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*+â€" _ By Terry James | It‘s like trying to close the barn door after the horse has alread% out says Dr. Pierre Ritchie. That‘s how the supervisory psychologist at Kâ€"W Hospital and executive committee member of the Ontario Psychoâ€" logical Association (O.P.A.) described his task of straightening ‘out the facts between the O.P.A. and the Waterloo Coufity Teacher‘s Association (W.C.T.A.). On Feb. 8, Waterloo County teachers were made aware of a proposal prepared by the O.P.A. at the reâ€" quest of the provincial health ministry. The intent of the draft legislation is to explicitly prohibit the practice of psychology by unqualified persons. While O.P.A. officials have included exemptions for social workers, clergymen and teachers, Waterloo County teachers find the legislation too vague and open ended and fear that their positions as guidance counsellors, assessment teachers and special education teathers may be threatened. They claim that the duties of a psychologist, as outlined in the O.P.A. fact sheet, are also functions carried out by teachers. Like closing the barn door after Recently, Dr. Ritchie met with members of the Legislation Committee of the W.C.T.A., the presidents of the mens and womens teachers‘ federations and Vic Graham, coâ€"ordinator of special education servâ€" ices for the Waterloo County Board. "I did not get rid of all the fears or agree on every issue,"" said Dr. Ritchie while discussing the results of the two hour meeting. ‘"There is no question, we were able to cut through and eliminate some of the disâ€" tortions people have.""‘ * * The psychologist said he has never had any problems working with educators and there was a period in his own life when he was in the classroom. Dr. Ritchie attempted to clarify the whole area of exemptions. He said it has been one of the aspects of this proposed legislation which has been causing concern not only with teachers but in other professionâ€" al groups as well. 0 L "Primarily the way it‘s been interpreted is, well who are you to have the right to grant exemptions?"‘ said Dr. Ritchie. ‘"What‘s important to realize is that what we‘re talking about is a proposed piece of professional legislation and it‘s in the nature of the way legislative acts are written and the legalisms in which they have to be written." "When the minister received the proposal, one of ‘the concerns he had was what implications it would have for other responsible professional groups,"‘ said Dr. Ritchie. "It‘s always been our position that other groups who feel they might be affected by the legislation or who share some of the functions we perâ€" form as psychologists, could make a representation to the ministry and let them know how they would like it stated. that is what kind of exemption clause they would like written in." Dr. Ritchie said persons need to be very clear about who the act applies to and to whom it does not. _ . The O.P.A. was invited by the ministry to submit a proposal for the regulation of the practice of psychoâ€" logy in Ontario and this is what the voluntary proâ€" fessional organization did. According to Dr. Ritchie it has never been O.P.A.‘s position to state they would be the ones to write the exemptions for each professional group. "If the social workers as a profession were to sugâ€" gest a comparable piece of legislation, we would see it appropriate that we be invited to write our exemptâ€" ion clause for that legislation," said Dr. Ritchie. "I think this whole area has been a misunderstanding." The second issue the psychologist attempted to clarify was that O.P.A. is a voluntary organization representing the majority of psychologists. Total memâ€" bership,. including student membership, full and associâ€" ate memberships, has beon estimated at close to 1,000. ‘"What I‘m getting at here is simply that what O.P.A. is proposing is not that O.P.A. become the regulatory body, merely that a new regulatory body be set up that would replace the current regulatory body which is the Ontario Board of Examiners and Psychology (0.B.E.P.)" O.P.A. is proposing that O.B.E.P.. set up under the Psychologist‘s Act of 1960 be replaced by a College of Psychology to be established along the guidelines of the draft legislation. The proposal was submitted to the ministry in August. ©77 and a graph showing what the exemptions might look like accompanied the material. The minisâ€" try recognized the fact they would have to have conâ€" sultations with the professional groups involved. ‘"What we did was make reference to the Education Act to make it clear that what was being talked about in our legislation was not meant to supercede the provigions covered in the Education Act," said Dr. RitcKie Teachers vs. psychologists: The aquatics class at the Adult Recreation Centre made its last splash on Thursday, March 16. Among the course graduates, volunteers