Recreation Therapist

Full Job Description

About the Position: This position is located at Naval Medical Center, Defense Health Agency, Defense Health Network Pacific Rim, Directorate of Mental Health within the Psychiatry Division in San Diego, California.

Who May Apply: Only applicants who meet one of the employment authority categories below are eligible to apply for this job.

You will be asked to identify which category or categories you meet, and to provide documents which prove you meet the category or categories you selected.

Current Civilian Employees of the Defense Health Agency (DHA) Current Permanent Department of Defense (DoD) Civilian Employee Domestic Defense Industrial Base/Major Range and Test Facilities Base Civilian Personnel Workforce Executive Order (E.O.) 12721 Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act Military Spouses, under Executive Order (E.O.) 13473 Non-Appropriated Fund Instrumentality (NAFI) Non-Department of Defense (DoD) Transfer People with Disabilities, Schedule A Priority Placement Program, DoD Military Reserve (MR) and National Guard (NG) Technician Eligible Priority Placement Program, DoD Military Spouse Preference (MSP) Eligible Priority Placement Program, DoD MR and NG Preference Eligible Tech Receiving Disability Retirement Priority Placement Program, DoD Retained Grade Preference Eligible Reinstatement Veterans Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA) of 1998 In order to qualify, you must meet the education and/or experience requirements described below.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community; student; social).

You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application.

Additional information about transcripts is in this document.

Basic Requirement for Recreation Therapist: Degree: A Bachelor's or graduate/higher level degree in therapeutic recreation, art therapy, drama therapy, dance therapy, or music therapy from an accrediting program recognized by the U.S.

Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained.

OR Degree: A Bachelor's or graduate/higher level degree in a related field involving therapeutic emphasis or concentration from an accrediting program recognized by the U.S.

Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained that included at least 36 semester hours in therapeutic courses, as described below:(1) 18 semester hours of therapeutic recreation courses; AND(2) 18 semester hours that include a combination of abnormal psychology, physiology, human anatomy and development, disabilities and general recreation.

Exemption: You are exempt from the basic requirements above if you are a current federal employee occupying a position in the 0638 occupational series and have been continuously employed in this occupational series since September 27, 2017 or before.

Note: You will be required to provide appropriate documentation to the respective Human Resources Office to validate your status.

In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below: Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes performing assessments of patients; planning, directing, or coordinating recreation based treatment programs; and documenting patients progress in medical records.

This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the second lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-09). OR Education: Ph.D.

or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position, such as: such as therapeutic recreation, art therapy, drama therapy, dance therapy, or music therapy.

(Note: You must attach a copy of your transcripts.) OR Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%.

To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12.

Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) beyond the second year (total graduate semester hours minus 36) by 18. Add the two percentages.

Time in Grade Requirement: Applicants who have held a General Schedule (GS) position within the last 52 weeks must have 52 weeks of Federal service at the next lower grade or equivalent (GS-09).

Major Duties:

• Manage the Recreation Therapy program for Mental Health services.
• Plan, coordinate and implement activities and specialized groups according to evidenced based practice.
• Participate in multidisciplinary treatment team meetings to evaluate and review the care provided to patients, identify opportunities to improve the care delivered, and recommend treatment and corrective action when problems exist.
• Train and coordinate professional and paraprofessional personnel in the facilitation of group and program activities.
• Develop Continuing Education Unit (CEU) programs for the Psychiatric Care Course and assist facilitating quarterly sessions with the Clinical Educator.