REGULATING PSYCHOLOGISTS IN NOVA SCOTIA SINCE 1980
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I am extremely interested in pursuing a career in Psychology here in Nova Scotia and have been reviewing the requirements for this province. I have several questions around how to proceed and what would be the best avenue for an individual like myself to transition into this field of work.

I am from Halifax originally and currently reside in Bedford, Nova Scotia; I am 41 years old and have almost 20 years experience as a Territory Manager across several industries (Medical Device, CPG, Wine & Spirits). I have an undergraduate degree (BSc – Neuroscience) from Bishop’s University and several other pharmaceutical courses in a variety of therapeutic areas.

Through my research of the requirements in NS, I am encountering some road blocks to pursing this Master’s degree and the eligibility to practice in this province. I have a family with 2 small children, which requires me to work full time. To return to school, I would need to do so on a part time basis or as an online program to allow me the flexibility to continue to maintain my career. It appears on the requirement website that to practice psychology in NS, you must:Online programs are not acceptable – if so, then the only option is to attend a full time program at a school in NS?Attend one of the below schools: – are these the only options to pursue this career in NS?Also – I wish to open a private practice and doing counselling psychology; Only some of these schools offer that/ and or meet the program requirements to be able to do this in NSnHow is it possible to work full time/ and pursue a Masters in psychology that would meet the requirements in NS?Do any of these schools allow part time/ distance learning options; AND – are these programs that would be accepted to practice in NS?With the pandemic and Covid restrictions across the country, is there any alternative to completing a Masters in Psychology and working in NS?nAcadia UniversitynPsychology DepartmentnDalhousie UniversitynPsychology DepartmentnMount St. Vincent UniversitynPsychology DepartmentnSt. Francis Xavier UniversitynPsychology DepartmentnSt. Mary’s UniversitynPsychology DepartmentnnHere is my back ground: (Education)

Bachelor of Science, Neuroscience Bishop’s University; Lennoxville, Quebecn2002nCCPE – Continuing Council for Pharmaceutical Education AccreditationnMay 2005nCCPE – DermatologynOctober 2013nCSS – Certified Spirits SpecialistnMarch 2016nCanadian Association of Certified Sommeliers – Sommelier CertificationnDecember 2016nCCPE – Metabolic Syndrome & DiabetesnOctober 2018nI am very passionate about helping people and developing a career path in the field of psychology, as well I have a strong desire to remain in Nova Scotia and continue my life and future employment here. I realize that the demand for psychologists in very high in this province, and that this will continue to grow in the future. I would love to pursue this, and with my background I feel I would be an amazing candidate for this field of work.

Any information and guidance you can provide me would be much appreciated. I would like to start the process as soon as it is possible.

Category: Public

To answer your question, NSRP does not provide pre-approval with regards to education programs and because individual applicants experiences can vary, NSRP can only assesses whether the educational requirements have been met when the program has been completed and an application has been made. In the link below, you will note that applicants that have met all of the requirements of a CPA accredited Doctoral program or all of the requirements of several other graduate programs in Atlantic Canada usually meet the educational requirements for registration with NSRP. NSRP does provide guidelines for helping to decide if an educational program would meet NSRP requirements and lists some of the programs that typically meet NSRP requirements. They can be found here:

https://www.ns-rp.ca/downloads/Acceptable_programs_NSBEP.pdf

Like most jurisdictions in Canada, NSRP does not accept online programs for registration, and we are not aware of acceptable programs that offer part-time training. With respect to COVID-19, it is too early to tell if there will be long term changes to education or licensing requirements. At this time, accommodations are being made within existing requirements.

We note that your B.Sc. degree is Neuroscience and assume that this is a psychology degree or equivalent to a psychology degree. It would be important to determine if the psychology courses taken at an undergraduate and eventually graduate level would meet the foundational knowledge and core competency requirements for registration. In many cases, a psychology undergraduate degree with courses covering a breadth of psychology is necessary to meet the foundational knowledge requirements. Graduate programs in psychology may also have specific admission requirements regarding undergraduate degrees. (Note that graduate programs that do not require an undergraduate degree in psychology for admission are not acceptable to NSRP.)

The requirements for foundational knowledge can be found here:

https://www.ns-rp.ca/downloads/Foundational_Knowledge.pdf

In addition to pursuing psychology, given your specific interest in counselling, another direction you might want to consider, and which may have different options with respect to training, in counseling therapy. Here is a link to the Nova Scotia College of Counseling Therapists page:

https://nscct.ca/

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