Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor

This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet 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 the EDRP application. Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply.

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: Department Staffing & Scope: The Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (LPMHC) serves as an independent, advanced-practice clinician within the Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program (MH RRTP) at the VA Augusta Health Care System. The incumbent provides expert assessment, evidence-based psychotherapy, and recovery-focused rehabilitation services for Veterans with complex mental health and substance use conditions. Functioning as a key member of an interdisciplinary team, the counselor exercises a high level of autonomy and advanced clinical judgment in treatment planning, crisis management, and program development. The role includes responsibility for conducting suicide and violence risk assessments, developing safety plans, and delivering rapid crisis intervention and de-escalation within the residential environment, ensuring coordinated response and continuity of care following critical incidents. The clinician also provides consultation to team members, supports implementation of recovery-oriented practices, and contributes to integrated care, program improvement, and the overall clinical effectiveness of MH RRTP services.

Major Duties include, but are not limited to:

Provide individualized care management for a specified caseload of Veterans, ensuring continuity of care and improved health outcomes

Conduct comprehensive biopsychosocial assessments and diagnostic evaluations for Veterans with complex clinical presentations.

Provide evidence-based individual and group psychotherapy, including CBT, MI, relapse prevention, and trauma-informed care.

Develop, implement, and revise individualized treatment and rehabilitation plans for residential programming.

Deliver structured and flexible therapeutic programming aligned with MH RRTP rehabilitation goals.

Collaborate with psychiatry, nursing, peer support, and rehabilitation disciplines to ensure integrated clinical care.

Participate in discharge planning, aftercare coordination, community integration support, and relapse-prevention strategies.

Conduct and document suicide and violence risk assessments, develop safety plans, and provide crisis intervention in the residential setting.

Contribute to program development, performance improvement activities, and accreditation-related processes.

Complete timely and compliant documentation per VA policy and professional practice standards.

Adherence to VA policies for documentation, ethics, and professional practice.

Ability to provide developmentally and culturally appropriate care across Veteran age groups.

Compliance with safety, infection control, privacy, and environmental standards.

Work Schedule : 8:00am-4:30pm, Monday-Friday (including some weekends)

Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized.

Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized.

EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact VHA.ELRSProgramSupport@va.gov for questions/assistance. Learn more

Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases.

Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year)

Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.

Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66.

Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA

Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)

Telework: Not Available.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #: 62665F

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

The basic requirements for employment as a LPMHC are prescribed by statute in 38 U.S.C. §7402(b)(11). To qualify for appointment as a LPMHC all applicants must:

Citizenship: Be a citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, Section A, paragraph 3.g.).

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.

Grade Determinations : Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor, GS-12

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

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. 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).

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.

Preferred Experience: A minimum of 2 years of experience in a clinical setting providing psychotherapy.

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 a GS-12.

Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019. SALARY: QuantitativeValue EMPLOYMENT TYPE: Other

Salary : $417