Interview with CBC News on Regulating Counselling Therapists

Currently there is no formal college to regulate counselling therapists in Alberta. This means that anyone can call themselves a counselling therapist and yet have no credentials to back that up. Not only is this unsafe for the general public but can create uncertainity when selecting a therapist. Edmonton-based therapist, Shaheen Alarakhia, is one of 85 different employers in Alberta who have supported the creation of a regulatory college and called on the government of Alberta to proclaim the College of Counselling Therapy of Alberta.

In an interview with CBC News, Shaheen stated "The general public doesn't always have the background knowledge to be able to decipher what would be a counsellor with appropriate training and adherence to adopt a standard of practice, distinct code of ethics versus maybe someone who's just calling themselves a counsellor without training... Someone like me with a master's degree, and a lot of training after my degree and supervision and consultation, and continuous upgrading, calls themself a counsellor. But so can someone straight out of high school; there's nothing that would stop them from doing that." 

Regulating the counselling therapy professions creates public safety, and assurance that counsellors are competent and meet the minimum requirements to practice. Read the full article here.