Prospective Students
WHAT KIND OF STUDENTS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
We have an absolutely wonderful community full of truly wonderful and authentic people, and our ideal students are people who want to be a part of a very supportive and positive environment, who are always willing to work hard and take their independent study time seriously. United in the passion for the field of Osteopathy.
Please note that this curriculum is not for the faint of heart. It is challenging and rigorous, and will require you to have excellent time management skills and the willingness to face obstacles and overcome them.
Never be afraid to ask your peers, your instructor, or the staff for extra support if you need it. That’s what we’re here for! Come visit us and meet fellow osteopathic students.
CAN I VISIT BEFORE I APPLY?
Yes!
Everyone is welcome to join us for our special sessions, where Eric Sanderson teaches what essentially is a mini class for both currently enrolled students and those who are interested in the school. These sessions are held on Sunday evenings and are also treated like our open house, to give you a look and feel at what it’s like to be a student at our school. During these special sessions we highly encourage you to speak with Eric, or some of our students.
Reservations are not required, but we would appreciate a heads up that you will be attending, so that we can make sure there is a seat for you!
For more information on dates and times of our special sessions, contact us at info@progressiveosteopathy.ca
CAN I SPEAK WITH A CURRENT STUDENT?
Absolutely. We highly encourage it. Please feel free to get in touch at info@progressiveosteopathy.ca and we will connect you to one of our student representatives. WHAT IS THE LENGTH OF THE PROGRAM AND WHAT DEGREE WILL I RECEIVE? The program is a little over 5 years and the length depends on the specialty certificate that you choose. It’s not mandatory to pick a specialty program at the end, but it’s highly recommended. Within the 5 years we are confident that you will become an independent thinker and that it will be safe for you to work with the public as an osteopathic practitioner. We are currently working on the degree that we will be giving students, and will give an update once the decision has been made. HOW OFTEN ARE COURSES HELD? AND HOW MANY TO EXPECT IN A YEAR? In general, there are 9 courses per school year and you will likely attend one a month (some months may have 2) between August and the following June.
We also have some online course material and lots of online resources for your perusal.
Live courses are usually held on Thursdays through Sundays for about 8 hours each day.
WHAT IS THE LENGTH OF THE PROGRAM AND WHAT DEGREE WILL I RECEIVE?
he OAoPO osteopathic program is five years long, including the capstone research project, and currently at the end of the program, successful candidates will receive Diploma of Osteopathy from the Ontario Academy of Progressive Osteopathy, or Dip. Ost. (OAoPO). We don’t promise a pretend degree, in fact only Ontario Universities can confer degrees in this province.
What about Accreditation?
At this time, Osteopathy is an unregulated profession in Ontario, and as such there is no accreditation process in Ontario. The same thing applies to the term ‘licensed’ or ‘recognized’. The use of those terms is meant to deceive the public and potential students. One should be highly skeptical of anyone who calls themselves an ‘Osteopath’, or claims to be licensed or in fact any institution that claims to be accredited or provides accreditation. At this stage, there is no licensing or accreditation process in the province of Ontario, and the only people entitled to use the term ‘Osteopath’ are osteopathic physicians.
Why is the OAoPO program 5 years long?
The OAoPO program is 5 years long because we as an institution are committed to the following:
- Compliance with the WHO and CEN documents on osteopathic training/education.
- Compliance with the CSA Group Standards for Osteopathic Education in Canada.
- Excellence in the capabilities and performance of our graduates.
- A healthy work/life balance during the student’s time at OAoPO.
Why is your program so much longer and more rigorous than the other osteopathic programs?
