Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor

The Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor/BHIP-SOS position is located within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Fredericksburg Health Care Center (FHCC) located in Fredericksburg, Virginia, VISN 6. This position is aligned with the Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Program (BHIP) Outpatient Services.

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.
• 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.
• 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 fields include, but are not limited to Addiction Counseling; Community Counseling; Gerontology Counseling; Marital, Couple, and Family Counseling. CACREP defines the date when graduates are considered to have graduated from a CACREP accredited program. Additional information may be obtained from http://www.cacrep.org/directory/. NOTE: Traditional Rehabilitation counseling programs that are accredited by CACREP do not meet the LPMHC qualification standards as Traditional Rehabilitation counseling differs from Clinical Rehabilitation counseling.
• 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. NOTE: It is VHA policy that a LPMHC who does not yet have a license that allows independent practice must be supervised by a licensed independent practitioner of the same discipline who is a VA staff member and who has access to the electronic health record

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: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.

Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor, GS-11 (Full Performance Level)

• 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.
• 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:
  1. Ability to make professional evaluations, decisions, and recommendation for treatment planning and implementation.
  2. Advanced knowledge and mastery of the fundamentals of the counseling process which includes defining patient/family problems and maintaining an effective counseling relationship.
  3. 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.
  4. Ability to provide complex crisis intervention and stabilization to patients who are in psychological distress. Requires independent judgment and skill.
  5. Ability to establish goals/treatment through a collaborative process with the patient utilizing advanced counseling skills, including evidenced- based practices, screening, and psychosocial assessment.
  6. Ability to use a wide variety of individual, group, or family counseling interventions.
  7. 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.
  8. 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:

• At least one year conducting biopsychosocial assessments of patients' needs in a healthcare setting.
• Experience in working with a multidisciplinary treatment team (at least 1 year).
• Experience in providing EBP's (evidenced based psychotherapies).
• At least one year experience working with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, PTSD.
• At least one year experience in electronic medical record documentation of health and behavioral issues.
• Experience working with the Veteran and/or military population.
• Experience working with patients in crisis and facilitating safety planning.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-11.

Physical Requirements: The clinician needs to be mobile in that the job requires: sitting, walking, standing, and bending. This position is primarily sedentary, and requires sitting, walking, standing, and bending. Work is typically performed in an adequately lighted and climate-controlled office and/or home space.

Responsibilities:

This is an OPEN CONTINUOUS ANNOUNCEMENT and will remain open until August 24, 2026. The initial cut-off date for referral of eligible applications will be June 5, 2026. Eligible applications received after that date will be referred at regular intervals.

The Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor provides clinical psychosocial assessments, individual therapy, couples and family therapy, group therapy, and/or may also provide substance use disorder specific services. This position is aligned with the BHIP/Outpatient Services.

Clinical Responsibilities

• Independently performs case finding functions and outreach, identifying and screening patients for psychosocial needs. Possesses the knowledge and ability to independently implement treatment modalities, provide counseling or psychotherapy for individuals, families, and groups.
• Independently conducts psychosocial assessments. Develops treatment plans in collaboration with the Veteran/family and with the interdisciplinary treatment team if applicable. Possesses the skills to offer psychosocial interventions and measures outcomes to interventions.
• Coordinates community-based services, including information and referral for additional services from other VA programs, other government programs and community agency programs.
• Independently identifies high-risk patients and provides crisis intervention services, seeking to address the cause as well as the presenting complaint, coordinates family conferences and serves as liaison to family members. Provides support for those Veterans on the High Risk for Suicide list.
• Has working knowledge and experience in use of mental health diagnosis, disabilities and treatment procedures. This includes acute, chronic and traumatic illness/injuries, common medications and their side effects and medical terminology
• Develops patient education materials/modules and assists with Veteran Peer and Family activities as assigned.
• Independently provides consultation services to other staff regarding the psychosocial needs of Veterans and the impact of psychosocial problems on health care and adherence to treatment plan.

Administrative Responsibilities

• Possesses working knowledge and skill in the use of word-processing, data management and other computer systems, especially those programs in use by VHA.
• Adheres to operational policies and procedures for the treatment team, assigned program and/clinic, Community Based Clinics, and the Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences Service.
• Attends and participates in administrative and informational meetings held by the Program Manager, Service Chief, Chief of Staff, and/or Medical Center Director.
• Remains actively involved in CBOC and MH&BS LPMHC training, education, and administrative activities as indicated.
• Actively participates in and assumes responsibilities associated with committee assignments to include Performance Improvement, Peer Review, and Performance Measures.
• Performs other directly related duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm
Telework: Ad-Hoc
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 000000
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Salary : $85,447