If you’re a registered psychologist with a limited scope of practice on your Yukon certificate, you can expand your scope of practice to include formal assessment and diagnosis by following these steps:
To be competent in formal assessment and diagnosis, psychologists are expected to have specific knowledge, skills and judgement.
Knowledge
- Test and measurement theory
- Assessment methods which include standardized administration and scoring of a wide range of psychological measures including level C testing such as cognitive or aptitude tests and personality inventories
- Knowledge of a wide range of psychological measures as related to mental disorders or other referral questions
- Factors that affect test performance
- Psychometric theory and concepts
- Interpretive considerations for a wide variety of measures
- Differential diagnosis
- Recognize how diversity (including socioeconomic status (SES), language, culture, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation) and development have an impact upon assessment, interpretation and choice of assessment measures
Skills and judgement
- Standardized administration and accurate scoring of a wide range of psychological measures including level C testing, such as cognitive/aptitude tests and personality inventories
- Differential diagnosis
- Integrating (when appropriate) norm-referenced data with other sources of information to answer a referral question(s) or formulate a case
- Exercising clinical judgment regarding factors which can impact reliability and validity of results
- Applying judgment regarding contextual factors which may impact recommendations or professional opinions
- Report writing for a wide range of audiences and contexts
- Debriefing results with clients and referral sources
Option 1 – Regulatory attestation
A regulatory body from another Canadian jurisdiction can submit the regulatory attestation form to attest to your competency in formal assessment and diagnosis.
The form must be submitted by the regulatory authority. Email [email protected] to submit the form to the Registrar of Psychologists.
Option 2 – Training supervisor attestation
The psychologist who trained and supervised you in formal assessment and diagnosis can submit a training supervisor attestation form to attest to your competency.
Your training supervisor must submit the completed attestation form by email to [email protected].
Option 3 – Bridging agreement
If you cannot provide 1 of the attestations above, you can agree to complete 400 supervised, evaluated practice hours in formal assessment and diagnosis to add these competencies to your scope of practice. This is called a bridging agreement.
When you complete 400 hours of supervised practice, your supervisor must provide a final evaluation to the Registrar of Psychologists identifying your competencies as “effective” or “ineffective.”
Effective means you:
- demonstrate competence for safe practice;
- can practice independently; and
- consult a supervisor as necessary.
Ineffective means you:
- do not meet minimum standards for an independent practitioner in psychology.
Supervised practice
During your bridging hours, your supervisor must be present when you’re practising formal assessment and diagnosis. You can continue all other areas of your practice as an independent practitioner.
To find out more about the supervised portion of your practice, refer to the Bridging Supervision Guidelines. Inform the Registrar immediately if you need to change supervisors. If your supervisor changes, the Registrar needs to approve a new Supervision Plan.
Final evaluation
When you complete your 400 supervised hours in formal assessment and diagnosis, your supervisor will need to:
- complete the bridging final evaluation form; and
- submit it by email to [email protected].
If your supervisor has identified your practice as “ineffective,” the Registrar may:
- require that you complete additional hours; or
- otherwise determine how you can expand your scope of practice.
Upon approval of an effective Bridging Final Evaluation, the Registrar will update your file to reflect your expanded scope. This will be noted on your file.
How to apply for bridging
- Request a supervision plan.
- Identify a supervisor and complete the draft plan with them.
- Applicants are responsible for sourcing a supervisor who’s a registered psychologist in the Yukon.
- Your supervisor must be competent in all areas that they’ll be supervising you in.
- Submit the signed supervision form for approval by the Registrar
Email: [email protected] - Wait for the letter of approval from the Registrar of your supervision plan and confirmation of your bridging agreement.
- You can only start working towards your 400 supervised hours once the Registrar has approved your Supervision Plan.
Email [email protected] to submit your documents.
For questions about how to expand your scope of practice, email [email protected] or phone 867-667-5111, toll free in the Yukon 1-800-661-0408, extension 5111.