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. 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.

Duties

This full-time Psychologist position is assigned to the Geriatrics and Extended Care (GEC) Service line and is in the Community Living Center (CLC) at the Brockton, MA Campus of VA Boston Healthcare System. The incumbent serves as the Clinical Director/Administrator for CLC mental health services as well as coordinating psychiatry services as needed in Building 8 (Spinal Cord Injury - Long Term Care). The incumbent serves as the mental health point of contact for all related policies and procures in these settings. The duties and responsibilities of the Clinical Director, CLC Mental Health Psychologist include but are not limited to: Mental health assessment and treatment of Veterans on the CLC service in consultation to the CLC medical Staff. Serve as GEC liaison with Mental Health Service. Provide training and education to CLC medical staff regarding basic assessment and management of behavioral and psychiatric symptoms. Manage Mental Health (MH) consult point for CLC, including assigning cases to MH providers. Provide evidence-bases psychological treatment to CLC patients by consultation request. Coordinate care with and/or refers patients to CLC psychiatrist consultants based on clinical need. Serves as MH care liaison between MH inpatient service, Urgent Care MH staff, and CLC medical staff. Provide training and education to CLC clinical staff in the recognition, assessment and management of primary psychiatric and neurocognitive disorders. Manges MH consults point for CLC patients, including review of consultation request and assignment of cases to appropriate providers. Provides clinical supervisor for psychology trainees assigned to the service. Collaborates in treatment planning as needed and appropriate to consultation role. Participates collaboratively in the care of CLC patients, including attending staff and organizational meetings. Works in compliance with local and national performance measures. Completes all clinical charting and documentation require by local and national guidelines. Contributes to implementation of VACO initiatives, as needed or requested. Collaborates with staff from other medical and mental health clinics to resolve issues related to coordination of care and appropriate referral practices. Incumbent will hold an academic appointment at Boston University and/or Harvard Medical School. Provide didactic education and, depending on experience, clinical supervision for a range of MH trainees who conduct direct clinical care. Support research programs that are consistent with the mission of the medical center. Collaborate in the preparation of research presentations, manuscripts, and grant submissions. Work Schedule: Full Time, Monday - Friday; 8am - 4:30pm Telework: Telework Ad-Hoc work can be performed on an as needed basis anywhere other than a VA facility or using VA-leased space Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 523-F06560 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized EDRP Authorized: Contact Karen Chapman, [email protected], the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required Notifications: This is an AFGE bargaining union position. This position is in the Excepted Service. Current or formal Federal employees must submit copies of their most recent SF-50, (Notice of Personnel Action). The SF-50 must identify the position title, series, grade, step, tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). In some cases, more than one SF-50 may be required to show a higher grade previously held. This position is covered by a special salary rate. The incumbent may be required to travel to any Campus within VA Boston Healthcare System.

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. 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 Licensure. 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. Education:(1) 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 (2) Have a doctoral degree in any area of psychology and, in addition, successfully complete a re-specialization program (including documentation of an approved internship completed as part of the 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 (3) Have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally-accredited institution, with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature.] AND 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). NOTE: 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 Grade Determinations: In addition to meeting the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates: GS 11: None beyond the basic requirements. GS-12: To qualify at the GS 12 grade, applicants must meet the basic requirements and have at least one year of experience as a professional psychologist equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-11). Psychologist who are not licensed must practice under the supervision of a licensed psychologist but with less intense supervision than at the GS-11 grade level. In addition to meeting the above, applicants must also demonstrate all of the following KSAs: 1. Knowledge of and ability to apply a wide range of professional psychological treatments or assessment methods to a variety of patient populations. 2. Ability to design and implement effective treatment strategies. 3. Ability to incorporate new clinical procedures. 4. Ability to conduct research activities, such as designing and implementing clinical research projects (staff psychologists with specified research job duties). 5. Ability to perform basic research tasks of scholarship and research execution within the context of an established research team, including research participant relations, research documentation, data acquisition, maintenance, and collaboration. GS-13: To qualify at the GS-13 grade applicants must have at least two years of experience as a professional psychologist, with at least one year equivalent to the GS-12 grade level. Psychology license MUST be submitted with application for this grade. Applicants must also demonstrate all of the following KSAs: 1. Knowledge of, and ability to apply, professional psychological treatments to the full range of patient populations. 2. Ability to provide professional advice and consultation in areas related to professional psychology and behavioral health. 3. Knowledge of clinical research literature. Assignment. This is the full performance level for staff psychologists. At this level, psychologists are licensed to practice independently in the provision of psychological services, consulting with peers and supervisors as appropriate. They may be assigned to any VHA program and setting, such as inpatient or outpatient medicine, primary care, surgery, mental health, neurology, rehabilitation medicine, geriatrics, Compensation and Pension, Vet Centers, and the VHA National Center for Organization Development. Psychologists diagnose mental disorders, conduct psychological or neuropsychological assessments, treat mental disorders through a variety of modalities, and provide adjunctive interventions for treatment of medical disorders. Among the modalities provided are individual, family, and group psychotherapies and other interventions such as behavioral health and community interventions. Psychologists consult with medical center staff on a wide variety of patient care issues. Staff psychologists may be involved in program evaluation, teaching, training, and research activities. References: VA Handbook 5005/103 Part II Appendix G18. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-13. Physical Requirements: The incumbent must be able to always exercise a high degree of emotional and mental discipline to continue to carry out duties effectively. This is especially necessary during time periods when the incumbent encounters significant or extreme duress as a result of interactions with patients.

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 Boston Healthcare System 940 Belmont Street Brockton, MA 02301 US
• Name: Marianne Coutinho
• Phone: 774-826-4812
• Email: [email protected]