We have been following the development of a new initiative that enables mental health providers to respond to mental health crisis and wellness checks among vulnerable, marginalized and racialized groups in Toronto. Now, by calling 211, people in crisis can receive support from non-police-based multidisciplinary teams working from a harm reduction, consent and trauma-based response framework.
“The Toronto Community Crisis Service (TCCS) is a new, alternate approach to responding to someone in crisis that focuses on health, prevention and well-being. The service provides an alternative to police enforcement, creating a community-based, client-centred, trauma-informed response to non-emergency crisis calls and wellness checks.
This service aims to respond to the needs and desires of the communities most impacted by policing and establish trust and confidence in a new community-based response model.
The service is available six days a week and closed on Saturdays, and serves individuals 16 years of age and older.”
Click here to learn more.
On Wednesday, June 1, the CRPO hosted a Stakeholders meeting for representatives from the cooperative relationships they have been building with the OSRP, CCPA, OAMHP, CAPT and OEATA.
Summary of meeting:
CRPO acknowledged that through the outlook of the nursing and midwifery profession, that quality of care and protection of the public involves a partnership, ongoing relationships and healthy tension between the Regulator, the Educators and the Associations in order to provide care in the best interests of clients.
We are excited to announce that enrolment for the new OSRP Group Health Benefits Plan is now active! The plan start date is July 1, 2022.
Our comprehensive and competitive new plan, through Equitable Life, will be administered online through a company called Effortless Admin. The plan contains all the benefits included in our first plan and does not require a medical examination in order to join. This makes it one of the most inclusive in our field in Ontario and will not preclude anyone with pre-existing medical conditions.
There are two levels of coverage options: Entry and Essential. You can choose the level of coverage that is right for you and/or for you and your family. Core benefits include prescription drugs, paramedical services (including coverage for RP services), dental care, vision care, long-term disability (Essential Plan only), travel coverage, as well as life, dependent life and AD&D coverage.
The Entry plan monthly premium is:
The Essential plan automatically includes Long Term Disability (LTD) coverage. At $2,000 LTD* coverage, the monthly premium is:
*To note, the LTD volume may be different, as the amount of coverage depends on your income. The maximum coverage amount that you can receive is $4,000 per month. If your income requires that you receive the maximum LTD coverage, your monthly premium for the LTD benefit will be $104.28 (instead of the $52.14 indicated above).
The premiums, including the maximum LTD coverage, are:
Below you will find a link to a document containing the plan details and rates. Please review the specific coverage level details, as the coverage level can only be changed every two years after the initial selection has been made. All plan information, as well as helpful webinars to learn more about the offerings and how to manage online claims, can be found on the Member Benefits page once you log in to osrp.ca
To enrol in the plan, please contact our broker, Joanne Rose, who will start the process for you. Joanne will require the following information from you:
Adonis can be contacted at Email: joanne.rose@hubinternational.com OR Phone: (416) 597-5723.
Our OSRP Blog is our public-facing communication about a few things: showcasing our members and sharing relevant professional information. Nikki Bianchi, the Chair of our Connect Committee, kick-started the blog again in 2021 with some wonderful member stories. You can read them here (http://blog.osrp.ca/).
On March 21, 2022, the Board responded to a member’s request for decision-making transparency (regarding posts in Central) with a commitment to meet on June 3, 2022, for a Town Hall discussion about the impact of the Ukraine statement on the membership.
In preparation for this Town Hall, the Board sought an external, third-party consultant to facilitate an internal audit of our decision-making process and communication strategies and to review the purpose of Central moving forward. This consultant has also been asked to assist with ensuring that your Board is well prepared with insights to offer when we do meet at the Town Hall to hear what’s in your hearts and minds.
As our membership has grown exponentially over the past two years, so too has the demand of time and level of commitment from the Board. During our Friday, May 27 Board meeting, we realized that more time is required to complete the work we have begun with the third-party consultant. Furthermore, we ran into an unforeseen issue with the registration process for the Town Hall. Subsequently, because there has been no notice or registration information posted in Central, we are postponing our June 3 Town Hall until the internal audit is complete and we have given sufficient notice for registration and participation to occur.
Please know that the need to postpone this Town Hall in no way diminishes our appreciation for the importance of this discussion. On the contrary, we understand the magnitude of this issue and require the time necessary to address the multifaceted implications of this discussion on the work that we do for you as a Board.
We extend the hope that you continue to provide us with the grace we require to grow as a Board as we grow in membership.
Sincerely,
The OSRP Board
Go to osrp.ca and click on the person icon at the top right-hand side of your window to log in.