Our program includes the following areas of study as stipulated in the Canadian Standards, osteopathic education of 1000 hours, clinical studies of 1000 hours, health sciences with some courses at a bachelor level of study and some courses at a Masters level of study. To achieve those hours, and thereby be in compliance with the WHO and CEN documents on osteopathic education, therefore requires at least 2000 hours of in-person osteopathic education. One should note that the hours devoted to writing a thesis or capstone research project, as reinforced in the Canadian Standards, are in addition to the above hours of training and do not count as clinical hours. If one does the math on the above, 2000 hours represents 400 hours per year of in-person education, or the equivalent of ten weeks of full time work. This is in addition to the health sciences education, which for a typical twelve semester course is 120 hours of study. In other words, it is unreasonable to expect students to achieve all of those hours of education and training in under five years, if they are working at all. One should be highly skeptical of any program that promises to meet those standards, in terms of hours of study and academic training, in any time period less than five years. Furthermore, it is important to understand, that the Canadian Standards stipulate that clinical hours require in-person supervision in which the student works with members of the public.
What is the Capstone Research Project, and why is it important?
The capstone research project is an integral part of the World Health Organization’s Benchmarks in Training for Osteopathy, and the CEN document (EN 16686:2015) or European Standards in Osteopathic Education. The capstone project replaces the osteopathic thesis requirement. A capstone project demonstrates maturity in thought process, and independence of reasoning, as well as a depth of knowledge on a specific topic.
It is important because this project demonstrates that the writer has developed critical thinking and osteopathic reasoning representative of a medical professional. Critical thinking and independent reasoning are key attributes of a high level health care professional, and that is the goal of the OAoPO program.
HOW OFTEN ARE COURSES HELD? AND HOW MANY TO EXPECT IN A YEAR?
In general, there are 9 courses per school year, and you will likely attend one a month (some months may have 2) between August and the following June.
We also have some online course material and lots of online resources for your perusal.
Live courses are usually held on Thursdays through Sundays for about 8 hours each day.
What about clinical activities?
There is a regular student clinic, and the student should expect to devote at least 2 full days per month to clinical activities, in order to reach the 1000 hours that are referenced in the WHO, CEN, and Canadian Standards documents. Now it should be noted that we do a partial exemption of some clinical hours dependent on the individual’s previous training. The following list should give the potential student an idea of the exemptions: Physiotherapists/Chiropractors - 450 hours exempted, they are responsible for 550 hours of clinical training. Athletic Therapists/Medical Doctors1/Naturopathic Doctors - 350 Hours exempted, they are responsible for 650 hours of clinical training. Massage Therapists/Nurses*/Acupuncturists** - 250 hours exempted, these students are responsible for 750 hours of clinical training. Occupational Therapists/Kinesiologists/Other Health Care professionals - Exemptions for these persons are on a case-by-case basis.
* This applies to North American Trained practitioners only.
**This applies to Ontario and BC-trained practitioners only, or practitioners licensed to practice in Ontario or BC.
CAN I ATTEND PART-TIME?
If you need to take the program on a part-time basis (5 or fewer courses per year), we can certainly accommodate you. However, please be prepared to practice efficient time management in terms of studying and class participation, and expect that it will likely take longer than 5 years to complete the entire program.
DO YOU ACCEPT INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS?
Yes, and some students will be traveling in from abroad, so there will be a mixture of resident Canadians and people who don’t live in Canada.
CAN I APPLY TO OSAP FOR THIS PROGRAM?
Unfortunately, not at this time.
We recommend taking out a loan or student line of credit, if necessary.
PREPARATORY PROGRAM
The ‘prep’ program is a curated series of open-source digital texts that cover the basic health sciences. The prep program was designed to bridge the gap in education for students who do not have an extensive background in health sciences coming into the full-time OAoPO program. The prep program consists of a series of readings on physics, chemistry, biology, anatomy and physiology. Once they have completed all the readings and associated chapter review questions, the students are given a series of synthesis questions on the material that require single-page responses, which demonstrate that the student has understood the principles and is now prepared for the lecture content of the program. The prep program is designed to assist the learner with developing the appropriate foundation in health sciences and thereby ensure their success in our program.