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Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ page provides supplementary information to the Continuing Competence Program (CCP) Manual. The complete CCP Manual is availble on the main CCP webpage. These FAQs addresses common CCP questions. Please consult the full CCP Manual if you have additional questions beyond the FAQ. Questions outside the FAQ and CCP Manual may be submitted through the question box at the bottom of the main CCP page.

Throughout this section, "HPA" refers to the Health Professions Act. The HPA can be accessed from the Alberta King's Printer website.

Throughout this section, "CCP" refers to CAP's Continuing Competence Program.

Throughout this section, unless explicity stated, "psychologists" refers to psychologists and provisional psychologists.

CAP CCP Requirements & General Questions

The CCP is intended to foster competence in psychologists.

The CCP provides a structured program for psychologists to actively and regularly pursue new knowledge and skills, alongside wellness and collegial connections, to increase competent up-to-date practice. The CCP represents standardized expectations for Alberta health professionals to demonstrate accountability in their continuing competence efforts.

Requiring psychologists to explicitly demonstrate and track their efforts makes intentions more likely to translate into deliberate activities. We hope that such deliberateness better approximates effective learning and change processes.

For some psychologists, the CCP represents a formal means of declaring advancements in their training and competence in which they have long participated. For others, it represents an opportunity to engage in enhancement activities in more planful and deliberate ways.

CAP’s CCP contains four core categories of continuing competence:

1. Scientifically Supported Professional Knowledge & Practice
2. Ethics & Jurisprudence Knowledge & Practice
3. Professional Engagement
4. Wellness

You must also complete four hours of Indigenous-focused training. This training can be completed in any of the four core categories.

The CCP requires members to complete a minimum of 24 required hours across the first three core categories, 4 of which must be focused on Indigenous cultural safety and humility education and awareness.

Wellness activities are expected but do not require a specific number of hours.

There are three steps to the CCP.

Step 1. Describe your practice (i.e., update your "Practice Profile").
Step 2. Design your continuing competence plan (i.e., set goals).
Step 3. Document your activities (i.e., finalize completed activities and upload supporting documentation).

The CCP is directly tied to the annual practice permit renewal cycle (April 1 - March 31) meaning that CCP activities are completed per year between April 1st and March 31st. CCP plans (i.e., goals) are intially documented between February 1st and March 31st in anticipation of the year ahead (Steps 1 and 2). These plans can then be modified throughout the year, including finalizing completed activities (Step 3). At the end of each renewal year (February 1 - March 31), CCP activities are fully finalized for the previous year (Step 3) and plans are made for the year ahead (Steps 1 and 2). These steps are required so that a member can renew their permit by March 31st.

Participation in the CCP begins at a member's first practice permit renewal (i.e., not when initially granted a permit). The first time a member renews their permit after it is initially granted, that member will complete CCP Steps 1 (Practice Profile update) and 2 (Goal Setting). For all subsequent practice permit renewals, members complete steps 1, 2, and 3 (adding completed activity documentation).

A CEC involves being awarded formal credit for your learning, often through some sort of mechanism (e.g., attendance, quiz completion). CAP is not utilizing a CEC system; instead, members are to count the hours spent on continuing competence activities. Members may choose to access formalized CEC learning opportunities as one of many ways to meet CCP requirements.

There are a variety of ways to document that you participated in or completed an activity. Please see the Supporting Documentation examples here. You may find it helpful to use the Self-Declaration Form to track activities. This form is found in the Resources section of the main CCP webpage.

Yes, members’ CCP activities may be part of expanding one’s professional activities, client groups, and/or branches of psychology. Importantly, the sufficiency of the nature and depth of such activities will depend upon the professional activities, client groups, and/or branches of psychology where proficiency is attempting to be gained. Competency in certain complex professional activities may require more formal in-depth education, training, and supervision than what can be provided through traditional continuing competence activities.

Continuing competence activities need not be expensive. CAP's CCP is intentionally designed to be flexible, and there are many ways to fulfill the requirements at low or no cost (e.g., volunteering, self-study activities, group consultation). Especially because of the option to self-declare activities, the CCP does not require expensive courses or certificates. CAP has designed an easily fillable Self-Declaration Form for this purpose which can be found on the main CCP webpage under Resources.

