Insurance

Every clinician practicing counseling or psychotherapy needs to ensure they are sufficiently covered for potential liability both professional liability (errors and omissions) and commercial general liability. PACCP offers one of the most comprehensive/competitively rated liability insurance programs in the country. This comes as a result of our Association’s qualification standards and favorable loss experience. PACCP offers an excellent policy for a very low premium.

Our policy covers both Professional and General Liability together within one policy. That way the clinician doesn’t have to look at purchasing two separate policies. Our liability insurance limits are $5,000,000 per loss.

Our insurance broker is Ruban Insurance in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The Professional Liability Insurance Program is available to Associate Professional Counsellors (APC), Certified Professional Counsellors (CPC), Certified Professional Counsellor Supervisors (CPCS), and Students who have completed 90% of their coursework and are in good standing with PACCP. Membership with PACCP is required in order to maintain and renew insurance coverage.

While participation is voluntary, all Associate Professional Counsellors (APC), Certified Professional Counsellors (CPC), and Certified Professional Counsellor Supervisors (CPCS) members must be able to provide proof of insurance of equal or greater value than PACCP’s policy in order to maintain membership. So the choices are either enrollment in PACCP’s policy or proof of adequate insurance in order to remain a member in good standing.

The vast majority of Professional Liability Insurance policies are issued on a “claims made” basis as opposed to an “occurrence” basis. Claims-Made Insurance Contracts will respond only to those “Claims Made” during the policy period, subject to the Retroactive date on the Policy. With “Occurrence” type policies, the insurance contract that responds is the policy that was in force when the occurrence took place and not when the claim was made.

The Trisura policy for Professional Liability is broad enough to provide coverage for various telecommunication forms of Counselling anywhere in the world, however, suits must be filed in Canada. If the suit is filed within the U.S. or any other country in the world, this policy will not respond.

Professional Liability Insurance is on an individual counselor basis and not through a Corporation. Accordingly, if a client were to take legal action they would seek to do so against you personally—where you are domiciled.

If the claim is filed in Canada….there is coverage. If the claim is filed in the US or elsewhere…there is no coverage.

As long as the services, provided by means of telecommunication technology, are within the field of personal counseling, then coverage is provided.

Based on PACCP’s policy of “Claims Made”, coverage for the individual counselor ceases when the policy expires. If coverage is not renewed, then the counselor has no insurance protection for any counseling services provided in the previous policy terms.