And they typically bring the biggest benefit to those who wrote them.

Meow.

This is personal.

Yesterday I wrote about the difficulties involved being granted permission to use your knowledge in a jurisdiction different than where you developed that knowledge.

That’s really what the cab driver story really is about. That, and a bias towards the belief that ‘we do things different around these parts.’

or

‘We don’t trust other humans to value humans like we do’.

Which is funny.

From what I can tell, a tooth in Iran and a tooth is Dublin are essentially the same.

Ditto the nervous system.

And?

I am reasonably secure in my belief that gravity on the other side of the planet works the same as it does where I am. Those people are not walking on their hands. Lionel Ritchie did not shoot his video there. (though I am certain that there’s a place in the multiverse where people fall up)

The same doesn’t seem to apply for whatever people come to see people like me about. The qualification requirements between jurisdictions varies wildly in Canada. And yet? People are people, dealing with the same people related issue. It doesn’t matter where you are, the skills required are likely the same.

Why then do they vary so much even within a developed country?

Well, I’ll get to that in a minute. First, a bit of a back story.

When I began therapy school, the school offered a four year program. That was the agreement going in. Four years and then, if they actually established it, admittance into the new emerging regulatory body in Ontario.

Nearing the end of our third year it was announced that the program was now a five year endeavour. This was done without consultation. This was done the prepare students for the new college of psychotherapists in Ontario. Unlike the college, which permitted some people to be brought in as legacy members, the school wasn’t giving this same legacy status to their students.

Up until this point 2014, people were graduating from my school and going on to practice psychotherapy. No questions asked. Now? The term ‘Registered Psychotherapist’ is regulated in Ontario. And yet there are a avenues to do this work outside of the college.

With all of this in mind, I could not conceive of any reason why I needed to enroll in a fifth year at my school.

Meanwhile, things at home were changing. Our desire to escape from Toronto had hit a tipping point. I had signed up for four years of school. They added a fifth year. I didn’t agree. I asked to work remotely. They wouldn’t accommodate me. Relationship over.

One month after my last class at the institute, our house was sold and we were headed east.

Once we arrived in Nova Scotia I decided to set up a psychotherapy practice. I learned that the term “Registered Counselling Therapist” was a protected title. Working as a psychotherapist was not.

Without an accreditation, a credential and essentially an “incomplete education,” I began my therapy practice.

Nobody gave me permission to do it.

And yet here I am, a psychotherapist.

Curious how I did it?

Check back tomorrow to find out more about what I did in order to create a place for myself.