No. CAP does not require a minimum number of annual practice hours.

The HPA requires regulatory colleges to provide a program for continuing competence and outlines relevant legislation of such programs. Read more here or in the CCP Manual available on the main CCP page.

The HPA requires that continuing competence programs be established within a college's standards of practice. CAP's Standards of Practice can be found here.

This requirement is ongoing, meaning you are currently expected to complete 4 hours per year in this area.

Members are required to keep a personal record of CCP participation and all supporting documentation for a minimum of 10 years. Members can download a PDF of their CCP plan and supporting documents under the "My documents" tab when they are logged in via the MyCAP Login.

Counting CAP Activities

One hour of contact/engagement in a relevant activity counts as one hour toward the required number of hours.

You will simply record how many hours you engaged in an activity.

CAP does not pre-approve activities. Rather, you must use your discretion to determine if:

  • an activity is relevant to professional psychology (and thus to the CCP in general), and if
  • an activity is relevant to a competence area specifically (e.g., to Professional Knowledge & Practice or Ethics & Jurisprudence Knowledge & Practice, and so on).

For more information about and examples of activities, see the Competence Area Examples webpage.

You can provide a variety of supporting documentation to fulfill this component of the CCP. For example, you might provide a receipt for resources you purchased, notes you took during reading or training, or a completed Self-Declaration form (found on the main CCP page). Other examples of supporting documentation can be found here.

All CAP CCP hours must be completed within the same practice permit year (between April 01 and March 31) to count in that year. Members are not able to carry forward or backward continuing competence hours earned outside the practice permit year.

Not usually. You can only count a single hour of continuing competence once, meaning that most CCP activities should be directly related to one CCP area only. Said differently, members should avoid ‘double dipping’ or the appearance of using one activity in multiple CCP areas.

However, if an activity involves more than one competence area (e.g., both Ethics & Jurisprudence Knowledge & Practice and Professional Engagement), that activity can be counted in either category as long as you do not count any hours twice. For example, if you completed eight hours in an activity that fits adequately in each CCP area, you might count four hours of the activity in one area and four hours in another.

In alignment with the HPA and to encourage and foster professional judgment and discretion, CAP intentionally avoided an overly prescriptive program. There is flexibility built into the design in that some activities may fit in more than one area, and as such, members are required to use their judgment as to where to place activities in the final submission. As long as an activity fits in a competence area and the hours are not counted twice, your submission should be acceptable in this regard.

You can complete the mandatory Indigenous training in any of the four competence areas. When adding your completed activities, clearly indicate (in the description) which activities include the mandatory training. Please note that you can split the 4 hours between the competence areas.

You will indicate the area in which you completed your mandatory Indigenous-focused training under the fourth CCP competence area tab entitled "Wellness & Indigenous Training".

Depending on the members’ goals, these hours may fall under Professional Engagement OR Ethics & Jurisprudence Knowledge & Practice, and the competence area chosen would be up to member discretion.

No. Supervision hours are an entrance to practice registration requirement and cannot count toward the CCP.

Yes*. You may count hours that you spend preparing for the LEAP or EPPP as long as these hours legitimately conform to the CCP area requirements. Please see the Competence Area Examples webpage for definitions and examples of each area.

*Please note that this rule changed in April of 2024. These activities did not used to qualify for the CCP.

Yes, non-service delivery hours directly related to continuing education or professional development may be counted toward the CCP. This might include self-directed learning, workshops, consultation groups not counted as supervision, and so on. However, time spent in staff meetings, preparing monthly billing, tracking statistics, and similar are not to be counted as CCP activities.

Please engage earnestly in CCP activities that enhance your competence!

Yes. Supervisors may count these hours in the Professional Engagement competence area. CCP hours related to supervision may be counted regardless of whether they are paid, unpaid, and/or related to employment.

If a supervisor is new to the LEAP examination materials, they are welcome to count orienting themselves to the content and format in the area of Ethics & Jurisprudence. In the spirit of professional growth, they would not claim LEAP-related hours repeatedly each year unless there had been substantive changes to the examination and re-orienting themselves was required.

Yes*. You may count this activity if you believe that it has enhanced your pratice (and was completed during the relevant CCP year). We also encourage you to seek out new opportunities to deepen your ethical and jurisprudence understanding and expertise. Please the Competence Area Examples for ideas.

