All ACPRO member jurisdictions agree that access to appropriately regulated telepsychology services, including across jurisdictional boundaries, is in the public interest.
Three jurisdictions (Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick) have determined that telepsychology services provided to their residents by psychologists outside their jurisdictions can be appropriately regulated by the psychologists’ home jurisdictions, which would be responsible for receiving and acting upon complaints.
Eight jurisdictions (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories) have determined that they must regulate provision of telepsychology services received by their residents from psychologists outside their jurisdiction, when the residents are located in their own jurisdiction, and that appropriate regulation requires some form of registration or, in Saskatchewan, license, in the jurisdiction of the client.
In each case, jurisdictions are making good faith efforts to interpret what is required and what is possible according to current legislation, regulations, and legal advice.
The eight jurisdictions requiring some form of registration or license by those providing services to their residents when the residents are located in their jurisdictions have signed the ACPRO Memorandum of Understanding Regarding Interjurisdictional Telepsychology (MOU), in effect as of 1 April, 2024. The MOU recognizes there while there are circumstances in which full registration in the jurisdiction of the client is appropriate, there are other circumstances in which an expedited and low-cost process for a limited or temporary form of registration or license to provide interjurisdictional telepsychology services is appropriate. The MOU establishes a certificate for Limited Telepsychology Practice (which will carry a different name jurisdiction to jurisdiction) to enable efficient provision of interjurisdictional telepsychology services in circumstances deemed appropriate by the jurisdiction.
Please review the MOU for more information, and visit the sites of individual jurisdictions for details about interjurisdictional telepsychology practice into that province or territory, including the application form specifying that jurisdiction’s accepted categories of practice, fee, and duration of the certificate.