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Veterans Health Administration is Hiring a Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor Near Leavenworth, KS

Qualifications:

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• Education: Hold a master's or doctoral degree in: Clinical Mental Health Counseling; Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling; Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling; or a related field, from a program accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). Examples of related mental health counseling field include, but are not limited to, Addiction Counseling; Community Counseling; Gerontology Counseling; Marital, Couple, and Family Counseling. A doctoral degree in mental health counseling may not be substituted for the master's degree in mental health counseling. (TRANSCRIPT MUST BE PROVIDED WITH APPLICATION)
• Licensure: Persons hired or reassigned to LPMHC positions in the GS-0183 series in VHA must hold a full, current, and unrestricted license to independently practice as a Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor, which includes diagnosis and treatment.
• English Language Proficiency: LPMHCs must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3.j.

May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria).

Grade Determinations:

GS-11:

• Experience, Education, and Licensure. In addition to the basic requirements, candidates must have at least one year of post-master's or post- doctoral degree mental health counseling experience (VA or non-VA experience) and must be licensed to practice at the independent practice level and demonstrate the KSAs in subparagraph (c) below. LPMHCs may provide clinical supervision over the clinical practice of an unlicensed LPMHC or LPMHC trainee. Some state licenses do not license an individual to provide clinical supervision to trainees or unlicensed LPMHCs. Please refer to specific state licensing laws regarding the requirements for providing clinical supervision.
• Assignments. This is the full performance grade level for LPMHCs. At this level they are licensed to independently practice professional counseling and to provide mental health services within the knowledge, theory, and training foundations of professional counseling.
• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to meeting the KSAs for the GS-9 grade level, the candidate must demonstrate all of the KSAs below:
  • Ability to make professional evaluations, decisions, and recommendation for treatment planning and implementation.
  • Advanced knowledge and mastery of the fundamentals of the counseling process which includes defining patient/family problems and maintaining an effective counseling relationship.
  • Ability to provide subject matter consultation to colleagues and trainees on the counseling process within various specialty areas, build on the foundation of competence through regular meetings and discussions to explain assignments, review progress of cases and confer about the counseling perspectives and orientation.
  • Ability to provide complex crisis intervention and stabilization to patients who are in psychological distress. Requires independent judgment and skill.
  • Ability to establish goals/treatment through a collaborative process with the patient utilizing advanced counseling skills, including evidenced- based practices, screening, and psychosocial assessment.
  • Ability to use a wide variety of individual, group, or familial counseling interventions; demonstrates sensitivity to diversity and possesses multicultural counseling skills.
  • Ability to fully utilize the current DSM in making diagnoses and formulation of treatment goals and application of appropriate clinical intervention using professional counseling practices.
  • Ability to develop and facilitate psychotherapy and psycho- education groups that include life skills, family support, and community integration. This may include evidence based psychotherapy

Preferred Experience: Working in mental health clinics

References: VA Handbook 5005/106 Part II Appendix G43 Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor Qualification Standard dated April 3, 2018.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-11. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-9 to GS-11.

Physical Requirements: Work is sedentary but also demands standing, walking, bending, twisting, and carrying light items.

Responsibilities:

This is an OPEN CONTINUOUS ANNOUNCEMENT and will remain open until September 19, 2024. The initial cut-off date for referral of eligible applications will be October 18, 2023, with subsequent cut-off dates on the 1st of each month. Eligible applications received after that date will be referred at regular intervals or as additional vacancies occur on an as-needed basis until positions are filled.

Applicant Expiration: Applicants will remain active for 3 months after their initial application is received and/or updated. After that time, you must update your application through your USAJobs account if you would like to be made active again for possible consideration during the open period.

The Clinical Care Coordinator will contact Veterans on the phone to triage, conduct measurement-based care, assess for suicide risk, engage in motivational enhancement, and connect Veterans to therapeutic resources. The Clinical Care Coordinator will run reports related to access and appointment availability to use in their work. Building strong relationships with the other clinicians in the program and with the scheduling staff will be a critical component of this job.

The Clinical Care Coordinator will also serve as a same day access provider seeing clients who walk into the clinic in crisis. They will conduct a quick assessment, provide crisis intervention, engage in safety planning, and assist with coordination of future care. The Clinical Care Coordinator will also assist with coverage of group therapy and other clinical appointments as needed to prevent loss of patient care. The Clinical Care Coordinator may have a small panel of individual patients and a few groups per week.

The Clinical Care Coordinator will assist the Mental Health Clinic program manager in ongoing program evaluation and program development projects. They will become familiar with outcome measures and access databases. Additional and/or collateral duties may be assigned by the direct supervisor

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 7:30am-4:00pm
Telework: Ad-hoc, when necessary
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 000000 Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Authorized to highly candidates in accordance with agency policy
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Job Summary