Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor- General Mental Health

This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific individual eligibility requirements in accordance with VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Program Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) and eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after complete review of the EDRP application.

Qualifications:

***This is an OPEN CONTINUOUS ANNOUNCEMENT and will remain open until December 31, 2025. The initial cut-off date for referral of eligible applications will be August 19th, 2025 with subsequent cut-off dates on the 1st of each month. Eligible applications received after that date will be referred at regular intervals or as additional vacancies occur on an as-needed basis until positions are filled.***

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.

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 chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3g this part).

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

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

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.

GS-11 Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. The candidate must demonstrate all of the KSAs below:

• Ability to make professional evaluations, decisions, and recommendation for treatment planning and implementation.
• Advanced knowledge and mastery of the fundamentals of the counseling process which includes defining patient/family problems and maintaining an effective counseling relationship.
• Ability to provide subject matter consultation to colleagues and trainees on the counseling process within various specialty areas, build on the foundation of competence through regular meetings and discussions to explain assignments, review progress of cases and confer about the counseling perspectives and orientation.
• Ability to provide complex crisis intervention and stabilization to patients who are in psychological distress. Requires independent judgment and skill.
• Ability to establish goals/treatment through a collaborative process with the patient utilizing advanced counseling skills, including evidenced- based practices, screening, and psychosocial assessment.
• Ability to use a wide variety of individual, group, or family counseling interventions.
• Ability to fully utilize the current DSM in making diagnoses and formulation of treatment goals and application of appropriate clinical intervention using professional counseling practices.
• Ability to develop and facilitate psychotherapy and psycho- education groups that include life skills, family support, and community integration. This may include evidence based psychotherapy.

GS 12 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. 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.
2. 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.
3. Ability to coordinate the delivery of specialized psychosocial services and programs. Ability to design system changes based on data.
4. 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.
5. Ability to teach, mentor staff and trainees, and provide supervision for licensure or for specialty certifications.
6. 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.

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 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.

References: VA HANDBOOK 5005/106 PART II APPENDIX G43

Preferred Experience: VA experience preferred. Understanding of Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Program (BHIP) within the VA.

Physical Requirements: Physical demands of the work are generally minor, as the position requires sitting, standing and walking. A high level of self-awareness is essential. Work, divided between office and clinical settings, is primarily sedentary. May require prolonged standing, moderate walking, and manual dexterity. Requires carrying light items, such as books, files, or laptop computer.

Responsibilities:

Clinical Responsibilities:

• Uses the most appropriate psychotherapeutic techniques in providing quality care. Provides a full range of therapeutic interventions including individual, couples/family and/or group psychotherapy using empirically supported approaches (e.g., Motivational Interviewing, Behavioral Activation, CBT, DBT, ACT, Interpersonal Psychotherapy, Problem Solving Therapy, Integrative Behavioral Couples Therapy, CPT, PE, etc.).
• Provides a full range of psychodiagnostics services including psychological assessment. Performs evaluations for wide array of patients representing diverse diagnostic entities.
• Consults with medical center staff on a wide variety of patient care issues.
• Accountable for clinical practice including encountering patient visits, appropriately documenting clinical information and encounters, measuring outcomes to interventions, and meeting productivity standards.
• Completes biopsychosocial assessments, treatment plans, and other clinical documentation are completed timely.
• Educates Veterans and family members regarding relevant mental health and substance use concerns.
• Adheres to facility and national risk management policies for assessment, management, consultation, and documentation related to suicide/homicide risk.
• Complies with all Facility and Service Line documentation requirements including, but not limited to, use of prescribed templates when applicable, timely completion of documentation of assessment, treatment, risk evaluations, and other clinical contacts.
• Adheres to Facility and Service Line policies and practices for delivering clinical care. This includes, but is not limited to, suicide risk reduction practices, timeliness of care and access standards, professional conduct requirements, and CPRS documentation conventions.
• Supports activities of training programs and participates in relevant educational seminars.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8am- 430pm
Compressed/Flexible:May be Authorized
Telework: Yes. This position is authorized for telework - situational (ad hoc) and has NOT been authorized as virtual or remote. Location negotiable may be discussed during the interview process to meet the Return To Office requirement.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 60858-O
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.Contact the VHA.ELRSProgramSupport@va.gov for questions/assistance. Learn more
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Salary : $88,621