Through the link below, you will find a new NSBEP Standard. Under the Regulated Health Professions Act (RHPA, 2023) all regulated health professions in Nova Scotia were mandated to develop and implement a Sexual Abuse and Sexual Misconduct Standard by December 3, 2025. A grace period, until January 8, 2025, was later granted for the Sexual Abuse and Sexual Misconduct Standard.
The previous standards relating to sexual misconduct were found in Sections 9.1 to 9.4 of the NSBEP STANDARDS OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT (2007). The Sexual Abuse and Sexual Misconduct Standards now replace those sections. The new standards are generally consistent with the previous standards in the prohibition against intimate relationships with current or former patients (for a minimum of two years following the end of service provision of psychological services, and only in exceptional circumstances after two years). However, the new Standards expand or add to the previous standards with several components made mandatory for all regulated health professions in NS under the RHPA. These include:
· definitions of what constitutes sexual abuse and sexual misconduct,
· requirements that professionals report sexual misconduct to the registrar as well as to another regulatory body or an employer if the registrant has reasonable grounds to believe that a regulated or unregulated employee has engaged in sexual misconduct
· the requirement that Registrants must cooperate with any regulatory body or committee of a regulatory body with respect to any regulatory process related to this standard
· definitions of vulnerable former patient
· whether spouse or intimate partners can be treated as clients
Please review the below Sexual Abuse and Sexual Misconduct Standard in order to be familiar with the requirements of the new standards under the RHPA. The official date of enactment of this Standard is January 8, 2025. This Standard is permanently housed under the Standards section of the NSBEP website. https://www.nsbep.org/information-for-registrants/for-all-registrants/standards-guidelines/
