Alberta wants to regulate addiction counsellors, private treatment centres

The Alberta government wants to start regulating residential drug and alcohol treatment facilities and the people who provide mental health counselling.

A new bill introduced Tuesday by Health Minister Sarah Hoffman aims to reform a system where even people without training can open a treatment centre or call themselves a counsellor. 

Currently, residential facilities are not inspected and are not required to follow standards set by the government for patient care, critical-incident reporting and proper contractual practices.

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If passed, the legislation would allow for the creation of a new College of Counselling Therapy to regulate the profession and set standards for education and licensing.

A professional practice licence would be required for anyone calling themselves a counselling therapist, addiction counsellor, drug and alcohol counsellor or child and youth care counsellor.

The bill would require residential drug and alcohol treatment facilities to become licensed by Nov. 1, 2019. For the first time, they would have to follow standards set by the government.

The government intends to inspect facilities in response to complaints and could amend, suspend or cancel licences.

The names of licensed facilities will be published on the government's website.

The bill would apply to about 5,000 counsellors and 60 public and private residential treatment facilities.

Teen died after drinking antifreeze

The government has received 35 complaints from the public since 2012, mostly about private residential addiction treatment centres.

The stakes can be high.

In 2007, Taylor Argent, 17, died after drinking antifreeze in an unlocked garage on the property of a privately run addictions treatment centre near Red Deer.

A fatality inquiry held into Argent's death recommended the province set minimum standards for private treatment facilities and inspect them regularly.

When the report was released in October 2010, Rachel Notley, then an opposition NDP MLA, called on the government of the day to follow the judge's recommendations.

Taylor's mother, Kim Argent, said many parents rely on private centres since there are long waiting lists for publicly funded and regulated facilities.

"These private centres need to be licensed," she said. "If the shed at this centre would have been locked, our son Taylor might be here today."

Argent and her husband have spent the last 11 years educating parents about Alberta's unregulated system. Argent said she sat for a few years on a government board that looked at changes. But nothing happened. 

Earlier this year, Argent said they gave up hope the system would change and ended the foundation they created in their son's name. Then they received a call to attend Tuesday's news conference. 

"I'm really excited that it's got to this point and that something's finally going to be done," she said. 

The Federation of Associations for Counselling Therapists in Alberta (FACT-Alberta), which represents 13 associations, has been asking the government for the changes. 

Nicole Imgrund, chair of FACT-Alberta, said leaving the profession unregulated poses a danger to the public. She said the risks include abuse and exploitation of clients, privacy breaches, incompetence, unethical business practices, discrimination and a failure to refer a client to another professional if an issue falls outside someone's scope of practice.

Imgrund said there have been cases where counsellors stripped of their practice licences in jurisdictions with regulations start working in Alberta. 

"As therapists, we hear the stories all the time from people who have, at best, paid a lot of money and not gotten the help they need," she said.

In some cases, she said, clients conditions have worsened and their safety has been compromised by counsellors who lack proper training.

If the bill is passed, Alberta would be one of three Canadian provinces to regulate residential addiction treatment centres, and the fifth to regulate mental health counsellors.