Regulation and its vicissitudes

So in Ontario, the regulation of psychotherapy is actually happening. All of us who are to be grandparented in to the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario are beginning to gather a career's worth of information and filling in the boxes on the online application. They are making it as easy as possible for us sometimes technophobic people, but the process is long and demands hunting around for information we haven't thought about, much less know where we put, for many years. 

I get the impression that it's been a bit anticlimactic for many - they were expecting regulatory boogie men at every corner. But it's all pretty straightforward. I know I've said this before, but more importantly it will ultimately make our services safer and more accountable. At the moment, there is little recourse for people who have had bad (and very bad) experiences with unregulated practitioners in this province. 

What many people don't realize is the other regulatory colleges in Ontario: Psychology, Social Work, Medicine, Nursing and Occupational Therapy all share the Controlled Act of Psychotherapy and moreover, each of those other colleges who can practice, can more or less set their own standards of education and experience. Some see this as a pitfall in how the Province did this. The CRPO has standards to be met by its members, but the other colleges have different ones, and not necessarily less stringent, but certainly different. 

At some point I wonder if something will compel a standard to be created for all this variety. That remains to be seen.