What can an unregulated wellness practitioner legally do in Ontario?

Ontario regulates health care by activity and title, not by banning unregulated practice outright. Wellness coaches, holistic nutritionists, breathwork facilitators, doulas and many others can operate legally, as long as they stay outside the reserved areas.

What are controlled acts?

Section 27 of the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 lists 14 controlled acts that only authorized regulated professionals, or people acting under a valid delegation or exception, may perform in the course of providing health care services. The ones most relevant to wellness businesses include:

• Communicating a diagnosis, identifying a disease or disorder as the cause of a person’s symptoms, in circumstances where it’s reasonably foreseeable the person will rely on it.
• Performing a procedure on tissue below the dermis or below the surface of a mucous membrane, which captures many cosmetic and needle-based procedures.
• Moving the joints of the spine beyond their usual range of motion using a fast, low amplitude thrust.
• Administering a substance by injection or inhalation.
• Putting an instrument, hand or finger beyond certain body openings.
• Applying or ordering a form of energy prescribed by regulation.
• Prescribing, dispensing, selling or compounding a drug as defined in the Drug and Pharmacies Regulation Act.
• Allergy challenge testing where a positive result is a significant allergic response.
• Treating, by means of psychotherapy technique delivered through a therapeutic relationship, a serious disorder of thought, cognition, mood, emotional regulation, perception or memory that may seriously impair the person’s judgement, insight, behaviour, communication or social functioning.

The others cover setting fractures, prescribing vision devices and hearing aids, dental appliances, and managing labour or delivering a baby. Section 29 sets out exceptions, including first aid, treating a member of your household for some acts, and counselling about emotional, social, educational or spiritual matters, as long as it isn’t a communication that a health profession Act reserves to its members.

What else limits unregulated practitioners?

Rule	What it means
Harm clause, s. 30	No one other than a regulated member acting within their scope may treat or advise a person about their health where it’s reasonably foreseeable that serious bodily harm may result from the treatment or advice, or from an omission from it. There’s an exception for someone acting under the direction of, or in collaboration with, a member within that member’s scope
Titles	Only members of each regulated profession may use its protected titles, such as “dietitian”, “psychotherapist” or “registered mental health therapist”, and use of the title “doctor” in providing or offering health care in Ontario is restricted (s. 33)
Advertising	Claims must not mislead, and disease claims about products are restricted. See what health claims a wellness business can make
Privacy	PIPEDA usually applies to your client records. See privacy for wellness clinics

What does that look like in practice?

Usually fine for an unregulated practitioner	Usually not
General education on sleep, movement, stress and nutrition	Telling a client they have a specific condition
Habit and accountability coaching	Advising a client to stop prescribed medication
Referring a client to a physician or regulated professional	Injections, including cosmetic ones
Selling licensed products within their authorized claims	Calling yourself a dietitian or psychotherapist. “Nutritionist” and “coach” aren’t protected titles in Ontario, but check each profession’s Act for the title you plan to use

How should a wellness business protect itself?

• Write intake forms and client agreements that describe what you do and don’t do, and recommend medical advice for health conditions.
• Train staff on scope, and have a referral process.
• Review website, social and influencer copy for diagnosis and treatment claims.
• If regulated professionals work for you, check their college’s rules on business ownership, advertising and records, which apply to them personally.
• Check your insurance covers the services you offer.

What to do next

We prepare clinic privacy and consent documents and review client and practitioner agreements as a contract review, at fixed fees on our fees page. See also social media and advertising for clinics.

This guide is general information about Ontario and Canadian law, not legal advice for your situation. To talk through your services, book a free 15-minute consult.