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

The psychologist serves as a staff psychologist for the Addictions Treatment Center at the Northern California Health Care System. The psychologist's primary duties involve providing comprehensive clinical care to Veterans with complex psychosocial needs, including substance use disorders. CLINICAL RESPONSIBILITIES: (1) Provides psychological assessment and diagnostic services for Veterans with a broad range of psychopathology receiving care within the primary care setting, including services for patients with complex psychopathology requiring advanced psycho-diagnostic skills. (2) Demonstrates expertise in using and contemporary interview and psychometric assessment methods for mental disorders and/or behavioral health conditions. (3) Provides education to patients and family members regarding mental disorders and best practices approaches to treatment. (4) Provides evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions as indicated and appropriate for the specific job setting and duties of the psychologist, which may include individual, family, and group psychotherapy and psychoeducation. (5) Provides consultation to health care providers about assessment findings and treatment plan for patients to ensure that care is coordinated, collaborative, and integrated within the Medical Center. (6) Develops, implements, and documents the mental health treatment plan for an assigned caseload of patients, as indicated and appropriate for the specific job setting and duties of the psychologist. (7) Complies with all Service Line documentation requirements, including standards for timely completion of CPRS patient contact notes, use of required documentation templates, clinical reminders, treatment plans, and risk assessment protocols. (8) Adheres to all Facility and Service Line policies and practices for delivering clinical care, including but not limited to risk assessment and reduction practices for potentially dangerous behavior (suicide and violence), timeliness of care and access standards, professional conduct requirements, and CPRS documentation conventions. (9) Achieves minimal clinical workload expectations as established by the Service Line. (10) Assumes independent professional responsibility for their clinical assessment findings, patient care decisions, and documentation ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES (1) Assists the Team Leader and/or Program Director in the design, development, and implementation of clinical assessment and/or intervention programs. (2) Adheres to operational policies and procedures for the treatment team, established by the affiliated Team Leader, Program Director, and/or Service Line Leader. (3) Assists the Team Leader and/or Program Director in the execution of ongoing program evaluation and data-driven quality improvement projects to monitor the effectiveness of the clinical program. (4) Facilitates liaisons with other health care programs in order to effectively coordinate services. (5) Complies with national and local performance measures and facilitates organizational success on these measures at the team level.(6) Complies with all Facility and Service Line policies and expectations concerning administrative practices, including but not limited to leave authorization, responding to Suspense items, and completing TMS educational requirements. EDUCATION AND TRAINING (1) Provides clinical supervision and instruction for psychology trainees (interns and/or postdoctoral fellows) assigned to the primary work setting. (2) Provides clinical supervision and/or training for medical residents, medical students, social work interns, or other trainees not enrolled in a psychology training program. (3) Provides leadership guidance and consultation to unit staff in the area(s) assigned.

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/15/2023. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-09 position, you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-07) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Knowledge of the concepts, principles, and practices of health care delivery systems, including an understanding of the concepts of medical care organizations, organizational behavior, financial management and statistical application; thorough knowledge of the functions, priorities, commitments, polices and program goals of the MC and Service Line to perform a wide variety of interrelated or non-standard procedural assignments and to resolve a wide range of problems; knowledge of a full range of functional areas such as human resources, property/supply management, records management, and related administrative areas in order to ensure compliance with established policies, practices, procedures and controls. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a master's or equivalent graduate degree or two (2) full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree, or LL.B. or J.D. in a related field that demonstrates your ability to perform the duties of this position? NOTE: This education must have been obtained at an accredited college or university. If you select this option, you must submit a copy of your transcript with your application. Education cannot be credited without documentation. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have equivalent percentages of successfully completed graduate-level education (beyond the first year) and specialized experience, as described above, which meet the total experience requirements for this grade level. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify for that grade level. NOTE: The education portion must include graduate courses that demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university. If you select this option, you must submit a copy of your transcript with your application. Education cannot be credited without documentation. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary but includes walking and lifting/carrying files and other light objects. Some overnight travel may be required. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Education

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

[Transcripts must be submitted at time of application. Conferral of degree(s) must be stated on transcript(s). Unofficial transcripts(s) are acceptable].

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
• Email: [email protected]