and instructors were, front row left to right, Cathy McPhun, volunteer, Gloria Sadowsky, graduate, Evelyn Weir, graduate, and Reta Morrison, volunteer. In the back row from left to right are Greta Maggs. graduate, Edward Carrington, graduate, Bob Marshaii, volunteer, Gladys Charie, graduate, John McMichael, instructor and Benitaâ€"Ann Gallina, volunteer. ® As far as teachers are concerned the psychologist doesn‘t see any problems. ‘‘When you get into the area of teachers using either very clearly defined techniques or instruments that have been designed by psychologists for use by psychologists you‘re into a very tricky area,‘"‘ said Dr. Ritchie. ‘"‘My understanding of the situation is not to say we‘re trying to assign certain kinds of functions to ourselves on an exclusionary basis. We are very concerned with the whole area of competence and standards. We think that anyone using a technique or instrument has to be accountable."‘ of reference for this committee include looking at ‘the various issues that are of concern to psychologists and teachers working in the area of supportive services. standards. We think that anyone using a technique ‘‘You‘ve got to come back to the starting gate and or instrument has to be accountable."" say let‘s start back where we really were, You may The O.P.A. is asking that persons who are not comâ€" stll} have some concerns but at least let‘s know what petent or don‘t meet certain standards legally not be we‘re talking about,"" said Dr. Ritchie. permitted to go beyond the bounds of their competency. Suppose a school has a registered or licensed psychoâ€" This is not being handled through the proposed legisâ€" logist(s) who entertains a supervisory responsibility: lation being discussed but rather through a liaison for the work of unlicensed, but competent, people who ccmmittee with the Ministry of Education. The terms P%rlftz,fln limited functions. Is the psychologist responâ€" af rofaronaa fnr thic anmmiftas includsa Innking 1t siDle 2 Dr. Ritchie said the O.P.A. is fully aware of the fact that some of the functions described as those of psychologists are also performed by other people. He said that if a person were to look closely at the conâ€" tent of the legislation no where does it state that only psychologists perform these functions. * To y ‘‘The idea of a guidance counsellor doing counselâ€" ling is not an issue at stake here. We recognize that role and the value of it. One has to bare in mind that the primary intent of the proposal is for responsible self regulation of the practice of psychology," said Dr. Ritchie. Did the O.P.A. expect the reactions they received? "I personally did not expect the kinds of reactions we received from some people,"" said Dr. Ritchie. "I understand now why we are getting these reactions and I think we have‘to take some responsibility."‘ The O.P.A. representative said it is a political issue more than anything else and as far as he is conâ€" cerned O.P.A. was outâ€"politiced. While the ministry studied the proposal between August ©77 and February ‘78, word leaked out. en . _7 Watprice Chronicle, Wednesday, March 22, 1928 â€" Page 21. _ ADULT SWIMMERS â€" * _‘ ‘Give us your news "*Somehow it leaked and was leaked with a set of interpretations provided by people who, for whatever reason, felt threatened or very disapproving of the legislation,‘"‘ said Dr. Ritchie. ‘"It set up a whole set of fears that in some cases were based on clear distorâ€" tions of what we are saying.‘‘ Dr. Ritchie said the misinterpretations give the idea that where there‘s smoke there must be fire. He said he couldn‘t place the blame entirely on the media because they got caught up with everyone else. ‘‘Well obviously that person is accountable by our definition,""‘ said Dr. Ritchie. ‘"What gets tricky about that is who you say can do some of those functions. If you‘re talking about functions that would normally reâ€" quire training in psychology, allowing people who don‘t meet the set of competency to perform those functions and then asking the psychologists to be responsible, you get into a very tricky area." Dr. Ritchie was eager to meet with the teachers and feels the meeting served a definite purpose. He believes it is important to deal with professional issues and consequently establish a good collaborate relationship. It‘s a fuzzy grey area according to Dr. Ritchie and O.P.A. is saying if a facility is dealing with psychoâ€" logical assessment or treatment in a formal sense, it behooves them to have someone competent in that realm. ‘‘We can address the concerns, set the records straight and respect the fact there are still some dif: ferences on particular issues," said the psychologist. We can do this and not let it lead to some new kind of parochialism that will divide us. We‘re all trying to serve a certain set of needs and trying to find out how we can best do that." B 0 B0 0 0 o