Project RxPerspectives: Evaluating the Proposed Expansion of Psychologists' Scope of Practice in Ontario from the Point of View of the Public
This is a TRP Capstone research project. View more projects in our directory.
This project sets out to complete an independent, public-interest oriented evaluation of a proposed policy from the Ontario Ministry of Health that would grant psychologists prescriptive authority over certain psychotropic drugs, as well as being able to order and interpret related laboratory tests such as bloodwork. This project centers the perspectives of people with lived experience accessing mental health care, aiming to generate primary evidence that can directly inform policy decision-making.
Background
Mental health service accessibility remains a persistent challenge in Ontario, with many individuals experiencing long wait times, fragmented care pathways and financial barriers to accessing psychiatric services. Primary care providers (including family physicians and nurse practitioners) also face systemic constraints, including high patient volumes, competing clinical demands and uneven geographic distribution, which may limit their capacity to meet growing mental health needs.
A key player supporting mental health in Ontario are psychologists who can assess, diagnose and treat mental health conditions across the province; however, Ontario’s psychologist workforce operates within a constrained scope of practice that does not include prescriptive authority. As such, in response to these system pressures, the Ontario Ministry of Health has proposed expanding the scope of practice for psychologists to include prescribing authority for select psychotropic medications as well as the ordering and interpretation of specific laboratory tests to support drug monitoring. The Ministry has suggested that this policy could improve access to care, reduce pressure on physicians, and enhance care coordination and collaboration between psychologists and primary care providers, including physicians and nurse practitioners.
However, scope-of-practice expansions are not inherently equity-promoting. In Ontario, most psychological services are not publicly insured through the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) and access is largely mediated by private insurance or out-of-pocket payment. As a result, expanded prescriptive authority may primarily benefit individuals who already have access to privately funded psychological services, while leaving others (e.g., low-income individuals) excluded. Without careful implementation, the policy may unintentionally widen existing inequities in access to mental health care. Therefore, there is a clear need for an independent, public-interest oriented evaluation of the proposed policy that centers the perspectives of people with lived experience accessing mental health care. As such, our aim is to generate primary, community-centric evidence that can be presented to the ministry to directly inform and support policy decision making.
