April Townhall and ACTA's guiding principle — The Association of Counselling Therapy of Alberta

We had the honour of meeting with Premiere Danielle Smith and the Hon. Dan Williams, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, at the Alberta Chamber of Commerce’s Political Action MLA Dinner last night!

Both Premiere Smith and Minister Williams reiterated the commitment of the Government to move forward with regulation. They also both affirmed the importance of grandparenting the current workforce. The impression given by both these interactions was that the government remains highly motivated to proclaim Counselling Therapists within CAP and will support the collaborative work that must be done by ACTA, CAP and Alberta Health to ensure it is completed in 2025.

We shared Counselling Therapists' excitement about finally moving forward with regulation and critical public protection for those who receive counselling services. We discussed the concerns expressed widely by counsellors in Alberta who are feeling uncertain about workforce stability and whether or not they will be grandparented into CAP. We also took the opportunity to recommend that the current legislation to regulate the profession through CCTA not be repealed until the new legislation to regulate under CAP is ready.

Nicole Imgrund (ACTA Chair) and Laura Hahn (ACTA CEO & Registrar)