How we check a provider's licence, and what it can't tell you

When you pick someone to talk to about your mental health, you're trusting a title. Psychologist, psychotherapist, social worker, sexologist. You assume the person who uses it has the training and the permit that go with it.

In Québec, that trust has something behind it. Most of these titles are protected by law, and each professional order keeps a public register of its members. The problem is that very few people ever look at it. So on Promptd, we look for you, and we show the result on the credential itself. This post explains what that check means, and just as importantly, what it doesn't.

Why a licence matters in Québec

A professional order exists to protect the public. It decides who can use a title like psychologist or psychoeducator, it sets standards of practice, and it can restrict or remove a permit when something goes wrong.

That's why the permit is worth checking. A person who is a member in good standing of their order has met its requirements and answers to it. If you have a complaint about their practice, you know where to take it.

Where people get stuck

Imagine someone who has finally decided to see a therapist after a hard few months. It's late, they've narrowed it down to three profiles, and one of them says "psychotherapist." They want to make sure that's real.

They search for the order, land on its website, and find the register. It asks for a permit number they don't have, and it looks nothing like the register of the next order they try. One order only lets you search by name. Another lists only some of its members. After twenty minutes, they give up and hope for the best.

This is a common experience. Each order runs its own register, in its own way, and none of them were designed for someone comparing providers at 11 p.m. A lot of people skip the check entirely, not because they don't care, but because it's harder than it should be.

What "Verified" means on Promptd

When a provider adds a credential from a Québec order to their page, we look it up in that order's public register. If the register confirms it, the credential gets a Verified label in the top right corner of its card. Hover over it or tap it to see exactly what we checked.

There are two kinds of checks, depending on what the order's register shows:

• Permit number and name. For the orders whose register lists permit numbers, we confirm that the permit number on the page and the provider's name match the same entry.
• Name only. Some registers list members by name and don't show permit numbers. For those, we confirm the name is listed, and we say so plainly: the permit number wasn't compared.

The label also shows when we last checked. We check every credential again every six months, and whenever the provider edits it. If we can't find a clear match in the register, the credential doesn't get the label.

The label sits on the credential, not on the person. It tells you something about that one licence, as the order lists it.

Which credentials we check

Right now we check credentials from these orders:

• Ordre des travailleurs sociaux et des thérapeutes conjugaux et familiaux du Québec (OTSTCFQ)
• Ordre des psychoéducateurs et psychoéducatrices du Québec (OPPQ)
• Ordre professionnel des sexologues du Québec (OPSQ)
• Ordre des ergothérapeutes du Québec (OEQ)
• Ordre des conseillers et conseillères d'orientation du Québec (OCCOQ), name only
• Ordre professionnel des criminologues du Québec (OPCQ), name only
• Ordre des psychologues du Québec (OPQ), name only, through its public referral directory

Some credentials never get the label, and that's not a warning sign:

• Psychologists who aren't in the OPQ's referral directory. Many psychologists aren't listed there, so we can't confirm them, even when their permit is perfectly valid.
• Supervised credentials. People completing their training under supervision often aren't in the register yet.
• Certifications and training, such as EMDR, which aren't issued by an order.
• Licences from outside Québec, and orders we don't cover yet.

A credential without the label simply hasn't been confirmed by us. It doesn't mean something is wrong with it.

What a check can't tell you

We want to be clear about the limits, because a label like this is easy to read as more than it is.

• We don't check identity. We confirm that a licence with this name and permit exists in the order's register. We don't check ID, so we can't confirm that the person who created the page is the person in the register.
• Registers change between our checks. A permit can be suspended or restricted the day after we look. We check every six months, so the register itself is always the most current source.
• It says nothing about fit or quality. A valid permit means the provider is allowed to practise. It doesn't tell you whether their approach, their personality or their experience suits what you're going through. That part still comes from reading their page, asking questions, and the first session.

Checking for yourself

You don't have to take our word for it. On every credential card, the order's name links to that order's website, where you can search the register yourself. If anything there doesn't match what you see on Promptd, trust the register.

Questions people ask

Why does my provider's credential have no Verified label? Most often, it's from an order or a directory we can't check, or it's a supervised credential or a certification. It doesn't mean the credential is invalid.

Does Verified mean the provider is good? No. It means the order's register confirms the licence. Whether they're the right person for you is a different question.

Do you check that the provider is who they say they are? No. We don't verify identity. We match the licence against the order's public register.

How often do you check? Every six months, and each time the provider changes the credential.

A last word

A licence is a starting point, not a guarantee. We check it so you don't have to dig through seven different registers, and we tell you exactly what we checked so you can decide how much weight to give it.