ee’s training. The supervisor’s ability to im- part the attitudes, values, knowledge, skills, approaches, and traditions of counselling/ psychotherapy will be thoroughly tested. CCPA is establishing standards and a system of voluntary professional certification to as- sure opportunity for continued growth and development for clinical supervisors. CCPA will announce the details later in the spring.


To support the certificate and to promote and encourage the provision of effective and ethical supervision, a handbook on supervi- sion was published by CCPA in 2012, Super- vision of counselling and psychotherapy: A handbook for Canadian Certified Supervisors and applicants. In the works is a textbook, Supervision of Canadian Counsellors and Psy- chotherapists, to be published in 2015. The textbook will support the certificate program and provide a venue for Canadian counsel-


lors/psychotherapists to share their wisdom.


Obtaining and providing supervision has been a passion of mine for many years. I am very excited to share the initiatives that CCPA is undertaking in this area and would like to hear back from you with your ideas.


Supervision is a place where a living profes- sion breathes and learns….supervision can be a very important part of taking care of one- self, staying open to new learning, and an in- dispensable part of the coach’s [supervisor’s] ongoing self-development, self-awareness and commitment to learning.


- Hawkins & Shohet


Blythe Shepard CCPA President-Elect


Animal Assisted Therapy in Counselling - A New Chapter


By Nancy Blair, Sarah Schlote and Sue McIntosh 8


All CCPA members are invited to become ac- tive. We hope to meet you at the CCPA Con- ference in Halifax. This Chapter is dedicated to advancing Animal Assisted Therapy in the Counselling Profession, also to recognize, respect and celebrate all the animals in our lives who work and journey with us.


Nancy Blair, MES, MEd (Counselling), CCC, RCT-C, Interim President


State of the Field in Canada


Much of what is known about Animal As- sisted Therapy as it exists in Canada can be derived from a 2009 study conducted in the context of my master’s in counselling thesis research. The field was quite fragmented, with no over-arching representative national Canadian professional association provid- ing standards and ethics. Most of the train- ing available in AAT (mostly dogs and other small animals) at the time was concentrated


VOL. 45 NO. 1 | WINTER 2013


in Quebec. There were two professional bod- ies, numerous post-secondary certificate and diploma programs, and hundreds of people practicing AAT/zoothérapie across the prov- ince. A significant concentration of AAT training and practitioners were practicing in Alberta.


In the equine world, there were far more op- tions for training, with the highest numbers of practitioners being concentrated in BC, the prairies, and Ontario, where the major- ity of training options were located as well. Regardless of species, there was a range in terms of the training and education of the people practicing AAT – from no education, to training in unrelated fields, all the way up to college and university degrees in relevant helping professions.


Since then, the Canadian topography has changed tremendously. While the field still seems to struggle with defining a clear


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