Shortage of psychologists in the public network | The next few months will be difficult for the population

The authors address the Premier of Quebec, François Legault

Mr. Prime Minister, for more than three years, the Coalition of Psychologists of the Quebec Public Network (CPRPQ) has had many exchanges with your advisers and some of your ministers. The objective was to inform them of the growing shortage of psychologists in the public network and to work together to resolve this problem in order to limit the repercussions on Quebec society and the economy.

Unfortunately, the situation only got worse. We therefore believe that it has become urgent to notify you.

As you probably know:

• Quebec is facing a significant shortage of psychologists in the public network to the detriment of the private sector, while the workforce for other job titles in the psychosocial field (social workers and psychoeducators, for example) is showing sustained growth. ;
• The investment plan that we submitted to your ministers, which notably proposes the hiring of 450 psychologists with a salary catch-up of 30%, would cost only 155.5 million dollars and would generate a return on investment of 228 million annually – in considering only the savings related to visits to family doctors, emergency room visits and hospitalizations;
• Psychologists are grappling with a major problem of representation. At the union level, they are classified in the category of technicians and health and social services professionals, even if they are the only holders of a doctorate. Many steps have been taken with the unions to have the remuneration of psychologists adjusted according to their training and their responsibilities. Unfortunately, since the latter are matched with more than 100 job titles and they represent a tiny minority (less than 3% of the members), their voice cannot be heard. It is precisely because of this structural problem that 97% of our members are determined to form a group of psychologists with the right to negotiate.

It was without even consulting us that Minister Delegate Lionel Carmant recently announced his interdepartmental mental health plan. This plan provides for a certain number of interesting provisions, but which will not solve the shortage of psychologists in the network. One of the key measures of the plan consists in deploying more specialized nurse practitioners. And yet, most of them are not qualified to practice psychotherapy, which is often the most appropriate treatment for treating mental health disorders.

The Minister is also counting on the recruitment of doctoral students by opening positions in the environments where they do their internships. However, while this measure is a step in the right direction, it cannot solve the problem of attraction and retention.

The figures are very clear: 75% of graduates say they would like to work in the public network, but only 25% do. As for those who join the public network, 40.5% leave their jobs within the first five years of practice to go and work in the private sector.

The main reason for this disengagement concerns the lack of recognition of the profession in the public network. Moreover, a large number of current positions remain vacant, which clearly indicates that the problem lies in attracting psychologists and not in the availability of positions.

Finally, we should ask ourselves: what would happen to this plan if there were no longer any psychologists to supervise the internships in the public network? Is Minister Delegate Lionel Carmant ready to assume the political, economic and social consequences? Allow us to doubt it!

We have tried to work in collaboration with the members of the cabinets concerned in order to resolve the problem, even going so far as to publicly support in the media some of the measures, however insufficient, proposed by Mr. Carmant.

However, it is our duty to inform you that the minister delegate and the political attachés who worked on this file do not understand the extent of the problem they are facing. In fact, if nothing is done quickly, the next few months will be very difficult for the population, but also for the government, which could suffer the consequences of a range of repercussions, in particular a possible boycott of internships as soon as next fall. Indeed, dozens of psychologists write to us to tell us that they are too overwhelmed to supervise trainees or to inform us of their intention to leave the public network. We want to sound the alarm: if nothing is done, hundreds of psychologists in the public network could decide to leave without us being able to hold them back.

This is why we wanted to inform you of the crisis situation that is looming on the horizon, with the continued hope that we can work together to remedy it. The Quebec population as well as doctors are asking that access to psychologists be improved in the public network. It is therefore urgent to put in place the required solutions so that all those who need it can access their services.

* Co-signers: Beatrice Filionpsychologist, vice-president secretary of the Coalition of psychologists of the Quebec public network; Youssef Allamipsychologist, administrator of the Coalition of psychologists of the Quebec public network; Jenilee-Sarah Napoleonpsychologist, administrator of the Coalition of psychologists of the Quebec public network; Marc-Andre Pinardpsychologist, administrator of the Coalition of psychologists of the Quebec public network; Connie Scuccimarripsychologist, administrator of the Coalition of psychologists of the Quebec public network; Stephanie Tremblayneuropsychologist, treasurer of the Coalition of Psychologists of the Quebec Public Network; Loredana Marchicapsychologist, communication manager for the Coalition of psychologists of the Quebec public network