President’s Message CCPA’s 2013 Horizon


I seek the horizon. Eternally. There’s a com- fort in distinguishing land from sky, and in the depths of prairie winters, the soft envel- oping snows make discerning corporeal from ethereal a complex task. As ice crystals drift downward and low lying clouds seemingly scoop vast white, earthly blankets towards them, I scour the far reaches of fields for hints of horizon. Hoar frost tree skeletons are visible only within 50 metres. After that...no shrub, no tree, no bush, no barn... nothing firmly grounded to provide a whis- pered hint of separation.


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This is a search that compels me both figu- ratively and factually. Perhaps it is because I am of the prairies and not of a city that I am drawn towards this need for discernment. I have no mountain, no forest, nor skyscraper to obstruct my view with any permanence. The possibility of horizon is therefore om- nipresent. For me, my work as President of CCPA has paralleled my ongoing search for possible horizons.


As we begin 2013, CCPA has new vistas open to it for exploration, advocacy and contribu- tion. Outreach late last year clearly showed that our Association was within view and on the horizon of many other associations and organizations. The work of our members was moving the profession to increased visibility for the public, politicians, researchers, regu- latory colleges and more. During Mental Illness Awareness Week in October, as we worked together on Parliament Hill as part of the The Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health (CAMIMH), we discovered that we had our eyes on the same horizon as our colleagues in psychology, psychiatry, social work, psychiatric nursing and other related mental health fields. We worked together to get people talking about mental health in the daily lives of Canadians. We all discerned an essential need for a continuum


VOL. 45 NO. 1 | WINTER 2013


of care that was simultaneously proactive, interactive, and reactive in the best interest of the public. In 2012, CCPA worked jointly with CAMIMH to make mental health a prior- ity, to tear down barriers that prevent people from seeking help, and to lobby for in- creased access to qualified services. Is there hope on the horizon for Canadians living with mental health issues?


The National Entry-to-Practice Competency- based Counselling Assessment, a project funded by the Government of Canada’s Foreign Credential Recognition Program, and sponsored by CCPA, was awarded a 2012 Canadian Recognizing Learning Award by the Canadian Association for Prior Learning As- sessment (CAPLA) in late October. This pres- tigious recognition indicates that the work of CCPA is acknowledged as worthy, not just by the federal government, but also by our peers in other professions. The Recognizing Learning Award is a national award recogniz- ing outstanding achievement in the field of prior learning assessment and qualification recognition and considers three elements in selecting the recipients for the national award:


1. commitment to and promotion of the rec- ognition of prior learning (RPL) 2. results achieved and the developmental nature of the work 3. whether the achievement has had or may have some lasting benefit within the field of practice.


issues, supporting regulatory colleges for our profession, and protecting the public from potential harm when the competency- based assessment project began. Our vision remains solid. Today, what has shifted is the discernment of others. Other professions have recognized our vision – our horizon is


Our sights at CCPA were set on social justice


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