*Note that this changed in April of 2024.

You may not count your CAP membership as a Professional Engagement activity as it is required (and doesn't in itself automatically indicate professional development activities).

You may count reading the CAP monitor if it corresponds with a CCP area (see the area definitions and examples here). If you count this kind of reading, it's always better to be specific about what you read.

CCP hours may be counted regardless of whether they are paid, unpaid, and/or related to employment.

Hours spent volunteering may count toward the CCP.

If your workplace training is applicable to your psychological practice and to an area of the CCP, you are able to count these hours.

CCP Participation & Exemptions

Yes. Under Section 50 of the HPA, all regulated health professionals in Alberta are expected to participate in a continuing competence program. CAP-regulated members are expected to assess, maintain, and enhance their competence on an annual basis.

Yes. All regulated members are required to participate in the CCP, including those who are provisionally registered. However, participation is initiated during a member's first practice permit renewal period (i.e., not when they are initially registered).

As above: Participation in the CCP begins at a member's first practice permit renewal (i.e., not when initially granted a permit). The first time a member renews their permit after it is initially granted, that member will complete CCP Steps 1 (Practice Profile update) and 2 (Goal Setting). For all subsequent practice permit renewals, members complete steps 1, 2, and 3 (adding completed activity documentation).

The courtesy register is intended as a temporary registration lasting no more than 12 months. Courtesy registrants are not required to participate in CAP’s CCP as they will not be renewing their practice permit or remaining on the general register.

Yes. All regulated members are required to participate in the CCP if they have an active practice permit. CAP recommends that you fully participate in the CCP until you actually retire. This way if you do not retire, there are no consequences and you can do so in good standing. If you choose to reinstate in the future, full participation in the CCP will create fewer barriers for you.

If you cancel your registration with CAP at the time you retire, you may be exempt from that year's CCP. However, if you retire mid-way through the year but do not indicate this to CAP (i.e., formally cancel) until the following renewal period, then participation in that past year's CCP will be required since you remained actively registered throughout the year.

Members on CAP-recognized parental leave are exempt from participating in the CCP. Please see the My Practice Permit webpage for more information.

Health-related leaves of absence are assessed on an individual basis. Please see the CAP CCP Manual ("Exemptions") found on the main Continuing Competence webpage for more information.

All CAP-regulated members must participate in CAP’s CCP. However, CAP will recognize CCP activities across jurisdictions. In other words, there is no need for you to double your professional development efforts per se, although you should check with your other jurisdiction to see what they will accept.

CAP may recognize a member’s CCP activities even if those activities have been used to meet the continuing competence requirements of another body (e.g., employer or other regulated profession) provided that the activity is relevant to professional psychology. For example, attending a trauma and addictions conference may be relevant to more than one regulated health profession. It is the member’s responsibility to confirm that their other regulator allows them to count activities across continuing competence programs.

Exemptions from the CCP may be granted by the CAP Registrar if there are significant extenuating circumstances, such as unanticipated serious personal or health related issues, that interfere with a member’s ability to participate in the program. (Note: travel or busy work schedules will not be reason enough for an exemption.) Please see the CCP Manual ("Exemptions") found on the main Continuing Competence webpage for additional information on how to submit a request. CAP may require members to provide official documentation supporting a request for accommodation and/or exemption.

Failure to complete CCP requirements may result in an inability to renew your practice permit and/or a referral to the Competence Committee or the Complaints Director.

This is because the CCP process is mandatory as per the HPA and CAP enforces this as a part of its primary role of public protection (i.e., ensuring psychologists maintain competence).

CCP Technology

Login to the MyCAP Login, located in the top right corner of the CAP website.

Anytime during the renewal year: Login and click on "My learning" located in the left navigation column. Then, click on the CCP plan year you would like to access.

During renewal time (Feb 01 - Mar 31): After you initiate your renewal (by clicking "Renew" on the homepage), you will see each renewal step, including the CCP plans, laid out at the top of your homepage. This will remain so until you complete your renewal.

Please also see the CCP Technology Tips web page for screenshots of both examples.

