Ontario psychotherapy and counseling program reviews

The rise of psychotherapy in Ontario

The field is an increasingly popular second career option thanks to its diversity and anti-oppressive focus

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Psychotherapy as a profession has been around for years along with other types of therapy and counselling. But in Ontario, it has taken much longer for the field to become regulated. Since the establishment of the College of Registered Psychotherapists in Ontario (CRPO) in 2015, and the subsequent declaration of psychotherapy as one of Ontario’s 14 “controlled acts,” demand and interest in the field have skyrocketed.

When the CRPO started, around 2,500 members registered. Five years later, acting registrar Mark Pioro says that number has more than doubled to 8,000. “That doesn’t include other people who use the title but aren’t registered with us,” he says. (Nurses, psychologists or social workers can register as psychotherapists via their own colleges, but do not have to register with the CRPO.)

Demand has been so high that McMaster University recently established a five-term program for people interested in becoming psychotherapists. It launches in fall 2021, and students will earn a masters of science in psychotherapy.

Amy McGrath is the educational director of the Ontario Psychotherapy and Counseling Program (OPC), one of a few programs in the province recognized by the CRPO). She credits the growing interest to the diversity of the practice. “It’s not one size fits all; depending on the modality you train with, there are many tools available,” she says. “That diversity also lends itself to the diversity of people who are seeking mental health services.”

Psychotherapists use a variety of treatments and approaches, including cognitive, behavioural, psychodynamic and somatic therapies.

The field’s diverse models of practice is a huge advantage, McGrath adds, because of how important the therapeutic relationship – or the fit between the therapist and the client – is in terms of best mental health outcomes. “The more diverse practitioners you have, the more access that diverse populations have to finding that fit,” she explains.

Why become a psychotherapist?

People interested in equity and justice are often drawn to the field. Jason Brown, a psychology professor at Western University says an anti-oppressive current runs through counselling practices, including psychotherapy. “Counselling has roots in community service and working with folks who are among the most oppressed,” he says.

Brown notes this angle is especially important looking at the way the COVID-19 pandemic has exasperated problems facing equity-seeking groups. “Where we see the biggest effect on mental health is the economic impact on families. The social restrictions on how we interact have cut people off from a lot of support that they would normally have just in their lives day-to-day,” he explains.

McGrath says that psychotherapy is also an attractive career because of the ability to create your own private practice.

“You really are your own boss, and it becomes an entrepreneurial job and allows for individuals to create that work-life balance,” she says.

What are the drawbacks?

Like many therapy-based professions, Brown notes that psychotherapy can be an emotionally challenging job. “One of the drawbacks is the emotional heaviness of the work,” he says. “There’s a growing emphasis on self-care, because you can get burned out really quickly if you don’t look after yourself.”

McGrath says that it’s common for those going into people-helping professions to be at an increased risk for burnout because many who are drawn to these careers also have a propensity toward caretaking.

“They tend to put themselves lower on the list, so they help their clients first and if their clients have an emergency, they’re there for them,” she says. “You could work seven days a week until midnight if you wanted to, so the challenge of self-care is one you really have to pay attention to.”

How do I become a psychotherapist?

There are currently 19 programs available across Ontario, at both private and public universities, that enable you to become a registered psychotherapist. Expect to make around $60,000 per year starting out, and depending on experience that can get as high as $100,000 a year on average.

Pioro notes many people transition to psychotherapy as a second or subsequent career, and says that some of the educational programs recognized by the CRPO offer part-time training that can be completed while working in another field.

McGrath estimates more than half of the students at OPC are second-career individuals, and says the five-year program is structured so you can train while working. “One of the things we’re looking for is a person’s capacity to look at their experience, what they’ve learned from their various jobs or other kinds of experiences, and know how to draw those into working with people,” she says.

While Brown says that usually isn’t the case at Western, he does notice a lot of new students have been doing what he calls “helping work” for years. “We love having those students, because they already know so much,” he says. “These are folks who have been doing informal counselling for years either as the first priority of their work or a related part of their work.”

Where to study psychotherapy

Adler Graduate Professional School (Toronto) Master of Psychology specializing in Adlerian or trauma psychotherapy, $46,800/program (plus fees). adler.ca

Canadian Institute for Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (Toronto) Diploma for child and adolescent psychoanalytic psychotherapist, $3,500/year (includes fees). cicapp.ca

Centre for Training in Psychotherapy (Toronto) Diploma of the Centre for Training in Psychotherapy, $7,185/year for first two years (plus fees). ctp.net

Gestalt Institute of Toronto (Toronto) Diploma of Completion of the Five Year Training Program in Gestalt Psychotherapy, $4,500/year (plus fees). gestalt.on.ca

Martin Luther University College (Waterloo) Master of Arts in Theology – spiritual care and psychotherapy, $2,714/year (plus fees). luther.wlu.ca

McMaster University (Hamilton) Master of Science in psychotherapy, $7,560/year (includes fees).
psychotherapy.mcmaster.ca

Ontario Association of Jungian Analysts (Toronto) Diploma in analytical psychology, $3,730/semester (includes fees). oaja.ca

