In 2019, Bernadine Fox with cohost, Glen Grigg, sat down with Bethany Lindsay, a CBC reporter, to discuss the Cayton Report & the ways which Regulatory Colleges in BC are letting mental health consumers down. The question asked & left unanswered: “Who is protecting the mental health consumer?” One might think that the state of registering therapists and counsellors in BC to protect clients from unethical ones would have happened here already. It has not. In Oct 2022, BC did introduce the Health Professions and Occupations Act based on the Cayton Report. And while it appears to be comprehensive it continues to leave out the thousands of professionals who work in our mental health field and call themselves therapists or counsellors. Here in BC Canada, anyone, trained or not, can still hang up a shingle call themselves a counsellor and start working with clients.

The BC Government has assured us that now that Bill 36 - the Health Professions and Occupations Act - is complete they will turn their attention to regulating the 1000s of others who operate as therapists in this field. However, this is not the first time this has been promised. In the meantime, BC clients continue to be hurt by untrained and unethical therapists with no recourse and no means of holding them accountable here in BC.

Currently, associations and societies in BC provide professional memberships for counsellors. All have something like a Code of Conduct to which their membership must make a commitment. The Colleges that regulate our Drs, psychiatrists, and psychologists are both now covered under Bill 36. While the Act, in my opinion, has vague descriptions around the issue of exploitation, the Colleges have their own Standards of Practice – they have a zero tolerance for any type of sexual contact or behaviour with clients. Why? Because the dramatic imbalance of power in therapy resembles that which is found in a parent and child relationship. With the vulnerable client is in the “child” position - making full and informed consent is impossible. However, some of these other associations allow therapists to enter into a sexual relationship with their client IF 2 years has passed AND other criteria around the depth and scope of the therapy is not present in the relationship. If they are eventually included under Bill 36, will they be allowed to maintain this different standard of practice? Or will they be required to provide further assurances for client safety?

In my opinion, and I must say I am not sure if my co-host agrees with this or not, there is no means by which any association or society can filter out the unethical therapist on their roster and unfortunately, those unethical therapists have easily manipulated around those variables in the code to make it appear as if they are doing no wrong. In addition, the bylaws of the association give control around any enquiry into a therapist’s inappropriate behaviour to the unethical therapist themselves! After a complaint is lodged, simply resigning their membership closes any investigation into their inappropriate and at times criminal behaviour - leaving the client with no recourse and allowing the unethical counsellor to remain unaccountable. Of note, resigning a membership does not disallow the unethical counsellor from continuing their therapy practice. As mentioned, any person with or without training can hang up a shingle, call themselves a therapist in BC and begin seeing clients. All in all, it is a system that fraught with pitfalls for clients.

(music used "It's Alright by Shari Ulrich)