Better working conditions and more professional autonomy are at the heart of the demands of psychologists and neuropsychologists from the Quebec public network, who organized a demonstration on Sunday afternoon in Dorchester Square, in Montreal.
“I work in a school service center and at the end of the year, we are all exhausted. Recently graduated with a doctorate in psychology and working in the public network, Lian Boulet is considering making the leap to the private sector. She came to the demonstration accompanied by two friends with whom she chats, sitting in the lawn.
Lian started his career in the public network partly because of a government incentive; if students agree to complete their two internships in the public network and work there for two years or complete 150 volunteer hours, they receive a $25,000 scholarship. “But it’s like a candy that doesn’t taste so good,” laments Liane.
Unsatisfactory conditions
Many children run in all directions while volunteers distribute small instruments to imitate the sound of applause. But despite the joyful atmosphere of the rally, which takes place against a backdrop of dynamic songs by Charlotte Cardin or Britney Spears and the honking of motorists driving on Metcalfe Street, the anger of the demonstrators is very real.
All the people met by The duty are unanimous: the profession of public psychologist is being undermined. “40% of psychologists leave the public network in their first five years of practice” and there is “a salary gap of more than 40% between psychologists working in the public sector and those working in the private sector”, explains Dr. Catherine Sierra-Poirier, vice-president of the Coalition of Psychologists of the Quebec Public Network, the organization that initiated the demonstration.
She also mentions that waiting times for the public are currently between six and 24 months and that 20,000 people are on the waiting list to obtain an appointment with a psychologist. The first to pay are socio-economically disadvantaged people, but also patients with complex cases. “For example, for a case of eating disorder, private psychologists often refuse to take it because it requires a large team” with a nutritionist and a doctor, for example, while the public network favors such interdisciplinarity more.
“In neutral” with the Minister
On most of the signs held by the demonstrators are the words “Urgency to act”, but one can also see on some of them the face of the Minister Delegate for Health and Social Services, Lionel Carmant, with slogans calling on it to intervene more consistently in the field of mental health.
“Right now, we’re at a standstill. [dans les discussions avec le ministre] says Dr. Sierra-Poirier. She explains that one of the main demands of the Coalition is to obtain the creation of a union only for psychologists, but that this demand was refused by the government. “We have had a labor shortage for 10 years, we need a specific solution,” she says, pointing out that among all the trades with which psychologists are currently unionized, these are the only those who must hold a doctorate in order to practice.
Recently admitted to a doctorate in psychology, singer Florence K is also an ambassador for the Coalition of Psychologists of the Quebec Public Network. intercepted by The duty shortly before she delivers an interpretation of the classic Summer time on the small stage set up for the occasion, she extolled the merits of the public network: “I wouldn’t be a psychologist if I hadn’t had access to therapy in the public network. At his side, the doctoral graduate Lysa-Marie Hontoy recalls that “psychiatrists are paid 300% more for the same number of years of study”.
On the stage were installed five large inflatable balloons which form the number 20,000, the number of patients waiting for an appointment with a psychologist to the public. To close the speech of the organizers, in a symbolic gesture, one of the organizers burst the balloons one by one so that of this number, there is nothing left.