Non-existent school psychologists given key role in New Brunswick gender-identity policy

New Brunswick is proposing that psychologists play a leading role in dealing with students who change their names to match their gender identity at school without parental permission, but those specialists are in short supply after the Higgs government abandoned a series of campaign promises made five years ago to expand psychological services across the province.

Mandy McLean, executive director of the College of Psychologists of New Brunswick, told CBC News that as far as she knows, a series of multimillion-dollar promises made by the Progressive Conservatives in the 2018 New Brunswick election, to expand access to psychologists in schools and elsewhere, remain unfulfilled.

"My understanding is that none of those specifics were met," McLean wrote in an email last week.

On Thursday, Education Minister Bill Hogan revealed adjustments to rules that set minimum standards for providing a safe learning environment for LGBTQ students.

Among the changes is a requirement that if a student under 16 wants an official name or pronoun change, and doesn't want to involve their parents to obtain their consent, they should be referred to a school psychologist or social worker.

"Parents are in the best position to support their child through the majority of life changes, like a change in gender identity," Hogan said during a news conference at the time.

Hogan said the changes also mean that without parental consent, teachers and staff wouldn't be allowed to use a child's chosen name and pronoun unofficially either.

In cases where students are fearful, or otherwise object to informing their parents, he said professional supports will be made available to help.

"If it is not possible to obtain this consent to talk to the parent then the student will be encouraged to work with the appropriate professionals that we have in our school system, such as school social workers, school psychologists [and] guidance counsellors," said Hogan.

Later, Premier Blaine Higgs emphasized that point, calling increased professional counselling for students a key element of the government's plan to require parental consent for recognition of name and pronoun changes made by those 15 and under.

"I know there are situations where it isn't ideal at home and those situations we must be sure to understand," Higgs told reporters.

"That's why we're saying extra counsellors, extra support."

1 psychologist per 10,000 anglophone students

But psychologists, in particular, are in short supply in New Brunswick schools to help students, in part because of unfulfilled government promises to add them.

According to the Department of Education, there should be 73.1 full-time-equivalent psychologist positions in New Brunswick schools, but 42.7, or 58 per cent, of those spots are currently vacant.

In anglophone districts the shortage is the most acute with only 7.4 positions filled and 40.7, or 84 per cent, vacant.

That's one psychologist for every 10,000 students in the anglophone system, 10 times the minimum ratio recommended by a 2014 report of a Canadian Psychological Association task force.

Last Friday, New Brunswick Teachers' Association president Connie Keating told CBC News she doubts promises from Hogan and Higgs that students caught up in the gender-identity policy changes will have access to the help they claim.

"There aren't enough adults in the building who are certified professionals to meet the needs of children," she said.

Susie Proulx-Daigle, president of the union that represents psychologists, agreed.

"They are overloaded for work as it is," said Proulx-Daigle.

"There's huge vacancies. It just doesn't make any sense."

Pledged to hire 20 psychologists for schools

The shortage of school psychologists in New Brunswick has worsened during Blaine Higgs's tenure as premier, even though he pledged to tackle it head on during the 2018 provincial election.

In that election, under a policy called Make Mental Health a Priority, Progressive Conservatives proposed spending more than $4.1 million per year to hire 20 private-practice psychologists to enter the school system.

It also pledged to create up to 10 "accredited internship positions for post-graduate psychologists" in the province. Most significantly, it said if elected, the party would consider "how to expand coverage of psychological services through Medicare for children and high-risk groups."

Improving access to psychologists inside and outside schools was the third-highest spending commitment the party made in the campaign, according to documents the party filed with Elections New Brunswick.

In the CBC leaders' debate Higgs told viewers "our youth deserve better" and made a point of highlighting the commitment to get more professional help into schools for students. 

"Look at our platform," he said. "We want to hire more psychologists and we put money in there to do that.

"We can do it immediately because in the private sector there are enough psychologists to get the program working. We don't have to wait. Money is there to do it."

The 2018 vote was the tightest in New Brunswick's history, with Progressive Conservatives losing the popular vote to Liberals by nearly six percentage points but winning by eking out one more seat.

Counselling not covered by Medicare

Still, according to McLean, none of the specific commitments made about psychological services were kept.

The 20 private-practice psychologists for schools weren't hired as pledged, and the other promises also soon fizzled.

"There hasn't been any movement on adding internships," said McLean.

"They have never given us any indication they wish to have Medicare cover psychologists' services."

In an email Friday, New Brunswick's Department of Health said some improvements have been made in access to various mental health services, but the promise to look into how to add counselling to Medicare is not possible under current provincial legislation.

Psychological counselling services, outside of publicly funded programs, are not covered by Medicare," said department spokesperson Sean Hatchard in an email.

"As per the Medical Services Payment Act, Medicare is mandated to pay solely for required services by medical doctors."