Retired Psychologists

This page is meant to be of assistance those who are retired or considering retirement.

According to the Psychology Regulations, a registrant on the Practising Register may use the title “Psychologist” and may abbreviate this to “R.Psych.” A registrant who is retired and no longer holding a practising licence may not use the title “Psychologist” without qualification, as it is a protected title requiring a current practising licence. Following a review of this matter, including legal advice, NSRP permits retired psychologists to use the title “Psychologist” with a qualifier that makes clear to the public that they are no longer entitled to practise. The following titles are both appropriate and permitted:

• Retired Psychologist
• Former Psychologist

For clarity, the abbreviation R.Psych. is reserved for registrants holding an active practising licence and may not be used by retired or former psychologists.

NSRP reserves the right to enforce title protection on a case by case basis, and in particular where an individual without a licence holds themselves out as entitled to practise psychology or engages in the practice of psychology.

Resumption of Active Practice / Full Registration 

Under the RHPA, a registrant who chooses not to renew their practising licence remains on the NSRP register but holds no active licence to practise.

A registrant who wishes to resume active practice may apply for a new practising licence. If they have not held a practising licence for a period of two years or less, they may apply for reinstatement, subject to meeting currency of practice requirements. If more than two years have passed without a practising licence, they must submit a new application and meet current registration and licensing criteria at that time.

Continuing Competence 

Participation in the Continuing Competence Program is not required if one is no longer licensed for practice.  However, if returning to practice, the registrant would need to meet currency of practice requirements.

Liability Insurance 

Registrants are expected to hold at least the Extended Reporting Endorsement / Tail coverage, which is typically a one-time arrangement to cover claims that might arise for an action that occurred when the psychologist was actively practicing (and held full coverage).  However, psychologists should consult their insurance company to obtain information about the specifics of this coverage.

Guidelines for selecting a Custodian

One other document to consider for those in Private Practice is the guidelines for custodian, though these are not particular to retirement:

In terms of responsibilities/how to go about notifying past or current clients of the upcoming office closure, the guidelines are not specific to the method used to notify clients.

Notification of Retirement from Private Practice

For continuity of care and any potentially related issues, it would be important to provide a notice to past and present clients.  However the number/method/time sequence of notices would not be prescribed and thus left to the registrant’s discretion.

Often such notices are placed in the newspaper.  NSRP is not suggesting one has to individually make contact with all past clients seen in the last 10 years.   Obviously, in keeping with standards of practice, any active clients should be notified so that arrangements can be made, if requested, so that they can be referred elsewhere.   If the practice has a website associated with it, then one could also place a notice of retirement there.  Additionally, this information could be provided to APNS since they often make referrals for psychological services and are happy to assist psychologists with various publications.

If you are a sole proprietor, there might be merit in keeping the website of the private practice (if applicable) up for a while to in order to mirror the information relating to the closure of the practice.  This helps if people are searching the internet to contact you.

The registrant who has retired from practice can continue to maintain their files.  The person agreeing to take on the files of the registrant in the event of death or incapacity should be able to access the files and passwords, should the need arise.  The manner to convey this information to the custodian is not prescribed by NSRP.  However, the principle though is that if the need arises, the registrant should be able to find and access the information they need in order to act as custodian.

Contact from Past Clients for Records

It would be important for NSRP to maintain your current contact information, in the event that there are any requests for file information from past clients then NSRP could provide this contact information to them.  In this regard, a good reference would be the Personal Health Information Act, which provides a schedule concerning fees that may be charged for copying files.  Here is a link to the specific chapter (though the full Act and other references are available on the Government’s website):

http://novascotia.ca/dhw/phia/documents/chapters/6-Access-to-and-Correction-of-Personal-Health-Information.pdf