Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor - Mental Health RRTP

Full Job Description

This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program.

You 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 the EDRP application.

Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply.

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.

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 3 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.

(TRANSCRIPT MUST BE PROVIDED WITH APPLICATION) 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: 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, 8 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 inter-professional 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.

Preferred Experience: Minimum of one year of experience working in adult residential treatment setting.

Trained in and possesses competency in providing at least two evidence-based treatment interventions. Minimum two years experience providing therapeutic groups.

Experience working with the Veteran population. 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.

Physical Requirements: Physical aspects associated with work required of this assignment are typical for the occupation and would generally not require a pre-placement examination. Major Duties:

Completes screenings, psychosocial assessments, individual and group counseling, treatment plan development and maintenance, discharge planning, case management/treatment coordination, advocacy, education and coordinating linkages with the appropriate VA and community service providers and agencies as needed by current residents participating in the MH-RRTP Programs.

Independently provides clinical psychosocial and case management services at an advanced practice level to eligible Veterans, the Veteran's family, caregiver and/or significant other to meet biological, psychological, social, and environmental needs.

Veterans receiving care from the MH-RRTP program traditionally have complex health care and psychosocial problems and needs, requiring a high degree of clinical oversight and creative problem solving.

Independently interviews Veterans and their family members/significant others to establish facts about the Veteran's situation, presenting problems and their causes, and the impact of such problems on the Veteran's functioning and health as part of a comprehensive psychosocial assessment.

Incumbent has the ability to serve the Veteran, who tends to have frequent and severe crises, lack family or an adequate community support network, be poor at self-monitoring, and frequently fail to comply with instructions and treatment, or have significant deficits in coping skills and require continuing professional psychosocial support.

Incumbent independently evaluates the Veterans situations, including the Veteran's reactions and abilities to deal with those situations, and arrives at a reasonable conclusion.

Using professional judgment and advanced practice skills and based on the psychosocial assessment, to make a psychosocial diagnosis.

Incumbent finds a suitable means of treatment to help Veterans and/or significant others to cope with stressful situations.

The incumbent focuses treatment to help Veterans find practical solutions to problems.

Incumbent is responsible for the development of an appropriate treatment plan for Veterans written in behavioral terms with measurable objectives and concrete interventions including goals for psychosocial clinical treatment.

Incumbent independently concludes the appropriate action, even in instances where actions can have serious impact on the life of the Veteran, including, but not limited to long-term institutional or nursing home care or separation from family members.

Incumbent is responsible for clinical professional counselor practice in the Marion Mental Health-RRTP program including promotion of professional counselors work services as a key component of treatment.

The Incumbent organizes community services on behalf of beneficiaries, developing and coordinating procedures for use of these services by related staff.

Provides clinical supervision for unlicensed professional counselor, professional counselors licensed at the LPC category and for professional counselor associates.

The incumbent is viewed by professional counselor and the interdisciplinary team members as a senior clinician with advanced practice skills and expertise.

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

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact c, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance.

Learn more Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized