Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (Program Coordinator)

The position of COMPACT Act Coordinator is assigned to the Office of the Director of the Mental Health Care Line (MHCL). The COMPACT Act Coordinator reports to the Associate Chief of Staff, MHCL, for position specific duties and to the Chief of the Mental Health Care Line for matters which are discipline specific. The COMPACT Act Coordinator consults with the supervisor and colleagues as needed to develop knowledge and apply agency policies and practices.

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. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f).
• 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.

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:

Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (Program Coordinator), GS-12

Experience, Education, and Licensure. In addition to the basic requirements, candidates must have at least one year of progressively complex experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Experience must have been in a major specialty treatment program area such as, but not limited to, Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), mental health intensive case management (MHICM), or other areas of equivalent scope and complexity. Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment, demonstrating progressively more professional competency.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to meeting the KSAs for the GS-11 grade level, the candidate must demonstrate all of the KSAs below:

• In depth knowledge of the program coordinated, and demonstrated knowledge and ability to write policies procedures and or practice guidelines for the program.
• Ability to make key decisions in the hiring and identification of top candidates.
• Ability to provide leadership in facilitating the process of coordinating program consults, assessments, admissions, care assignments, and discharges.
• Ability to provide subject matter consultation to other colleagues and trainees within the field of counseling working on an interdisciplinary team.

Assignments. LPMHC Program Coordinators are administratively responsible for a clinical program and provide treatment to patients in a major specialty. They manage the daily operations of the program, develop policies and procedures, prepare reports and statistics for facility, VISN, and national use. They may supervise unlicensed graduate LPMHCs and may administratively manage any employees assigned to their program.

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-12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-12.

Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.

Responsibilities:

The LPMHC Program Coordinator is responsible for the implementation, coordination, and monitoring of the COMPACT Act at the facility. Assigned duties include:

• Utilize program coordination skills to develop and monitor administrative and clinical plans for Veterans receiving COMPACT Act services
• Oversee daily operations of the program and provides reports and metrics to facility, VISN and VACO as requested
• Capture and analyze local data trends to inform program development and improvement
• Collaborate with local facility revenue and finance departments
• Advocate for Veterans, ensuring they do not receive bills for COMPACT related care
• Provide education and training on COMPACT Act to internal and external stakeholders as the facility subject matter expert
• Review and develop policies, standard operating procedures, practice guidelines for the program
• Coordinate between health care providers and care managers in direct care and community care
• Collaborate with interprofessional teams within the VA healthcare system and community to navigate complex care coordination
• Consult and negotiate across program areas to ensure appropriate resources are secure in a clinically relevant and timely manner
• Coordinate with local Patient Advocate Tracking System - Replacement (PATS-R) COMPACT clinical review teams
• Coordinate with local facility Office of Integrated Veteran Care (IVC) Care Coordinators
• Provides training, education, orientation and guidance on clinical program area
• Provide clinical social work assessment, intervention, treatment and follow-up, using a social determinant of health framework
• Assist with navigation between varying levels of care and conducts comprehensive transition planning
• Utilize designated COMPACT Act templates and coding requirements when documenting in the medical record
• Skill in organizing work, setting priorities, meeting multiple deadlines, and evaluating assigned program area
• Ability to supervise multidisciplinary staff {where appropriate}
• Other duties as assigned

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 7:30am-4:00pm
Telework: Not available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 92117-0
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized

Salary : $93,231