Dr. Michael Drumm:

Our psychological society has advocated for many years now that there would be parity between educational counselling and clinical psychology. The professionally trained psychologists who work should have parity. There is one group that is funded and supported to train but the other is not, which is not fair or right. We have a significant resource issue in psychology and we need as many psychologists as we can get. We have always conceded that there are never enough psychologists in the country and there never will be enough to provide for all the psychological needs of the population. However, it does not have to be all about psychology; we are very generous and happy to share. This can involve clinical nurse specialists, family therapy-trained social workers, play therapists or other nurses. It can involve occupational therapists and social workers, as they all play a part in the intervention for mental health difficulties. It is the same with our colleagues trained in educational and counselling psychology.