If you are a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) in Ontario, your registration comes with a clock attached. You need supervised hours to move to the full RP category, and you cannot practise without a supervisor in place. That makes finding one less of a professional preference and more of a licensing problem with a deadline.
It has also got noticeably harder in the past year. CRPO changed what it requires of supervisors as of April 2026, the pool of people who qualify has narrowed, and the ones still taking supervisees are often booking six to twelve months ahead. If you have been emailing supervisors and hearing nothing back, it is not you.
This is a plain explanation of what the College actually requires, what changed, how to check whether someone genuinely qualifies, and what to ask before you commit to a working relationship you will be in for a long time.
What CRPO actually requires
The requirements are more specific than most people realise, and getting them wrong is expensive — hours logged with someone who does not meet the criteria may not count.
If you are RP (Qualifying)
You must be in ongoing clinical supervision for as long as you hold the Qualifying category. This is not optional and it is not something you arrange once and forget. It is a continuous condition of your registration.
The hours
To move from Qualifying to the full RP category, you need a set number of direct client contact hours alongside a set number of clinical supervision hours. To be granted independent practice, the thresholds are higher again — in the region of 1,000 direct client contact hours and 150 hours of supervision.
Exact thresholds and the way hours are counted are set by CRPO and do change. Check the current requirements on the College’s own site before you plan around any number, including the ones here.
What counts, and what quietly does not
Not every useful conversation with a senior colleague is clinical supervision. Peer consultation is not supervision. Case discussion in a team meeting is not supervision. Supervision is a defined relationship with someone who meets the College’s criteria, with a specified format and a record you can produce if asked.
The practical consequence: keep your own log from day one. Do not rely on your supervisor’s records, and do not reconstruct it later from memory and a calendar.
What changed in April 2026
This is the part causing most of the current confusion.
The 30-hour training requirement
Anyone beginning to supervise after April 2026 must have completed a 30-hour course in clinical supervision, covering supervision models, ethics, and methods of evaluation. This sits on top of the existing requirements — registration in good standing with a college whose members may practise psychotherapy, several years of clinical experience, and the supervisor’s own completed hours.
What this means for you
Two things. First, the supply of eligible supervisors tightened at exactly the moment demand kept climbing, because a chunk of experienced clinicians who might otherwise have started supervising now have a course to complete first.
Second, and more practically: if you are starting with a new supervisor now, the training question is a real one to ask, not a formality. A clinician who has supervised for fifteen years and one who is starting this month sit in different places relative to that requirement.
Why it got harder to find anyone
Ontario has more Registered Psychotherapists than any other province, and the Greater Toronto Area has the densest concentration of them. Every RP (Qualifying) among them needs a supervisor, continuously, for years.
The people eligible to supervise are by definition senior clinicians with full practices. Supervision is a small part of their week and they can only take a handful of people. The result is a bottleneck that has very little to do with you and everything to do with arithmetic.
Two things follow from that. Start looking earlier than feels necessary — months, not weeks. And widen the net beyond your own city: supervision is delivered virtually across Ontario as standard now, and restricting yourself to people who can meet you in person cuts your options down for no clinical benefit.
How to check a supervisor actually qualifies
Here is the thing that surprises people: CRPO does not pre-approve supervisors and does not publish a list of them. There is no register to check. The responsibility for confirming that your supervisor meets the criteria sits with you, not with them and not with the College.
That means asking directly. A supervisor worth having will not be remotely offended by these questions — they will have the answers ready.
- Which college are you registered with, and what is your registration number? (You can verify it on that college’s public register in about a minute.)
- Are you in good standing, with no terms or restrictions relevant to supervising?
- How many years of clinical experience do you have?
- Have you completed the 30-hour clinical supervision training, and when?
- Have you supervised RP (Qualifying) registrants before, specifically?
- What documentation will you provide for my hours, and how often?
If any answer is vague, treat that as information. Hours that turn out not to count are not recoverable, and you will not find out until you submit.
Individual, dyadic, or group?
Each has a place, and the right answer usually shifts as you gain experience.
Individual is one-to-one. It gives you the most room, it is the best fit early on when everything feels new, and it is the most expensive. If you are working with complex trauma or anything that frightens you, this is where that belongs.
Dyadic is two supervisees with one supervisor. Cheaper, and you learn a surprising amount from hearing someone else’s cases and how they are handled.
Group is the most economical and gives the widest exposure to different presentations, but you get less time on your own material. It works well as a supplement, and less well as your only supervision when you are new.
Many people run a combination. Check how CRPO counts each format toward your hours before you build a plan around one of them.
What it costs
Rates in Ontario vary widely. Group and dyadic supervision commonly starts somewhere around $95 per session, and individual supervision commonly runs to roughly $185, though there is a broad range in both directions depending on the supervisor’s experience.
Two things worth knowing. Supervision is generally a legitimate professional expense, so speak to your accountant about deducting it. And some group practices subsidise or fully cover supervision for clinicians on their team, which can be worth more than a higher fee split — it is a real number, not a perk, and it belongs in the conversation when you are comparing positions.
What good supervision actually feels like
It is easy to reduce this to hours on a form. But you are choosing someone you will bring your worst sessions to for the next several years, and fit matters more than convenience.
Good supervision has room in it for the cases going badly. If you find yourself curating what you bring — mentioning the session that went well and skipping the one where you froze — something is wrong, and it is usually not you being difficult.
It should also be specific. “Sit with the discomfort” is not supervision. What did you notice at minute forty? What did you do with it? What else was available to you there? Supervision that only ever validates is pleasant and largely useless.
And it should be honest about limits. A supervisor who has never worked with the population you are seeing should say so and help you find consultation elsewhere, rather than improvising.
Questions worth asking before you commit
- What is your model of supervision, and what will a session actually look like?
- How do you handle it when you think I have made a mistake?
- What are your expectations of me between sessions?
- What happens if I need to reach you urgently about a client at risk?
- What is your notice policy, and what happens if you become unavailable?
- Do you have experience with the client population I am working with?
That last one matters more than people expect. If you are seeing motor vehicle accident claimants, or first responders, or clients whose treatment runs through an insurer, supervision from someone who has never navigated that will leave gaps you cannot see yet.
Common questions
Can my supervisor be from a different college?
Yes. Supervisors can come from any of the professions permitted to practise psychotherapy in Ontario — psychology, social work, nursing, occupational therapy and medicine, as well as psychotherapy — provided they meet CRPO’s criteria for supervisors.
Can supervision be virtual?
Yes, and most of it now is. This widens your options considerably, and there is no requirement to find someone in your own city.
What if my supervisor turns out not to qualify?
Raise it as soon as you suspect it rather than hoping it resolves. Hours accrued under someone who does not meet the criteria may not be accepted, and the longer it runs the more you stand to lose. Contact the College directly if you are unsure — they would far rather answer the question early.
Can I change supervisors partway through?
Yes. People change for all sorts of reasons — fit, capacity, cost, a shift in what they are working with. Keep your documentation complete and current so a transition does not cost you hours.
How far ahead should I start looking?
Further than you think. Supervisors with capacity are often booking six to twelve months out, and if you are about to start a Qualifying registration you want this settled before you need it, not after.
If you are looking now
Maryam Tavakoli provides clinical supervision to CRPO registrants, has completed the training the College requires for supervisors, and is an approved supervisor for Yorkville University. Supervision is offered virtually across Ontario, and in person in Markham.
If you would like to talk about whether it is a fit — including the parts where it might not be — get in touch, or read more about how clinical supervision works here.
