Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (BHIP)

Eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. Must meet specific eligibility requirements per VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Program Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) & eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after review of EDRP application. Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply.

Incentive Authorized EDUCATION: Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/ . If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/ . RESPONSIBILITIES: The Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (LPMHC) provides clinical psychosocial and Evidence Based Therapies to eligible Veterans and their family members. Incumbent provides direct therapy to individuals, families, couples, and groups in order to treat depression, anxiety, dual diagnosis disorders, PTSD, and other serious psychiatric disorders. The LPMHC will work closely with various Alaska VAHCS programs and behavioral health services to ensure seamless transition of services to Veterans.

Clinical Functions

Complete thorough psychosocial assessments to determine the psychosocial functioning and needs of Veterans and/or their families.

Participate as a member of a BHIP treatment team and actively participate through collaboration with Veterans and family as well as interdisciplinary treatment team members, including but not limited to Psychiatrists, Nurse Practitioners, Psychologists, LPMHCs, Social Workers, RNs, Peer Support Specialists, trainees and Administrative Support staff, in the development and implementation of a treatment plan.

Facilitate discharge planning through collaboration with Veterans and their families as well as interdisciplinary treatment team members to ensure that appropriate discharge plans are executed in a timely manner.

Serve as a liaison between Veterans and/or their families and VA and community resources in order to ensure thorough delivery of services.

Provide consultation and education to Veterans and their families regarding community resources, VA benefits, specialty programs, and advanced directives. This includes the incumbent's knowledge of the process for accessing and/or coordinating community-based services, including information and referral for additional services from other VA programs, other government programs, and community programs.

Provide consultation to other treatment team and staff members regarding psychosocial needs of Veterans and/or their families and the impact of the identified psychosocial problems on the Veteran's health care planning, compliance with treatment, and discharge planning.

Provide case management services to Veterans and their families throughout the continuum of care.

Provide emergency/crisis intervention services to outpatients experiencing acute psychological crises, helping to stabilize these individuals assisting in the referral arrangements for transfer to a psychiatric facility for inpatient care if necessary and providing follow up care as needed.

Administrative Functions

Serve on committees and work groups at the facility as deemed appropriate by the Supervisor and/or Chief of Social Work Services.

Provide assistance with the orientation and learning of less experienced LPMHCs and to serve as a preceptor for counselor trainees/students when appropriate

Work Schedule : 8am - 4:30pm Monday through Friday

Telework : Not Available

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives : Authorized

EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact VHAEDRPProgramSupport@va.gov , the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized QUALIFICATIONS: 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 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.

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 :

Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor, GS-12

Experience, Education, and Licensure. In addition to the basic requirements, candidates must have at least one year of progressively complex LPMHC experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Senior LPMHCs must have five years of post-licensed experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment, demonstrating progressive professional competency and expertise and be licensed to provide clinical supervision to trainees or unlicensed LPMHCs.

Assignments. Senior LPMHCs provide treatment to patients with complex needs including multiple mental health diagnoses, and numerous psychosocial issues, using independent judgment. LPMHCs at this level provide clinical consultation to less experienced staff which may include coordinating crisis situations. Senior LPMHCs will provide clinical supervision to LPMHC staff and/or LPMHC trainees, and may serve as the subject matter expert for the discipline. Senior LPMHCs develop behavioral health related training curriculum and often conduct trainings for clinical staff. LPMHCs model ethical and professional behaviors and standards to include multicultural awareness. Senior LPMHCs meet routinely with interprofessional team members and leadership to communicate about program and patient issues for in depth problem solving. Senior LPMHCs collaborate with internal and external stakeholders and frequently serve as a liaison. This assignment is to be relatively few in number based on the size of the facility/service and applying sound position management. This assignment must represent substantial additional responsibility over and above that required at the full performance grade level and cannot be used as the full performance level of this occupation.

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:

Advanced knowledge of and mastery of theories and modalities used in the specialized treatment of complex mental illness. Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of veteran patients, including making psychosocial and psychiatric diagnoses within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. Ability to determine priority of services needed and provide specialized treatment.

Advanced and expert skill in a range of specialized interventions and treatment modalities for Veterans with complex needs. This includes individual, group, and/or family counseling, or psychotherapy and advanced level psychosocial, and/or case management interventions used in the treatment of Veterans.

Ability to coordinate the delivery of specialized psychosocial services and programs. Ability to design system changes based on data.

Ability to provide subject matter consultation to colleagues and trainees on the psychosocial treatment of patients, rendering professional opinions based on experience, expertise and role modeling effective clinical skills.

Ability to teach, mentor staff and trainees, and provide supervision for licensure or for specialty certifications.

Ability to engage in written and oral communication with leadership/staff and community stakeholders regarding policies, procedures, practice guidelines, and issues pertaining to the practice of the profession

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: Use of fingers; Hearing (aid may be permitted); Emotional and Mental stability;

Environmental Factors : Working closely with others; Working alone; Prolonged Sitting; SALARY: QuantitativeValue EMPLOYMENT TYPE: Other

Salary : $200,000