Advocacy

Background

As part of the CPA’s strategic plan is to advocate for the science, practice and education of psychology, the association is actively involved in a number of advocacy and government relations’ activities to ensure that the voice of psychology is making an important contribution to the public policy discussion/decision-making process when it comes to the health and wellbeing of Canadians as well as the science, practice and education in psychology.

To support our advocacy activities, the CPA is a registered lobbyist organization that submits monthly reports on its lobbying activities to the federal government.

Advocacy in Action

Generally speaking, the CPA’s advocacy activities take a variety of forms and include the following:

• Meeting with Members of Parliament and Senators and their staff
• Meeting with senior government officials
• Presenting to House of Commons and Senate Standing Committees
• Liaising with senior representatives from federally-funded health agencies
• Partnering with mental health and research-focussed strategic partnerships
• Developing and presenting letters, Briefs, and position/policy statements
• Participating in the pre-budget consultation process (submit Brief, present to Finance Committee)
• Participating in expert roundtables and consultations (e.g., Medical Assistance in Dying [MAiD])
• Providing the perspective of psychology on Federal Committee work and Bills under review (e.g., Conversion Therapy)
• Compiling resources of interest for the psychology practitioner and researcher communities
• Launching strategic communications and media campaigns
• Attending conferences/workshops and events to present perspective of psychology

Specific CPA advocacy activities, grouped by issue area, are listed below.

Launch of Members Only Advocacy Toolkit for Psychology

In addition to the advocacy work that the CPA undertakes on your behalf, the Association strongly believes it is important to invest in, and equip, our members and affiliates with the knowledge, strategies and tools they need to be an effective advocate. For this reason, the CPA has created the Very Involved Psychologist (VIP) and Very Involved Psychologist Researcher (VIPR) program. As part of that program, we have developed a toolkit to assist members in building their advocacy skill set and/or confirming their approach.

At the present time, the toolkit is comprised of the following elements –

• an Advocacy Guide that is designed to provide psychology practitioners, researchers and educators with the basic knowledge, strategies and tools to effectively engage and contribute to the political/public policy-making process
• Meeting your Member of Parliament kit comprised of dos and don’ts, sample emails/letters, etc. that will help you prepare for, and debrief, your meeting.
• a Media Guide that provides you with the knowledge you need to deal effectively with traditional and social media
• a bank of Other Resources – a dos and don’ts PowerPoint, videos and presentations that speak to the CPA’s role and its approach to public policy advocacy; all of which may be useful for members in building their advocacy skill set

In the coming months, we will add other elements to the Toolkit including – one-page Key Messaging documents, advocacy-related continuing education courses, etc.

To access the toolkit, CPA Members and Affiliates can log into the Members Only site here – https://secure.cpa.ca/apps/Pages/advocacy

Not a member, but want to access the toolkit? You can join the CPA here – https://cpa.ca/membership/becomeamemberofcpa/

1. Impact of COVID-19

The CPA has been actively engaged with the federal government, on its own and in strategic partnership with other associations and alliances, as it responds to the COVID-19 global pandemic to ensure that the needs of psychology practitioners, researchers and students, as well psychologists’ patients are addressed.

The CPA also developed a series of COVID-19 fact sheets and public resources, as well as member messages which help inform the public on the psychological aspects of living in a pandemic as well as support the pandemic-related needs of CPA members, students and affiliates.  In addition, CPA has supported a pro bono psychological service offering to health care workers on the front lines of the pandemic across the country as well as developed and delivered webinars to the staff of other not-for-profit health and science organizations to help them in coping with the psychosocial impacts of the pandemic.

2. Federal Government-Mental Health (Funding, Policy, Legislation, Research)

As a national health association, the CPA is actively engaging the federal government on a range of public policy issues as they pertain to mental health.

3. Psychology and Mental Health System Innovation

The CPA, on its own, and with other organizations is working collaboratively to highlight the on-the-ground innovations that psychology is making to the organization, management, funding and delivery of mental health services. Below is a summary of recent activities:

4. Psychology and Employer-Based Health Benefits

The CPA engages on a regular basis with insurers to discuss the administration and/or availability of employer-sponsored mental health benefits to their employees.

5. Working with Provincial-Territorial Psychological Associations

Usually at the request of the provincial-territorial psychologists associations, the CPA is pleased work collaboratively to address issues of mutual interest/concern to the profession.

6. Developing Members’ Advocacy Skills

7. Public Speaking

In addition to speaking with the media, representatives of CPA are frequently invited to speak at Conferences and other public events to provide the perspective of psychology in the context of an evolving public health system, and/or employer health benefits plans. Recently, CPA spoke at the following meetings: