Licensed Professional Mental Health Coordinator (Suicide Prevention)

Full Job Description

The Suicide Prevention Program Coordinator is a Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (LPMHC) who will serve to facilitate implementation of Suicide Prevention strategies at a local level through education, monitoring, and coordination activities.

The primary responsibilities of the Suicide Prevention Program Coordinator include monitoring list of Veterans determined to be at high risk for self-harm, providing education to all front line and clinical staff regarding risk factors.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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, and 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. 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: 1.

In depth knowledge of the program coordinated and demonstrated knowledge and ability to write policies procedures and or practice guidelines for the program. 2.

Ability to make key decisions in the hiring and identification of top candidates. 3.

Ability to provide leadership in facilitating the process of coordinating program consults, assessments, admissions, care assignments and discharges. 4.

Ability to provide subject matter consultation to other colleagues and trainees within the field of counseling working on an interdisciplinary team.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. This position is above the full performance level GS-12.

Physical Requirements: The physical demands of the work are generally minor.

The work is primarily sedentary (1-2 hours) in nature and usually occurs within climate controlled clinical and administrative settings. Use of fingers may be required to operate computers.

There may be occasional light lifting/carrying (15 pounds or less) requirements to relocate boxed materials from one area to another, equipment and room set-up, and ambulation related to physical inspections of the facilities clear speech, hearing, and emotional stability) and environmental factors.

Major Duties:

The Suicide Prevention Program Coordinator develops and implements information systems to track services .The Suicide Prevention Program Coordinator is responsible for data collection and monthly reports on all Veterans who have had a recent suicide attempt and monitors the completion of the Suicide Behavior Report by other providers.

Team and provides the following functions: Responds to consults from the National Veterans Crisis Hotline and coordinates the follow-up care for these Veterans and their families.

Has the responsibility of reviewing all Veterans whose charts have been flagged due to being at risk for self-harm.

Assuring that all Veterans on the facility tracking list are being followed closely by the appropriate provider on a regular basis as determined by the coordinator and the provider.

Initiates flags for Veterans identified as high risk and removes flags for Veterans who no longer meet this criterion according to local policy.

Works with community resources such as the Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs) and other community groups to assure that they are aware of how to recognize Veterans who are at risk for suicide and their options for getting these Veterans immediate assistance.

Develops and implements an ongoing education plan for providers, Veterans, families, and members of the community on risk factors and warning signs for suicide along with treatment options.

Assures that all these Veterans have a 24-hour resource number to call and ways to get assistance if an immediate crisis should occur. Assesses high-risk factors, acuity, and the need for services.

The Suicide Prevention Program Coordinator can serve Veterans who tend to have frequent and severe crises, or an inadequate community support network, those that frequently fail to comply with instructions and treatment or have significant deficits in coping and require continuing professional psychosocial support.

Participates in the assignment of Veterans to treatment teams and programs. Consults with other specialists in planning treatment for Veterans and with comorbidities.

Works collaboratively with each of the mental health teams to ensure appropriate care coordination for Veterans at risk for suicide.

Develops working relationships with other organizations having responsibility for the same patient population. Maintains a current and productive network of referral resources.

Conducts outreach to community-based agencies and provide SAVE Training facility-wide to all staff.

Incumbent provides orientation and on-going training for interdisciplinary team members and conducts staff development programs for Mental Health and Social Work Services.

Takes responsibility for providing opportunities to help staff update their mental health professional practice skills and acquire new knowledge in contemporary treatment modalities.

Incumbent serves as a mentor to other social workers, particularly those at the entry-level and to social work graduate students.

S/he is viewed by social workers and mental health staff as a senior clinician with advanced practice skills and expertise.

Work requires regular and recurring periods of standing, walking, lifting, and accessing transportation and driving a government vehicle.

Work will be performed in a wide range of settings, including within the clinic or within a community-based setting. Work areas may be noisy, irregular, and unpredictable and may be stressful at times.

The Suicide Prevention Program Coordinator is responsible for drafting responses to clinical concerns including Issue Briefs, Action Items, or Congressional Requests.

These responses are written with a high level of expertise and proficiency given the incumbents expert knowledge of mental health diagnosis and the prevention of suicide.

The LPMHC will attend all appropriate staff meetings (Interdisciplinary Treatment Team meetings, Mental Health Services staff meetings, and other meetings as appropriate) and perform other duties as assigned and/or required.

The Suicide Prevention Program Coordinator will fulfill ethical responsibilities to Veterans, colleagues, and VA West Palm Beach Healthcare System in accordance with relevant discipline Code of Ethics, VHA Code of Ethics, and local Ethics policies, which includes, but not limited to, compliance with all laws and regulations related to confidentiality and release of information and protecting Veterans' personal identifying information.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30 pm Telework: Not available Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #: 00000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized