OSRP is proud to partner with Sheridan College in offering a curated suite of courses, starting with past, present and future Board and committee members, up to 35 registrants for the first offering in Winter/Spring 2024. This is intended as a benefit for OSRP volunteers who provide extensive unpaid labour that enables the association to flourish. This new partnership gives volunteers the opportunity to complete and graduate with a micro-credential designed to enhance their practice, as a demonstration of appreciation for their work with OSRP.
Sheridan continues to support organizations like OSRP as well as workplaces, colleges, and institutes in their efforts to advance Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). Recognizing diversity as the fuel for excellence, this support comes in the form of courses and programs that provide training and education on equitable practices and inclusive leadership. Sheridan Continuing and Professional Studies is offering the micro-credential program, Building Literacy in Equitable Practices, with the objective of integrating different perspectives and experiences related to equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Micro-credentials are short-duration programs that help lay the foundation by expanding a learner's knowledge, awareness, and skills in a specific area of interest. The Building Literacy in Equitable Practices micro-credential program explores the fundamental concepts of equity, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace and offers strategies to engage in more inclusive practices, language, and behaviours.
The program only requires three (3) courses and can be completed in as little as one (1) to two (2) academic semesters. Participants need to complete two (2) mandatory courses, Fostering Equitable Practices I and Fostering Equitable Practices II, which examine power, privilege, unconscious bias, micro-aggressions, racism, and intersectionality to integrate different perspectives on equity and diversity. These courses explore strategies to enhance one's capacity to be more inclusive both at work and in other relationships. Participants also need to complete one (1) elective course to obtain the micro-credential. They can choose one from the three elective courses available: Modelling Inclusive Leadership Practices, Exploring Disability and Difference, and Cultivating LGBTQ2S+ Inclusivity. Participants who successfully complete the two (2) mandatory courses, plus one (1) elective, and pass all course requirements, will receive a certificate to formally acknowledge completion of the micro-credential.
The learning experience for the Building Literacy in Equitable Practices micro-credential program includes group discussions, in-depth exploration of videos and articles, and participation in online learning activities where participants reflect on their own experiences to deepen their learning.
Former, current and future Board Members who may be interested in registering, please contact Evonne at mail@psychotherapyontario.org so we can get a sense of numbers (dates and times TBD.)
I was fortunate enough to attend Dr. Celenza’s riveting presentation on Sexual Boundary Violations at the 2018 Ontario Psychiatric Association fall conference and I was blown away by her insights. So, when I joined the Protect Subcommittee to help come up with speakers, she was an obvious choice, and we’re so lucky she agreed — although access is different than other PS Seminars with this Harvard professor.
We can only offer her video for one week: October 10 to 17.
ALso, the Q&A is live only, not recorded, October 18 from noon to 1 p.m.
You don’t want to miss this opportunity to pre-register and save the dates in your calendar. Learn more here. (Flex Pass holders are already registered.)
Part One: October 10–17, 2023 Video Release available 24hrs/day to screen at your convenience
Two-minute teaser: SBV: How do they happen? | Andrea Celenza
Registrants will have access to Dr. Celenza’s 90-minute video and PowerPoint presentation Sexual Boundary Violations: How Do They Happen? in which she debunks the myths and illuminates the realities of this prevalent phenomenon, and offers a psychological profile of clinicians at highest risk.
This video would normally cost $450 USD per individual viewing or $750 USD for groups up to 20. The OSRP is exclusively offering this on a one-week basis for you to screen at your own pace, with the unique Q&A opportunity below.
Part Two: October 18, 2023Q&A with Presenter Noon to 1 p.m. ET on Zoom -— NOT RECORDED
Dr. Celenza will address questions and comments arising from her 90-minute video.
This is an opportunity for a live community interaction in a confidential space to discuss your questions, responses and concerns.
The first part of her deck on Sexual Boundary Violations will be available by email to all registrants.
