Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/906955
maltatoday SUNDAY 26 NOVEMBER 2017 News 7 TIA RELJIC MALTESE psychologists are fear- ing a new law regulating the pro- fession could actually bar them from being employed to carry out psychotherapy. Both the Chamber of Psycholo- gists (MCP) and the Association of Psychiatry (MAP) raised concerns with this newspaper on the new law. The Chamber says it is par- ticularly concerned by a clause in the law that would bar employers from employing psychologists to do the job of psychotherapy. "This is very strange and it worries us," MCP president Roberta Farrugia Debono said. "We're a profession which has been regulated for many years, with a board which regulates with its own ethics board. But then we found that this law not only regulates the title, but also the practice, which is highly unu- sual [for a law]." While the Chamber was initial- ly in favour of regularising which professional could qualify to call themselves a psychotherapist, the 'unusual' law also regularises what psychologists can and can- not do. The crux of this debate con- cerns the fact that all psycholo- gists are trained in psychotherapy during their professional train- ing. Since their warrants cover what they are allowed to practise, the Chamber says the new law is encroaching on what they are al- ready doing. As Dr Etienne Muscat, presi- dent of the Malta Association of Psychiatry, explained, psycho- therapy is a technique and not a profession in itself. "Psycho- therapy is used broadly in mental health care, and does not belong to any group." Indeed, psychotherapy employs various methods falling in the field of psychology, and practi- tioners of the techniques include mental health professionals such as psychiatrists, psychologists, clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists, or profes- sional counsellors. And, on this basis, Muscat ar- gues that counsellors, therapists, psychologists and social workers all need to be on the same page for the benefit of patients and mental health in the country. "We want an exception in the law to state that psychologists can practise according to their warrant, ideally through a discus- sion involving psychotherapists and the people pushing for this law," Dr Farrugia Debono said. "We are only asking for a minor amendment, which would keep psychotherapists happy without restricting our conduct and prac- tice." The European Federation of Psychologists' Associations (EFPA) is supporting MCP's ob- jections, according to Farrugia Debono, who was in Prague at- tending a council meeting that has the Maltese law on the agen- da as an urgent matter. Even the Maltese Association of Psychiatry (MAP) does not sup- port the new law. MAP president Etienne Muscat said he was not in favour of fracturing the alli- ance between different profes- sionals working in mental health, an alliance he said is a require- ment in the field. "We are worried that the law does not achieve what it has set out to do. It appears that [the law] is not concerned with regu- larising therapists, but with regu- larising psychotherapy." Muscat is concerned that pa- tients might suffer as a result of the law, since it does not take in- to consideration how more com- plex cases might require more specialised methods of care. "When it comes to mental ill- ness, different layers of expertise are required, whereas the focus of the new law is limited to one type of professional," Muscat said. "Regulating which professionals can safely practice is within the scope of law, but it is highly inap- propriate for the law to regulate the practice of psychotherapy. While supporting the efforts to regularise therapists, MAP does not support the new law, for it will control what a professional does. That would be problematic because the law is not appropri- ately versed in the job of a mental health professional." tia.reljic@mediatoday.com.mt 'Psychotherapy' law angers mental health workers Dr Roberta Farrugia Debono Parnis govt messenger admits to €5,000 fraud A messenger employed with par- liamentary secretary Silvio Parnis's private secretariat admitted in court to having defrauded Parnis of €5,000. The 28-year-old man, Keith Felice of Paola (pictured) – a one-time can- vasser for the junior minister – was arraigned yesterday and charged with fraud after Parnis filed a criminal complaint. Felice was hand-picked to work as a messenger inside Parnis's private secretariat for the local government ministry. Felice, who admitted to the charges, used the cash to purchase items from the JB retail outlet in Iklin and then sell them to finance a drug problem. He was also charged with being a re- peat offender. Parnis said Felice was no longer a member of his private secretariat. Felice said he was currently un- employed with no fixed address, having slept rough after his parents turned him out of the family home. Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera sentenced him to jail for three years and recommended he receives treat- ment to deal with his drug problem. She appealed to him to take heed of the consequences of his actions and to reform.