OPA Psychotherapy Initiative
Many of our members have expressed concern about the provincial government's proposed limits on physician-delivered psychotherapy through OHIP and wish to help. There have also been requests about accessing more information for the evidence supporting the value of long-term/intensive psychotherapy. Below are pertinent resources.
Advocacy
Physicians
If you feel comfortable connecting with politicians, you can contact your local conservative Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) and/or the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. Contact information for MPPs can be found at: https://www.ola.org/en/members/current. Minister Christine Elliott can be reached at: christine.elliott@pc.ola.org. Here is a template for e-mailing MPPs/other politicians.
Patients
Patients who have heard about the proposal may ask you questions. Here is a summary of information that patients may find useful. What and how to discuss this matter with patients depends on your clinical judgement with each individual patient. A Web site where interested patients can sign up to receive further updates and ideas is: https://mailchi.mp/saveohippsychotherapy.com/2019. Those interested in e-mailing MPPs/other politicians can consider this template.
Education
Canadian Resources
- Drs. Conrad Sichler, Chase McMurren, & Arieg Badawi's opinion article in the National Post as featured by MSN (June 2021)
- Dr. Renata M. Villela's blog for the Ontario Medical Association (July 2020)
- Dr. Renata M. Villela's article for the Royal College Newsroom (April 2020)
- Community letters to the editor of The Globe and Mail (January 2020)
- Psychotherapy Saves videos (November 2019 onwards)
- Dr. Wei-Yi Song's opinion article in the Toronto Star (July 2019)
- Dr. Javeed Sukhera's interview in The London Free Press (April 2019)
- Dr. Norman Doidge's opinion article in The Globe and Mail (April 2019)
- Saving OHIP Psychotherapy Web site (2019 onwards)
- Ontario Medical Association Committee to Preserve Publicly-Funded, Physician-Delivered Psychotherapy:
a) synopsis (2019)
b) brief literature summary (2019) - Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Concept Videos
American Resources
- Drs. Renata M. Villela & Susan G. Lazar's follow-up article in the Journal of Psychiatric Practice (March 2021)
- Drs. Renata M. Villela & Eric M. Plakun's article in the Journal of Psychiatric Practice (November 2019)
- Dr. Renata M. Villela's article in Psychiatric News (April 2019)
- Coalition for Psychotherapy Parity's Clinical Necessity Guidelines for Psychotherapy (May 2018)
- Coalition for Psychotherapy Parity Web site (2018 onwards)
Dr. Renata M. Villela, MD, FRCPC
Psychotherapy Initiative Lead
Ontario Psychiatric Association
