invited to participate as members of reflecting teams for the live interviews (CFTC, 2018).

Eventually…

I would love to become a certified Body Trust provider!