The Associate Chief of Staff, Behavioral Health will lead a multidisciplinary staff in the delivery of Behavioral Health care to our nation's veterans. The incumbent is responsible for the supervision and management of all Behavior Health Services at the Butler VAMC; this includes all outpatient mental health services at the main facility and all satellite clinics as well as the residential MHRRTP programs and all services and staff housed under Social Work Services and Psychology Services.

Duties

The incumbent will provide executive-level leadership in the establishment and maintenance of high standards of care in all areas. The incumbent must have significant leadership, mentoring, and management experience as well as strong health care operations and planning experience and be able to demonstrate evidence of excellence in teaching and clinical practice. Major Duties include but are not limited to: Assign work to subordinates based on priorities, selective consideration of the difficulty and requirements of assignments, and the capabilities of employees. Develop performance standards. Evaluate work performance of subordinates. Give advice, counsel, or instruction to employees on both work and administrative matters. Interview candidates for positions in the service; recommend appointment, promotion, or reassignment to such positions. Hear and resolve complaints from employees, group grievances and more serious unresolved complaints. Effect disciplinary measures. Identify developmental and training needs of employees, providing or arranging for needed development and training. Find ways to improve production or increase the quality of the work directed. Recommend changes in position management, subject to approval by higher level officials. Finds and implements ways to eliminate or reduce significant bottlenecks and barriers to production, promote team building; and improve business practices. Responsible for the teaching, education, and research programs of Behavioral Health Services. Serves on Medical Center, VISN, and National VA committees or task forces as assigned by Chief of Staff. Represents Behavioral Health Service on decision-making committees at the Medical Center. Actively participates in leadership roles on local, state, and national professional organizations. Represents the Medical Center at professional community group events and committees Provides leadership in new program development. This may include new programs or treatment approaches for inpatients, outpatients, programs based at the Medical Center or the CBOCs, or programs developed in collaboration with community partners or other VA facilities. Is responsible for understanding, monitoring, educating staff about, and with appropriate resources achieving the benchmark goals of the Performance Measures assigned to the Behavioral Health Division. Is responsible for timely completion of all program evaluations and documents required by the Medical Center, VISN, and VACO, ensuring compliance with appropriate accrediting bodies (such as JCAHO) and monitoring entities (such as NEPEC), as appropriate. Consults with others to offer research guidance and to stimulate new research directions. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm Compressed/Flexible:Not Available Telework: Available, Ad-Hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: May be Authorized for Highly Qualified Candidates Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

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. Education: You must have a doctoral degree in psychology from a graduate program in psychology accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA), the Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System (PCSAS), or the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) at the time the program was completed. The specialty area of the degree must be consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed. OR, Have a doctoral degree in any area of psychology and, in addition, successfully completed a re-specialization program meeting both of the following conditions: a) the re-specialization program must be completed in an APA or a CPA accredited doctoral program; and b) the specialty in which the applicant is retrained must be consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed. OR, Have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally-accredited institution, with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature. Internship Requirement: You must have successfully completed a professional psychology internship training program that was accredited by APA or CPA at the time the program was completed and that is consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed. OR, New VHA psychology internship programs that are in the process of applying for APA accreditation are acceptable in fulfillment of the internship requirement, provided that such programs were sanctioned by the VHA Central Office Program Director for Psychology and the VHA Office of Academic Affiliations at the time that the individual was an intern; OR, VHA facilities that offered full-time, one-year pre-doctoral internships prior to PL 96-151 (pre-1979) are considered to be acceptable in fulfillment of the internship requirement; OR, Applicants who completed an internship that was not accredited by APA or CPA at the time the program was completed may be considered eligible for hire only if they are currently board certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology in a specialty area that is consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed. (NOTE: Once board certified, the employee is required to maintain board certification). OR, Applicants who have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally-accredited institution with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature may fulfill this internship requirement by having the equivalent of a one-year supervised internship experience in a site specifically acceptable to the candidate's doctoral program. If the internship experience is not noted on the applicant's official transcript, the applicant must provide a statement from the doctoral program verifying that the equivalent of a one-year supervised internship experience was completed in a site acceptable to the doctoral program. Licensure: Candidates must hold a full, current, and unrestricted license to practice psychology at the doctoral level in a State, Territory or Commonwealth of the United States, or the District of Columbia. Board Certification: Persons hired to psychology positions in the VHA who completed an internship that was not accredited at the time the program was completed must be board certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology in a specialty area that is consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed. The board certificate must be current and the applicant must abide by the certifying body's requirement for continuing education. English Language Proficiency: Psychologists must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3j. Grade Determinations: Psychologist (Service Chief), GS-14: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates: Experience: At least three years of experience as a professional psychologist, with at least one year equivalent to the GS-13 grade level. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: Ability to organize work, set priorities, delegate tasks, and meets multiple deadlines. Knowledge of and ability to utilize evidence based practices and clinical practice guidelines appropriately and ability to guide staff in using these tools. Ability to deal effectively with individuals or groups representing widely divergent backgrounds, interests, and points of view. Skill in managing and directing the work of others to accomplish program goals and objectives. Ability to translate management goals and objectives into well-coordinated and controlled work operations. Ability to establish and monitor production and performance priorities and standards. Ability to analyze organizational and operational problems and to develop and implement solutions that result in sound operation of the program. References: VA HANDBOOK 5005, PART II, APPENDIX G18 The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-14. Physical Requirements: See VA 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 Butler Healthcare 353 North Duffy Road Butler, PA 16001 US
• Name: Ahsha Konate
• Phone: 412-822-1454
• Email: [email protected]