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (Toronto) Master of Education in counselling psychology, $10,070/year (plus fees). oise.utoronto.ca

Ontario Psychotherapy and Counseling Program (Toronto) Diploma in psychotherapy with focus on psychodynamic therapy, $4,500-$5,000/year (includes fees). ontario.psychotherapyandcounseling.ca

Saint Paul University (Ottawa), Master of Arts in Counselling and Spirituality, $7,446.80/year (plus fees). ustpaul.ca

Toronto Art Therapy Institute (Toronto), Graduate diploma in art therapy, $8,000/year (includes fees). tati.on.ca

Toronto Centre for Psychotherapy and Counselling Education (Toronto) Certificate in psychotherapy, tuition TBD. tcpce.ca

Toronto Institute of Psychoanalysis (Toronto) Certificate of graduation as psychoanalyst, $4,000/year (includes fees). torontopsychoanalysis.com

Toronto Institute for Relational Psychotherapy (Toronto) Diploma, $6,600-$9,000/year
(plus fees). tirp.ca

Toronto School of Theology (Toronto) Master of pastoral studies with a spiritual care and psychotherapy certificate, $4,662.43/semester (plus fees). tst.edu

Tyndale University (Toronto), Master of divinity with a counselling major, $12,150/year (includes fees). tyndale.ca

University of Guelph (Guelph), Master of science with a specialization in couple and family therapy, $5,515.34/year (includes fees). family.uoguelph.ca

Western University (London) Master of arts in counselling psychology, $6,164,18/year (includes fees). edu.uwo.ca

Yorkville University (Online) Master of arts in counselling psychology, $37,730/ program (includes fees). yorkvilleu.ca

@juliajmastro

Julia Mastroianni

Julia Mastroianni’s first attempt at writing resulted in the first 20 pages of a novel that she promptly abandoned, a year after starting, at age nine, because she couldn’t bear to read her own work. Since then, she’s completed assignments at various publications, including Post City Magazines and the National Post.

How many hours a week does the program typically require?

Generally speaking, we would say between 3-6 hours a week including the ITP Groups (Integrated theory and Practice groups). Obviously, this depends on the pace of the individual student in terms of writing and absorbing the readings. Some readings are also denser than others.

What is Psychodynamic psychotherapy in plain language?

Psychodynamics speaks of 2 things:

that the human mind has 2 parts – the conscious (the things we know we know) and the unconscious (the things we are not aware of, but nevertheless, impact our thoughts, feelings and behaviours). These dynamics within the mind are often connected to earlier experiences
that between two people there are relational dynamics – meaning: those inner forces/motivations that we are not aware of can also impact our relationships.

The therapy part is that understanding these things and coming to know the things we don’t know (our unconscious mind), improves well-being and relationships.

How many years does it take to graduate?

The program is a minimum 5 years.

The first 3 are what we call foundational academic and if a student successfully completes those years, they are eligible to enter the final 2 years of clinical practicum.

By the end of your 5 years and upon graduation, most students have almost all of their client contact hours and clinical supervision hours for applying to the CRPO as Registered Psychotherapists

Does everyone begin her/his practicum after 3 years?

Yes, as long as a student has successfully completed all the rigorous academic and experiential components of the foundational years. Students are provided regular feedback about their development of core competencies needed to sit in the therapist’s chair even as a trainee.

OPC will not put any trainee in the therapist’s chair unless we feel you are safe enough not to harm your clients.

What are criteria for entering clinical practicum?

As faculty we are looking for competencies and capacities that indicate a student ‘s preparedness to sit in the therapist’s chair.

The overview looks like this:

Demonstrates openness and deepening emotional connection to, as well as emotional regulation of their personal narrative and capacity to listen/respond to other’s narratives emotionally.
Demonstrates increasing knowledge of human psychological functioning and development through application.
Demonstrates increasing self-reflective and mentalizing capacities.
Demonstrates a deepening awareness and engagement with boundaries.
Demonstrates solid knowledge of human and cultural diversity in relation to psychotherapy practice.
Demonstrates increasing ability to listen, offer and engage with feedback.
Is engaged in transference work, boundaries, and interpersonal dynamics.
Overall demonstrates increasing integration and embodiment of the safe and effective use of self (SEUS), the psychodynamic psychotherapy model of practice (PPMP), other academic material and comparative psychologies.

These capacities are measured through yearly Progress Reviews and within constant dialogue and feedback with faculty and TA’s.

What makes OPC different from other programs?

a) Unlike other programs, OPC (in the last 2 years of the program) provides our students with up to 4-5 clients a week for 46 weeks a year. We also provide student office space. What this means is that by the time a student graduates from OPC they have fulfilled almost all the client contact hours (450) required by the CRPO and almost all the clinical supervision hours (100)

We are able to do this because we have a very robust referral directory. In fact, 4-5 clients per training therapist usually amounts to approximately 40-60 client referrals and maybe more depending on the training therapist, because it is common for new therapists lose clients at the beginning.

b) We have a vibrant alumni association– so that post-graduation our therapists are not simply out there on their own, if they do not want to be. We continue to provide clinical supervision (which is required by the CRPO for RP’s) and while it’s not our obligation, as said early, we have a very robust referral and so we often have overflow and we are happy to pass that on to our graduates. We have filled many a graduate private practice.

c) Our program is accessible for many candidates both from a scheduling perspective and financially:

i) The format of our program is what we call full-time/part-time. Meaning our in-class hours would be considered part-time (occurring on weekday evenings or weekends) and the rest of the hours are completed through regular web-postings to your assigned Teaching Assistant.

