The Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor is assigned to the Mental Health Service at NCHCS and functions as part of an interdisciplinary team. Services are carried out in full accordance with specific program goals and broad objectives of the VA health care system.

Duties

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm; Tour of duty subject to change to meet the needs of the Agency Telework: Available - if approved, would be on a regularly scheduled basis but this is not a remote position. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 000000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Authorized for highly qualified candidates Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required The incumbent will focus primarily on addressing the complex mental health needs of Veterans who often are experiencing a wide range of complicated medical, behavioral health, financial, legal and psychosocial concerns. The incumbent provides advanced evaluation and treatment strategies to the full range of patient problems in his/her work setting, including evidenced based therapies, making psychosocial and psychiatric diagnosis within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. Incumbent employs a high level of skill and expertise to establish and maintain effective therapeutic relationships with Veterans and/or their families. Incumbent is qualified to provide expert advice and consultation to professionals representing a variety of disciplines and is required to exercise independent and expert judgment in the selection of or adaptation of standard and accepted theories, techniques and practices. Responsibilities are focused on providing direct services, as well as consultative and educational activities. Incumbent employs full range of treatment modalities with individuals, couples, families, and groups. Services will generally be provided in the clinic, and under certain circumstances, via telehealth. The incumbent will provide clinical consultation to less experienced staff, will coordinate care including in times of crisis and will serve as the subject matter expert for the discipline. The Senior LPMHC must have five years of post licensure experience demonstrating possession of advanced practice skills and judgment and must be licensed to provide clinical supervision to trainees and unlicensed LPMHCs. Duties of the position include, but are not limited to: Independently provides advanced and specialized services for complex patients with service delivery to include intake evaluation, diagnostic assessments, psychotherapy and patient education. Best practices, practice guidelines and evidence-based treatment protocols are utilized to the extent feasible in all therapeutic interventions. Appropriately assesses and addresses crisis situations, formulates crisis plans, provides crisis interventions and follow up intervention services, developing individualized treatment plans, with particular regard for addressing situations related to harm to self, others or grave disability. May assist in arranging involuntary/voluntary admissions as needed. Develops person-centered, culturally sensitive treatment plans to address the complex mental health needs of patients, with measurable goals outlined. Complies with national and local performance measures, including timely health care screening and completion of clinical reminders for all patients. Attends regularly scheduled treatment team meetings to ensure efficiency and continuity of service delivery to specialized patient populations. Participates as required and requested in orientation, training and staff development programs involving Mental Health and VANCHCS. Assumes responsibility and shows initiative for own learning and professional development, demonstrating the ability to teach and mentor staff and students in the special area of practice and provide supervision for licensure or specialty certification. Timely completion of all clinical charting and documentation required by the Medical Center or healthcare system, as appropriate. Attends trainings sponsored by the VISN, VAMC and other NASW recognized training programs to enhance knowledge, skills and abilities. Other duties as assigned by management.

Requirements

Qualifications

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 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-0101 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: 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. 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. 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, Part II, Appendix G43 The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on 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: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address VA Northern California Health Care System 10535 Hospital Way Mather, CA 95655 US
• Name: Roger Brown
• Phone: (415)221-4810 X24484
• Email: [email protected]