For optimal performance, it is likely easiest to work from a desktop computer using the latest Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge browser. Other browsers/platforms will work (e.g., Firefox, Safari) but may not have access to all the features of the member management system. The MyCAP Login and the CCP can also be accessed on your smartphone or tablet.

The MyCAP Login can be accessed at a public computer at a library (be careful of your passwords and do not leave the computer with your work open and unattended).

The system will time out after one hour, so we encourage you to save frequently. If you are working for longer than an hour, the system should still save the data you have entered if you click Save or Next. Clicking between tabs of the CCP (e.g., Professional Knowledge & Practice, etc.) will not save your information.

There is something missing in your form. You will see that some tab headings are red. Click on those and update whatever fields are highlighted in red.

If you still cannot figure out where the errors are, you might wish to have a colleague look over your forms to ensure you are not missing anything. Otherwise, please contact CAP at 780.424.5070.

Some practice permit renewals require CAP approval such as when you change your primary email address, personal address, employer, or when you indicate that you are on parental leave (see more here). If you receive this message when renewing your practice permit, CAP is notified that your renewal form requires our approval or modification which we endeavour to address within three to five business days. You will be notified when your form is approved and you are able to pay.

The CCP forms accept the following file types: doc, pdf, jpg, png.

The practice permit renewal steps are only accessed through the renewal process, which you can access by clicking “Renew” next to your registration status in the portal (between February 1st and March 31st). This will create the “Next” button and take you through subsequent CCP and renewal steps. The steps of your renewal will show at the top of your dashboard in the MyCAP Login after you initiate your renewal and until you complete your renewal.

Members can download a PDF of their CCP plan and supporting documents under the "My documents" tab when they are logged in via the MyCAP Login. Please note that downloading the CCP plan itself does not necessarily include the supporting documents (unless you uploaded images).

Under My documents, your CCP plan will be called "20XX/XX Learning Plan Form" and your supporting documents will be called "Learning Plan Form" and will be stored individually.

First ensure your technology issues are not related to your computer (e.g., browsers, intermittent wifi service) prior to contacting CAP for help. You might also try again at a different time and/or using a different device. If you are seeking technological help, please submit a request for contact through the main CCP webpage noting that you are seeking technological support and describing your issue in detail. Please include screenshots when possible. Note that some requests may require additional technological consultation and your name may be shared with the external consultant to problem solve.

CCP Audits & Evaluation

Yes, your CCP plans are audited on a basic level by the computer (i.e., ensuring that all required fields are filled out). In addition to this, around 20% of members' CCP plans are audited by CAP staff and the Competence Committee each year.

Please see the CAP CCP Manual and the Audit webpage for more information on audits. The CCP Manual is available on the main CCP webpage.

You will be notified (by email) if your CCP plan is selected for the audit. You will be notified again when the results of the audit are complete. If it is determined that additional information or follow-up action is needed, you will be contacted by email and asked to respond within 30 days. When you are notified about being audited, you do not need to do anything until contacted again about the results. Note: you will not be able to view your audit form in your MyCAP Login until the audit is complete.

To ensure you do not miss time-sensitive correspondence that could affect your practice permit, please ensure all of your contact information in the MyCAP Login is accurate and up to date at all times. Also, be sure to check your email regularly, including your junk folder.

When you are notified about being audited, you do not need to do anything until contacted again about the audit results. You will be notified via email when the results of the audit are complete. Please note this could take anywhere from 30-90 business days. CAP will process approximately 1000 CCP learning plans each year, which will take time.

Sometimes members want to be reassured that they were randomly selected for the CCP audit. You need not reach out to us to ask. If you were selected for the audit for a non-random reason, you will already know this based on prior communications with CAP.

The CCP audit will display as “In Progress” with a “View” button, but the audit will not be viewable until the audit is complete. (When you click "View,"  you will receive an error message; don't worry, this is normal! It will be the case regardless of the status: "Submitted," "Sent for Review," or "Corrected").

Results of the audit will be communicated to members in due course and members need not do anything audit-related until that time. 

Please note that you will not be able to renew your practice permit with an open audit form (i.e., with an incomplete or unapproved audit of your CCP plan). It is important that CCP audits are addressed in a timely fashion. Failure to comply with the CCP audit may result in a referral to the Complaints Director under section 51.1 of the Health Professions Act (HPA).

