Mental counsellors should be regulated

Re: “B.C. improving access to mental health services,” letter, April 5.

Kudos to the B.C. government for its $1.45-billion commitment to treatment for people with mental-health issues and addictions.

But I want to highlight one change Health Minister Terry Lake’s office could make that wouldn’t cost taxpayers anything and would help improve access and safety of mental-health services: Establish a regulatory college of counselling therapists.

In B.C., anyone can call themselves a counsellor. Without a regulatory college, there is no body to ensure competencies and ethical practice of counselling therapists, or to ensure accountability for counselling therapists who are providing services without the necessary training, education and experience.

As a result, there are some people styling themselves as counselling therapists who see clients with mental-health issues but who not only lack the capacity to help those clients, but who have not acquired the specialized professional competencies needed to prevent emotional, mental and financial harm.

Regulating counselling therapists would provide better service to British Columbians, as therapists would have to prove they were competent and professional. A College of Counselling Therapists would also provide clients with recourse to make complaints about the quality of care they receive, and it would have the authority to discipline members for misconduct.

Other Canadian provinces regulate counsellors, and we hope the B.C. government follows suit. British Columbians deserve better.

Glen Grigg, PhD Registered clinical counsellor, therapist and consultant