The Mixed Response to the Petition
When graduate student, Meghan Ford, and I released a petition responding to the College’s proposed changes to registration standards, the response was immediate. Many colleagues signed enthusiastically. Others reached out with thoughtful critique, raising concerns about specific wording or the balance between master’s and doctoral training. And then, unfortunately, there were also deeply negative reactions, including personal attacks directed toward the graduate student who helped with the effort. That kind of vitriol is unfair, and it distracts from the real issue at hand: the future of psychology in Ontario.
Why We Acted Quickly
The petition was written quickly, before we had the benefit of the full information that has since come to light. We knew this meant the language might not capture every nuance. But we also knew that delay risked being interpreted as consent. In advocacy, sometimes you have to move fast with the tools you have. This is also a generally unpopular stance for a profession like psychology, full of deeply caring people who thrive in diving into the nuance.
It’s also important to acknowledge our own positionality. I hold a PhD and Meghan is in the process of completing hers. It’s possible that our language was shaped by that perspective in ways we couldn’t fully see. Personally, I don’t read it as anti–master’s level, but I understand that others may have interpreted it differently, and I want to own the possibility of bias.
What the Petition Isn’t Saying
The petition is not about opposing master’s-level psychologists. In fact, many of us work alongside excellent master’s-trained colleagues every day, and they are indispensable members of our profession. In fact, in my own mid-sized private practice, I have had the privilege and pleasure of hiring and working along-side MA-level psychologists. The issue is not whether MA-level psychologists should exist (I find that argument laughable, even); they already do, and they are deeply valued.
The real issue is the scope of the changes now being pushed forward in response to the lack of access to psychologists. Under current standards, psychologists in Ontario typically complete between 3,000 and 6,000 hours of supervised clinical training before practicing independently. The proposed changes would reduce this to as little as 300–500 hours. That’s a reduction by a factor of 10… a factor of 20, even! This is not a minor adjustment. It is a dismantling of the standards that have protected the public and defined our profession.
“Any Care is Better Than No Care”?
One of the most troubling messages coming from government is the idea that “worse care is better than no care.” This is a dangerous oversimplification. Ontario already has thousands of professionals who provide therapy; social workers, psychotherapists, counsellors. What psychologists uniquely provide is the controlled act of diagnosis and complex psychological assessments. These are the bottlenecks in the system: assessments for ADHD, autism, neuropsychological conditions, PTSD, learning disorders.
Shortening training won’t fix those waitlists. It risks producing clinicians who are less prepared for exactly the areas where Ontarians are most in need.
The Funding Elephant in the Room
The real reason psychologists are not more available in hospitals and community agencies is not training standards, it’s funding.
A psychologist working in a hospital is paid roughly one-sixth of what they could earn in private practice for the exact same training and the exact same scope of practice. To put that in real terms: it’s like telling a doctor, “If you choose to work in a hospital and serve the sickest patients, we’ll pay you a dime for every loonie your colleagues earn down the street.” Who would stay?
This is the reality facing psychologists. It should surprise no one that many move to private practice. But instead of addressing this pay gap, the government is proposing to slash training requirements by 80–90% and call that “increasing access.” It’s not. It’s a bait-and-switch that lowers quality without solving the actual problem.
Lowering standards won’t solve this imbalance. Only government investment in fair compensation and funded training spots will.
Why the Petition Still Matters
Some colleagues have suggested that the petition isn’t nuanced enough, and they’re right. It isn’t. But the petition was never meant to be a comprehensive policy document. It’s not even a formal submission; the government only accepts paper petitions.
What the petition is meant to do is show the public, policymakers, and the media that psychologists are dissatisfied with the direction being taken. It is a signal of concern, not the final word.
This is where unity matters. If we fracture over small details, if we withhold support because the language isn’t perfect, we weaken our collective voice. The public cannot parse the difference between psychologists, psychological associates, and other regulated mental health professionals. They only see whether we stand together or not.
The Path Forward
Nuance will be essential as we move into the formal consultation process. We will need thoughtful position papers, carefully worded submissions, and respectful debate about the future of our profession. But we can’t let perfectionism stop us from acting in the meantime.
The bottom line is this: Ontario does need more psychologists. But the solution is not to gut training standards by 80–90%. The solution is to fund more training spots, invest in public-sector salaries, create more clinically-focused programs (like PsyD’s), and support specializations like neuropsychology where bottlenecks are most severe. Anything less is is abandonment of the public interest in the name of “modernization.
Dr. Jenn Bossio is a Clinical and Health Psychologist, the founder and director of the Tri Health Clinic—Ontario’s largest sex and couples therapy practice—and a passionate advocate for system-level change in mental health care. Based in Kingston, she was named Business Person of the Year (2025) and recognized as one of the Top 40 Under 40 (2024). Jenn is committed to redefining the role of psychologists in a rapidly evolving health care landscape.
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