Members can appeal the results of their audit to a new panel of the Competence Committee. This means that if you receive a message to “modify and resubmit” your CCP and you believe that the request is in error (meaning that your CCP should have been accepted as per the CCP Manual and CCP requirements found on the CAP webpages), you may ask for another review by parties other than the original or first reviewer. Please note that you will have to delineate a rationale for why your activities should be evaluated differently than they were and that this rationale must be defensible as per the CCP Manual and/or other CCP information as listed by CAP on our webpages. You may also inquire to guidance@cap.ab.ca with questions about your CCP learning plan or audit results before requesting an appeal.

First, try to think of activities that you completed during the relevant year that would fit. For ideas, you could look at the Competence Area Examples webpage. You may wish to fill out a Self-Declaration Form (available under Resources here) with approximate descriptions, dates, and times of activities you didn't report.

If you didn’t complete any additional relevant CCP activities during the relevant year, you will have to complete them before the resubmission deadline (i.e., within 30 days of receiving the Audit Feedback notice). This will make up for required hours that you missed during the audited CCP year. Simply document the activities and date you completed them in your resubmitted CCP plan and indicate that you completed activities to make up for insufficient hours in the audited year.

Note that you cannot use these new CCP activities for both the past and current year (i.e., no double-dipping).

CAP audits the previous year’s CCP so if you were a member during that year, you are eligible for random selection. This is regardless of if you have since cancelled (e.g., retired) your membership.

Every year that you have an active permit requires your complete and sufficient participation in the CCP for that year. Even if you are retired, you might be audited for a year when you were registered. If your CCP is found to be insufficient and in need of resubmission, we will request that you do so. If you choose not to update and resubmit your CCP, you will not have complied with a registration requirement. If a complaint arises, an incomplete CCP may be taken into account. Furthermore, if you request that your permit be reinstated, you will be required to complete the CCP in arrears (to a maximum of three years, where applicable).

Every year that you have an active permit requires your participation in the CCP for that year. Even if you let your permit lapse and it is subsequently cancelled, you will need to have completed and documented your CCP activities for each year that you were actively registered. This means that if you cancel your permit on April 1 (i.e., the start of the new permit year), it is expected that you have completed and documented your CCP for the previous year. If not, you will not have complied with a registration requirement. If you are audited and your CCP is incomplete, it will not be accepted and we will request that you modify and resubmit your CCP for that year. If you have not completed your CCP and a complaint arises, an incomplete CCP may be taken into account. Furthermore, if you were to request that your permit be reinstated, you would be required to complete the CCP in arrears (to a maximum of three years, where applicable).

There are two basic phases to the audit:

  • First, CCP plans are reviewed/audited by CAP and/or the Competence Committee and nothing is required of the member during this time.
  • Second, once the audit is complete, members will be sent audit results and feedback. During this stage, some CCP plans will require updates and resubmission. Members have 30 days to respond.

If you are away from work (such as vacation or leave), we would suggest making arrangements so that you are still receiving communications from CAP and are able to respond. Although there may be special exemptions made (such as in the case of illness), professional responsibilities such as being contactable by CAP do not cease during vacations or similar. See Standard 22.3 Responding to and Cooperating with the College of Alberta Psychologists for codified requirements in CAP’s Standards of Practice.

Other Questions

Information related to participation in the CCP is confidential. Any person who has access to or comes into possession of such information (including during the audit) shall not publish, release, or disclose the information in any manner except as necessary to carry out powers, duties, and obligations under the HPA. You can read more about this in Section 52 of the HPA.

You can submit an application for committee service that will be reviewed by CAP Council. This includes submitting a short bio, a CV, and the following application. You can submit this to guidance@cap.ab.ca.

The Committee may not always need members, but we welcome your application at any time.

The Competence Committee (CC)is responsible for:

  • considering, informing, and testing the CCP and CCP audit, including proposed enhancements
  • conducting specialized CCP audits on an annual basis
  • improving dissemination of CCP information and promoting a spirit of lifelong learning

 

Please ensure that you have read all CCP information prior to submitting a request for contact through the main CCP webpage. Please provide sufficient detail in your request and what CCP documents you have consulted so that we can best assist you!

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