REGISTER HERE for both Parts 1 and 2
Dr. Andrea Celenza, Ph.D., is a Psychoanalyst, Psychologist, and world expert who literally wrote the book on Sexual Boundary Violations: Therapeutic, Academic and Supervisory Contexts. She is a Training and Supervising Analyst, Boston Psychoanalytic Society/Institute; faculty, at Mass. Institute for Psychoanalysis; and Assistant Clinical Professor, Harvard Medical School.
Her books are available in person in Toronto or online for shipment at Caversham Booksellers, PS Protect Seminar’s promotional partner.
To attend/receive materials for all five PS: protect yourself Protect Seminars, if you would appreciate financial support and identify as BIPOC, please email edi@psychotherapyontario.org
Article by Rachel Fulford, RP, Member of Protect SubCommittee
PS: Protect Seminars are Co-Presented by
The OSRP is growing and developing as an organization representing a diverse group of RPs across Ontario. With this top of mind, we intend to increase Black, Indigenous, Racialized, and LGBTQ2S+ awareness and engagement at the OSRP. To do so, we need your voices. Please let us know what we can do to make joining our Board a good fit for you.
DEADLINE for nominations to the slate prior to this AGM is September 29 at 5 p.m.
EXCLUSIVE: Board Members will be eligible to take Sheridan College’s Building Literacy in Equitable Practices Micro-Credential training program, developed for OSRP. See below for details!
If you are Board-Curious and interested in learning more about becoming part of the OSRP Board, you are invited to an Open House with Kimberly Cato and Dan Sileshi, Co-Chairs of the Nomination Committee.
Click HERE to register!
Scheduled Zoom Meeting:DATE: Friday, September 22 TIME: 1:30-2:30 p.m. EDT
Please let us know if you can make it and if you have any specific questions we can prepare to answer when we meet. May your week be truly spectacular.
Feel free to contact Kimberly Cato and Dan Sileshi at: nomination@psychotherapyontario.org
You are invited to the OSRP’s 31st Annual General Meeting on:
Friday, November 24 1-3 p.m. (on Zoom)
This year’s AGM is of particular importance.
Q: Why?
A: Your Board has been hard at work making important and necessary changes to the OSRP’s By-Laws.
Q: Will I get a chance to review and vote on these changes?
A: Yes. The only way we can evolve as an organization is with your support and participation. All proposed changes will be sent out in the Annual General Report no later than 30 days before the AGM.
Further, the AGM will include a detailed presentation of these proposed changes, and why they are necessary.
Q: Why do I need to attend or send a proxy?
A: OSRP Quorum requires 10% of members – so we will need 100+ members to attend or select proxies.
Door prizes will be available for those who attend.
It’s a great chance to connect with fellow members, and vote on matters of importance to you.
Click HERE to register today.
Click HERE to assign a proxy.
Thank you!
The OSRP is well aware that supervision continues throughout the lifespan of psychotherapists, social workers, psychologists and many other professionals covered by the program, and that until 1,000 Direct Client Contact Hours are provided by an RP, they must continue supervision. We also know that most benefits plans do not distinguish between RPs and RP(Q)s in their coverage. We will be addressing this issue directly with VQRP and hope to report a positive outcome in the future.
Do you know of any other organizations that discriminate against RP(Q)s? Please don’t hesitate to let us know at advocacy@psychotherapyontario.org
Rachel Fulford & Dr. Natasha Tuletta-Bowman, Co-Vice Chairs, OSRP Board of Directors, Co-Chairs, Advocacy Committee of the OSRP
by Gwen Shandoski, RP, M.Sc.
Moving my practice out of Toronto to Picton was hard, unplanned, unknown.
I always thought being a psychotherapist meant living in Toronto. My future was me, 80, in my basement office in Leslieville in the city’s east end, seeing clients face to face.
When the world shut down, anything seemed possible.
I had never worked virtually before. Once I used Zoom to meet new clients and it worked, I downloaded real estate apps. I checked out gorgeous homes on Haida Gwaii, waterfront in Newfoundland and Muskoka. Old homes in Goderich. California for kicks. Winnipeg, Sudbury for a change. Window shopping a new life was a fun way to spend those lockdown evenings.
What I could not know or google was — what is it like to work and practise psychotherapy outside Toronto?
