Impacts of the new framework for psychotherapy on social workers

The regulatory framework for psychotherapy in Quebec the Nouvelles modalites d'encadrement de la psychotherapie, NMEP which came came into being in 2012, defines psychotherapy and regulates its practice. Pursuant to these regulations, the majority of social workers were no longer allowed to practice psychotherapy. Given a certain overlap between social work and psychotherapy, we examined the impacts of the NMEP on social workers by administering a questionnaire, to which 74 Quebec social workers responded. The results indicate that the impacts differ depending on whether the respondents have a psychotherapist permit, do not have a permit or have attempted to obtain one.