Job opening: Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Clinical Team
Salary: $91 753 - 119 280 per year
Published at: Sep 20 2023
Employment Type: Full-time
The Mental Health service line at the VA Cheyenne Health Care System is hiring a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Clinical Team practitioner located in Loveland, CO. This is a multi-discipline position and selections can be made from the following: Senior Social Worker, Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor or Psychologist.
Duties
The incumbent functions as a Senior LPMHC on a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Clinical Team (PCT) in the Mental Health Service Line at the Cheyenne VA Health Care System (CVAHCS). The incumbent has expert knowledge of practice related to PTSD treatment and provides advanced practice clinical services for this specialized population. The incumbent has at least two years of experience post advanced practice clinical licensure of specialized PTSD mental health treatment. One year of this experience must be equivalent to the GS-11 grade level.
Major duties and responsibilities of the position include:
Treatment: Primary functions include but are not limited to trauma assessment and diagnosis and delivery of evidence-based trauma-focused psychotherapies such as Cognitive Processing Therapy, Prolonged Exposure Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing, and/or Written Exposure Therapy.
A. Conducts the appropriate treatment modalities for patients with PTSD and other co-occurring mental health diagnoses.
B. Develops treatment plans, progress notes and other forms of clinical documentation; participates in clinical staffing sessions wherein specific cases are presented and discussed.
C. Makes case presentations to the Interdisciplinary Treatment Teams (IDTT's) when deemed necessary to gain the benefit of specialized expertise involving other highly qualified staff assigned to the MHSL.
D. Plans and carries out a wide range of treatment modalities wherein therapeutic objectives are often multifaceted, and the procedures involved require the applications of highly specialized skills and knowledge relative to trauma, substance abuse and other co-occurring disorders.
E. Is always cognizant of and makes allowances for the appropriate application of therapeutic techniques in situations where the client has special needs such as would be the case with cognitive deficits, illiteracy, racial, ethnic or gender specificity, LGBTQ considerations, and age-related factors or limitations.
F. Conducts assessments and evaluations through the use of standardized assessment instrument, makes diagnoses of PTSD, and produces reports relative to such diagnoses.
G. The incumbent functions as a member of a multidisciplinary treatment team, providing services to patients and families on an outpatient basis. Mature judgment and knowledge of treatment methods to be used are essential for the employee in this position. A close relationship between other programs serving the Veteran is important in this role. Accurate communication of Veteran needs is an integral part of being a member of the multidisciplinary teams.
Referral to Service Providers: Seeks out or responds to requests from eligible Veterans, ascertains their need for PTSD treatment services through a clearly defined assessment process, and informs them of treatment options available to them at the Cheyenne VA Health Care System.
Crisis Intervention: The incumbent will:
A. Interview patients, family, and significant others to obtain pertinent clinical crisis/triage information.
B. Review and summarize pertinent psychosocial information for mental health team members.
C. Record appropriate information in Veteran's chart.
D. Provide supportive counseling in the development and utilization of community resources.
The incumbent will be experienced in making rapid assessments and developing crisis management plans. The incumbent has access to multiple resource directories in addition to previously developed resources to meet the demands of a crisis. In the event of a medical or psychiatric emergency, staff will follow the protocol of the mental health clinic at the VAHCS.
Provides crisis intervention when indicated including evaluation, assessment, triage, initiation of/support in Emergency procedures, and disposition of patients experiencing behavioral health emergencies.
Community Liaison: The incumbent may engage in a variety of community-based outreach activities designed to promote the services provided by the MHSL of this Medical Center.
Performs other related duties as assigned.
Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm
Compressed/Flexible:Available
Telework: Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: PD55849A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required
Qualifications
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.
English Language Proficiency: LPMHCs must be proficient in spoken and written English
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).
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 mental health counseling, which includes diagnosis and treatment.
Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.
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.
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.
References: VA Handbook 5005/42 Part II, Appendix G43
Physical Requirements: Must be able to meet the physical demands of the position, reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. They must have good manual dexterity, must be able to express or exchange ideals by means of spoken and written word. Must be able to view and read information on computer screens.
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 Cheyenne VA Medical Center
2360 East Pershing Boulevard
Cheyenne, WY 82001
US
- Name: Tiffany Mansell
- Phone: 407-631-8640
- Email: [email protected]
Map