Professional & Legislative Issues Committee

it's a go!

On Saturday October 20^th, 2007, at the Annual General Meeting, the results of the mail in ballot were announced. 

Three hundred and two ballots were mailed out.  A great response was received with 203 ballots returned to the ATRA office before September 30^th.

The results were an overwhelming “Yes” in response to the question “Do you support ATRA in applying for Self Regulation for Recreation Therapists under the Alberta Health and Wellness Health Professions Act?” 

Of the returned ballots 185 were marked Yes, 17 marked No and 1 spoiled ballot.  At the November 24^th board meeting a clear plan and time line of the next steps will be developed and shared in the Winter Atrabute. 

If you have any questions about the Health Professions process please contact the office.

The HPA Special Edition Newsletter is now available to download. This newsletter contains the Terminology for TR Practice  in Alberta as well as the proposed Grandfathering and Entry to Practice guidelines.

DOWNLOAD DOCUMENT

November 2006 report

submitted by Jane Papenhuyzen, Vice-President, ATRA

On October 14, 2006, ATRA members attended the annual AGM and education session. The education session entitled Considerations in Pursuing Regulation Under the HPA was presented over 2 hours by Jon Pascoe, Patti Ballance and Jane Papenhuyzen.

Jon Pascoe, Lawyer consultant to ATRA's HPA process, provided a status update on the 17 of 28 Professional Regulations now in force, most recently Occupational Therapy (OT). Jon informed members that while OTs are performing a wide variety of restricted activities and supervise unregulated workers under their regulation, that this should not impact Recreation Therapists, nor our pursuit of regulation. Jon provided more insight into restricted activities under the HPA, particularly Psychosocial Intervention, which is of interest to our profession. Jon reinforced that this restricted activity was designed to have a high threshold versus counselling, and be performed in cases where there is profound mental illness, gross impairment, non-voluntary treatment, and occur often in conjunction with the prescribing of psychotropic medications. Recent amendments to the HPA were also discussed, particularly the removal of the requirement for applicants to "represent the majority of persons carrying on that profession in Alberta" and the addition of the statement that an application must be considered "in the public interest.

This latter amendment lead well into Patti Ballance's update on the 'nuts and bolts' status of our application. Patti was hired by ATRA in July 2006 to consolidate the work done by the PLIC sub-groups, collaborate with Jon Pascoe on policy, and complete the policy portion of our application. Patti presented on two key areas which have become stumbling blocks to the application, namely, if our application is in the public interest in terms of risk and relevance, and how we define ourselves as a health service. Patti opened the discussion to the floor on how Recreation Therapists protect, promote and maintain health, and our role in preventing illness, diagnosing, treating and rehabilitating. Members were encouraged to look beyond task proficiency and competence toward errors of omission and co-mission, and our role in inter-professional care and the continuum of care.

A summary of PLIC and ATRA work to date was provided by Jane Papenhuyzen, recently appointed as ATRA Vice President to fill a one year vacancy in that position. Jane P. highlighted the benefit of the last years of HOP, PLIC and ATRA work which has strengthened our Association, increased our professional self-awareness and improved our position toward regulation by acting college-like in terms of the CEU requirement, and adopting the 2003 Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics, including competencies. Jane P. discussed the HPA element of risk to the public, with particular emphasis on looking beyond our activities as 'risky' but rather our decisions, interventions, professional collaboration as risk, and to look at the vulnerability of our clients, their degree of trust and their expectation of competence as risk.

Jon provided a final overview of the political climate for our application. Even though the government is in a stall or 'red light' phase given the current leadership change process in Alberta, we are advantaged with more time to concentrate on policy, terminology, strengths, educational and professional alliances. Jon encourages ATRA members to focus on the journey versus the end-product, and how far our Association has evolved and grown during this process.

To this end, the ATRA Board will continue to work with members and stakeholders to proceed with our HPA application. The Board will focus on outstanding priorities including our competency profile, grandparenting, consistent terminology, continued competence, and alliances with education institutions and other health profession stakeholders. Should this work be completed, and the Alberta government move into a 'green light' phase for new issues, the Board's goal is to aim for autumn 2007 to make application to the HPA. Stay tuned, and please contact the Board with questions, concerns and/or offers of assistance.

What goes into the Health Professions Application?

Presentation at 2006 AGM
October 2006
View Power Point Presentation

Presentation at ATRA Issues Session
October 1, 2005
View Power Point Presentation

Presentation at Lethbridge College on the Health Professions Act
September 2005
View Power Point Presentation

Report by Jane Crawford, ATRA President
September 2005
View the Report