I picked a town based on activities I enjoy — coffee shops, an active movie theatre and film community, artists, and a bookstore. Prince Edward County had all those.
Dissociation wore off as soon as our offer on a Picton house was accepted. I panicked and said to my partner, I can’t do this. Thoughts jammed. A vision of me working as a psychotherapist outside Toronto was not there. I’d depended on the senior therapists who trained me to demonstrate life as a psychotherapist. I had not seen any RPs living rurally without commuting to work.
photo: Gwen (left) and her partner, Barb Hannah, on “move day,” realizing that they accidentally dressed as “City Mouse” (Gwen) and “Country Mouse” (Barb).
However, I took the leap. I was soon discouraged from trying to share an office with a therapist renting on Main Street. The rules were that no other therapist could be in that building. My friends from Picton kept assuring me there was work and possibilities for office space nearby.
Eventually, I rented an office by the water and hung my shingle. I had many inquiries and enough referrals this winter. Few this summer.
I’m finding my footing here. I volunteer at a queer youth group out of the library. I was hired for the "Arts Together" pilot program to facilitate connectedness and expression through art for those at risk of social isolation and mental health challenges (not therapy though). Once funding is secured, I have the promise of 20 hours of expressive arts therapy work at an afterschool program for young girls.
My rent is paid but there’s room to grow. I’ve left my card at coffee shops and other local spots. I need to do more. I have savings after selling our house, so retirement is a possibility at some point. I am living a good life in a beautiful part of Ontario. One I hope to enjoy for the next 15 years.
photo: Gwen’s porch for group work
Would you like to write about your experiences and POV for this newsletter? We would love to work with you! Please email us with your ideas at mail@psychotherapyontario.org and let’s get writing!
Join us for a unique two-part opportunity for guidance from a world expert in how Sexual Boundary Violations (SBVs) happen in a clinical setting; who is at risk; and how to become aware of the risks in your practice.
Dr. Andrea Celenza has spent more than 20 years studying, writing about, and advising regulators about SBVs, and providing remediation, expert witness testimony, and therapy to over 300 clinicians who have transgressed, as well as to over 100 victims. She literally wrote the book on Sexual Boundary Violations. She brings a deeply compassionate, personal and insightful approach to her work and her lectures, and shares examples to help others practise safely and effectively. This is a do-not-miss event.
Part One: October 10–October 17, 2023
Video Release available 24hrs/day to screen at your convenience
This video would normally cost $450 USD per individual viewing. The OSRP is exclusively offering this on a one-week basis for you to screen at your own pace, with the unique Q&A opportunity below.
Part Two: October 18, 2023
Q&A with Presenter Noon to 1 p.m. ET on Zoom — NOT RECORDED Dr. Celenza will address questions and comments arising from her 90-minute video.
Dr. Andrea Celenza, Ph.D., is a Psychoanalyst,Psychologist, and world expert who literally wrote the book on Sexual Boundary Violations: Therapeutic, Academic and Supervisory Contexts. She is a Training and Supervising Analyst, Boston Psychoanalytic Society/Institute; faculty, at Mass. Institute for Psychoanalysis; and Assistant Clinical Professor, Harvard Medical School.
She recently released a new book, Transference, Love, Being: Essential Essays from the Field: books | Andrea Celenza
Feel free to share and post it far and wide.
If you have any questions about what you can do to help with this effort, or news about support from your MP or others, please don't hesitate to reach out to us by emailing advocacy@psychotherapyontario.org.
We hope you have a restorative Summer.
All the best,
HST updates are always available on the OSRP Website’s Advocacy Corner.
The PC Bill is scheduled for a second reading/debate in fall 2023.
Meanwhile, we are keeping the pressure on with ongoing activism including letter writing, the two Bills, and the petition, all of which have been effective in raising awareness and opening doors for us to make our case.
Letter-writing tools and social media shareables can be found at TaxFreeTherapy.ca
Scheduled Zoom Meeting date & time:DATE: Friday, August 25 TIME: 1-2 p.m. EDT
If this date and time don’t work for you, fear not –– we will host another Open House next month!
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