If you don’t remember your password, click on Forgot password to reset it.
Once logged in, click on the person icon again and choose View profile from the drop-down menu.
Click on the Privacy menu. You will see that “Do not show profile to others” is checked. Click the EDIT PROFILE button to change this.
If you wish to have your name appear on our online referral service, click the box beside “Show profile to others.” You can then select what information you wish to share with the public (Anybody) or just with members (Members). If the button is greyed out, you do not have the option to change this information yourself.
Remember to click the SAVE button when you have finished making your selections.
Top row (L to R): Monika Green, M.Ed., RP, CCC, Director of Public Affairs, Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association; Lindsay Mathyssen, MP, London-Fanshawe; Andrea D'Onofrio, MA, RP, OSRP Board Member.
Bottom row (L to R): Laura Hetherington, RP, PRPA; Ben Howe, Senior Consultant, Impact Public Affairs; Rachel Fulford, RP, OSRP Board Member. Regrets: Stephanie Woo Dearden, MA, RP(Q).
As previously announced, in December 2021, MP Lindsay Mathyssen tabled a private member’s bill called C-218: An Act to Amend the Excise Tax Act (psychotherapy services) to support a GST/HST exemption for psychotherapy services.
On May 5, Andrea D’Onofrio (Chair of #StopTaxingMyTherapy) and Rachel Fulford (Chair of the Advocacy Committee) joined our partners at the CCPA (Canada-wide), PRPA (Ontario-wide) and Impact (Lobbying Firm) to meet on Zoom with MP Lindsay Mathyssen.
We were all impressed by Mathyssen’s commitment to the removal of GST/HST from our services, and her desire to work with us to correct this barrier to access as soon as possible. She recognizes that Canadians deserve better access to psychotherapy and sees exemption of psychotherapy services as part of the toolkit for pandemic recovery and the massive mental health needs facing Canada now.
Unfortunately, Private Member’s Bill C-218 was placed far down the list for this parliament – #199, with #1 being the first to go forward. Order of precedence is determined lottery-style. However, Mathyssen remains committed to working with us and our partners to use the Bill to pressure the government to bring forward its own Bill, which they can do at any time.
Our next step is to prepare a coordinated advocacy effort with our members and stakeholders to support Bill C-218 and encourage the Government to remove this tax on our profession. Please stay tuned for more information on how you can help support this Bill through one unified and loud voice.
We are grateful to MP Mathyssen for championing this Bill, to the many MPs who have already expressed their support for this Bill, and to all the OSRP #StopTaxingMyTherapy volunteers who have worked on this issue, with particular thanks to Stephanie Woo Dearden who first connected with MP Mathyssen and informed her of this issue.
We look forward to sharing how you can get more involved as soon as we can.
The Listserv is a members-only space where you can ask each other questions, share practice information, advertise for office space and more!
The OSRP has been putting together a list of guidelines for this self-organized, self-moderated space. We will be sending out an email once a month with these guidelines.
If you wish to contact the OSRP office or our Board members, please do so directly, not through the listserv. For the office, use mail@psychotherapyontario.org. For Board members, go to the Board Members page on our website and choose the appropriate email address. The OSRP office and Board members do not monitor the listserv for messages.
Owl Practice serves thousands of therapists across Canada. Owl allows therapists to easily manage their clinics or private practices and helps enable PHI and professional standards compliance. Owl’s mission is to enable mental wellness through therapists.
OSRP has finalized an agreement with Owl, which includes the following:
In an effort to spotlight our incredible members, OSRP’s Connect Committee is thrilled to announce our latest interview: this one about our (returned) Board member, Kimberly Cato.
As a Black woman who navigates the world through a wheelchair; an RP with over 30 years of experience working from trauma-informed and asset-based practices; and with her practice grounded in methodologies of anti-racism and anti-oppression, Kimberly’s experience and expertise across intersecting dimensions make her a gift to the OSRP.
Kimberly’s commitment to healing and mental wellness is long-standing. These experiences motivated her to intentionally engage in dismantling racism by decolonizing therapy and seeking culturally adapted therapeutic practices that build multi-racial communities with anti-racist capacity and a determination to facilitate more racial trauma healing forums.
Kimberly is delighted to be part of OSRP’s Board, Executive Committee, and the Interim Chair of the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Committee, assisting with the process of embedding EDI principles into every aspect of the organization, and thereby creating a space that is welcoming, inclusive and safe for the differing identities of people we serve to know they belong here.
Our own Nikki Bianchi, Chair of the Connect Committee, interviewed Kimberly so that our members and the public could get to know who is helping guide the OSRP into more welcoming structures and practices for all therapists.
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