The Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (Senior LPMHC) provides clinical services, as assigned in Mental Health Service at the Veterans Healthcare System of the Ozarks (VHSO) and exercises full professional responsibility to provide effective services.

Duties

The duties of the Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor in the Mental Health Care Line include but are not limited to:

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. The basic requirements for employment as a Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor are prescribed by statue in 38 U.S.C. 7402(b)(11). To qualify for appointment all applicants meet the following: Citizenship: Be a citizen of the United States. Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. English Language Proficiency: Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f). 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. 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. 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. Preferred Experience: Preferred experience with working in MH field. Comfort in providing Mental Health Care through Telehealth modalities. Participation as a member of multi-disciplinary treatment team providing a full range of Mental Health Service to patients. Demonstrates a high level of practice using evidence-based medicine principles involving patients who have complex illnesses. Skilled at multi-tasking, and working under the pressure of multiple responsibilities with deadlines. Excellent customer service skills (internal and external customers). References: VA Handbook 5005/106, Part II, Appendix G43, Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor Qualification Standard GS-0183, April 3, 2018. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-12. You 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). Physical Requirements: Work is sedentary but also demands standing, walking, bending, twisting, and carrying light items. The physical aspects associated with work required of this assignment are typical for the occupation.

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 Fayetteville AR VA Medical Center 1100 North College Avenue Fayetteville, AR 72703 US
• Name: Trudy Begay
• Phone: 505-222-7648
• Email: [email protected]