ITL Groups – 2 hours every 2nd week either on a weekday evening or Sat.
Residency weekends– 3 a year that go from Fri at 7 pm until Sun. at 12:30
2 ½ day Sat lectures – one in the fall and one in the Spring
2 full day Sat workshops – one in the fall and one in the spring (these are rotating standard workshops: Basic pharmacology, DSM/PDM & Assessment, Applied Research methods, Diversity and cultural competency in psychotherapy, Ethics and professional practice)
Academic seminars – 4 per year (2 hours each) on a Sat or Sunday.

ii) We do not ask for any up-front tuition – it is paid on a graduated system where you pay as each module is offered. However, because it is tuition, you pay whether you attend or not.

d) Our program has a deeply experiential thrust and commitment to teaching through a hands-on approach to learning the ‘art’ of psychotherapy. By the time our student therapists are moving into their practicum, they have the practical skills already in development and use. This kind of hands-on experiential training lends confidence and competency to our training therapists and graduates.

Can you get OSAP?

No, but our graduated system of tuition often makes the program quite financially accessible.

Do I need to see a psychodynamic therapist while in the program?

No, if you have a therapist that you work with already please continue to see them. We only require that you see a therapist (one you currently have or one you start with once you begin the program) for the duration of the program for a minimum of 20 hours a year. If you do not have a therapist, we are happy to help you with a referral.

Is there any benefit to seeing a psychodynamic psychotherapist?

Perhaps, in that learning psychotherapy is an art and having the opportunity to be mentored by a therapist who practices similarly can be helpful, but not necessary.

How do I know if the program is a good fit for me?

We suggest once you’ve read through our website; contact us and come in for a personal interview or join us at one of our Open Houses and/or complimentary lectures as this will give you a sense of our learning community and our faculty. And like we often say to clients in that first interview, you’ll know whether it is a good fit because it’s something you will feel in your “gut” (you’ll know) once you’ve met us!

And of course, the other factors such as course delivery, financial considerations, etc. will also inform your decision as to whether OPC is the right program for you.

How rigorous is your academic component?

OPC has solid academic requirements and if you have an academic background this should not be overwhelming. We do require that students read some of the original texts and these can be a bit dense. However, we do not ask students to read 100’s of books and articles; we have a very defined core curriculum (about 5-6 books a year) that we want each student to really know thoroughly.

One of the academic rigors of OPC is that we require students to learn the art of quality conciseness. This is part of learning one of the competencies of being a therapist that relates to professional writing (i.e. case notes). This requirement can be a challenge for many of our students, academically speaking.

What should I know before entering your program if I do not have therapy experience?

The feedback we get most often from new students is about the emotional rigor of our program. This is not an easy component and relates directly to the CRPO competency of the SEUS.

SEUS means – knowing one’s own psychology, history, biases, etc. through and through and this kind of self-reflective and mentalizing skill comes through doing the emotional work that you are going to want your clients to do. You can’t lead where you have not gone.

If I leave the program in the middle of the year is there any penalty financially?

No, because you pay tuition on a graduated system, once you officially withdraw there are no more fees.

How do I become a registered psychotherapist in Ontario? How does the school help me with this process?

Once a student graduates form OPC they take their diploma* to the CRPO and can apply for registration. Registration has a 3-part process:

Complete application form- which includes the sending in of your transcripts from OPC.
Complete the Jurisprudence ELearning exam – this is provided through the CRPO
Once the above 2 are completed and accepted, the candidate becomes a RP qualifying until they have completed all client contact hours and clinical supervision hours (450-100) and has passed the competency exam.

OPC supports our students through the entire process. We also often encourage our graduates to meet in ‘study groups” for some aspects of the application process. The faculty has also designed a seminar for the Competency exam to assist our students in preparing for that exam.

OPC also continues to support graduates with their quality assurance program and renewal applications.

*Graduates must have a minimum of 125 client contact hours and 30 hours (15/15) of clinical supervision to be eligible to even apply to the CRPO. Qualifying members have 5 years to fulfill all client contact and supervision requirements and they have 1 year to complete the Competency exam.

Qualifying members can fail the exam 2x – at which point they will be recommended for up-grading skills/education and upon completion can take the exam a 3rd time.

What happens in each of the 5 years? What are the goals of each year and what do I need to expect?

FOUNDATIONAL ACADEMIC YEARS 1-3:

Year 1: The focus on training in this year is the beginnings of self-exploration and expression in relation to others with an emphasis on psychodynamic psychotherapy and its application to your own personal growth and relationships both inside and outside of the OPC learning experiences.