New legislation has been passed to ease the workload of psychologists who are struggling to cope with the impact of gun crime on our communities.Politicians have unanimously approved the Psychological Practitioners Amendment Act 2011 to assist the Island’s 32 qualified psychologists.Health Minister Zane DeSilva, who introduced the second reading of the bill yesterday, said the amendments would tighten up the profession’s code of conduct by checking on qualifications, training and experience.The current restriction on practising based on old age will be scrapped. Going forward the only practising restrictions will be mental and physical health.Mr DeSilva said it was “less than ideal” that psychologists were restricted by old age, especially at a time when more people needed psychological help. OBA MP Grant Gibbons said the legislation was important as there was currently “increased pressure” on the Island’s practising psychologists.Dr Gibbons, who was speaking on behalf of the OBA, said the updates to the Psychological Practitioners Act 1998 were “sensible”.He said: “There’s a shortage of psychologists with little over 30 on the current register. Many of them have their hands full.“We have to support them to help them fulfill a particularly important and critical role at the present time.”UBP MP Charlie Swan said the UBP was “entirely in agreement as well”. He then questioned whether the change in the age restriction would “open the door for those who are retired to rejoin the profession”.PLP Randy Horton called it a “great” piece of legislation and said he was pleased it had attracted lots of support.He said: “The question of age is particularly relevant. Just because you continue on through old age doesn’t necessarily mean that you don’t have that physical or mental capacity.“Some of us know that when you go past a certain level you can still continue at the same level as young people.”Attorney General Michael Scott said within the Department of Corrections there were three psychologists “delivering a very important service to inmates”.He said: “These are professional doctors who try to understand the issues and profiles of people through their concerns.“They say our children are being asked to raise themselves, which almost cuts off their time to enjoy their childhood.“They tackle the stresses and strains of life in our community, they are doing really good work.”Mr DeSilva introduced the legislation’s second reading, saying there were “just a couple of amendments”, calling them “housekeeping changes”.The Act also adds “both practical experience and continuing education credits” to the list of requirements that need to be met by professionals wanting to renew their certificates of registration.This aims to enforce that local psychologists keep up with changes and developments in their field.Members of the Bermuda Psychologists Registration Council will also be paid a fee in accordance with the Government Authorities (Fees) Act 1971. Mr DeSilva said they “put in a huge amount of time” so members deserved to be compensated.Shortly before the new bill was passed, Minister of Youth, Families, Sports and Community Development Glenn Blakeney had praised the work of the Bermuda youth counselling services’ high risk intervention unit.He said they “strengthened and transformed the lives” of those affected by violence through training, mentoring and coaching.Since the high risk intervention unit was set up in 2010, 58 referrals have been received, with 19 referrals received since January this year. They are also helping about 60 additional family members.Mr Blakeney said: “The unit is having a progressive impact on lives that may otherwise be directly or vicariously affected by social issues related to gang affiliation.“The unit takes seriously the strongholds of gang involvement and the emotional pains that break the hearts of Bermuda’s people.”