Incumbent serves as a Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program (RRTP) Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (LPMHC) at the GS-12 level. A Senior LPMHC in the RRTP program has advanced skills for working with veterans who experience chronic homelessness, substance abuse problems and persistent mental illness. This RRTP Program is within the Mental Health Service Line.

Duties

The incumbent will be the senior clinician and will provide support to Admissions, conduct day of admission assessments and other clinical assessments as a part of the admission process. The Admissions Senior Social Worker at VA SORCC RRTP primary responsibilities are to provide initial screening of and treatment recommendations for Veterans who are seeking admission to RRTP, provide brief case management services, provide guidance and consultation to referring providers and Veterans seeking admission to RRTP, act as a subject matter expert regarding VA SORCC RRTP services, the admission process, be knowledgeable regarding community and VA resources and provide continuous quality improvement activities. Duties include but are not limited to: Screening/Assessment: Independently engages in information gathering, problem identification, diagnosis, treatment planning, implementation, evaluation and follow-up. Fully utilizes the current DSM in making diagnoses and formulation of treatment goals and application of appropriate clinical intervention using professional counseling practices. Treatment Planning/Interventions: Independently utilizes a wide variety of individual, group, or family therapeutic interventions. Treatment approaches include but are not limited to cognitive-behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, motivational interviewing, motivational enhancement therapy. Independently conducts psychosocial assessments and biopsychosocials. Develops treatment plans in collaboration with the Veteran/family and with the interdisciplinary treatment team. Incumbent possesses the skills to offer psychosocial interventions and measures outcomes to interventions. Independently identifies high-risk patients. Provides crisis intervention services, seeking to address the cause as well as the presenting complaint, coordinates family conferences and serves as liaison to family members. Participates as part of a multidisciplinary team to provide comprehensive mental health, substance use and psychosocial treatments to Veterans within the RRTP program. Actively participates in treatment planning as well as discharge planning with the entire treatment team. Completes suicide and homicide risk screens and documents these assessments as required by policy. The Senior LPMHC completes comprehensive assessments and collaborative safety plans when clinically indicated. Provides evidence-based treatments to be provided to Veterans individually and in a group format with appropriate documentation and measurement of effectiveness and Veteran response using clinical judgement and standardized assessment instruments. Possesses knowledge and understanding of existing relevant statutes, case laws, ethical codes, and regulations affecting professional practice of counseling. Demonstrates positive communication skills and behaviors that promote cooperation and teamwork with internal and external customers. Complies with all EHRM documentation procedures, including timeliness standards for documentation and proper patient check out procedures (e.g., entering diagnostic and procedure codes). Complies with national and local performance measures, including timely health care screening and completion of clinical reminders for all patients. Provides clinical supervision and instruction for LPMHC staff and/or LPMHC trainees. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 0730-1600 Telework: Ad-hoc only Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 000000/LPMHC Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Authorized 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: 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 as a Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor, which includes diagnosis and treatment. English Language Proficiency: LPMHCs must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3.j. 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). Grade Determinations: Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor, GS-12 (a) 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. (b) Assignments: Senior LPMHCs provide treatment to patients with complex needs including multiple mental health diagnoses, and numerous psychosocial issues, using independent judgment. LPMHCs at this level provide clinical consultation to less experienced staff which may include coordinating crisis situations. Senior LPMHCs will provide clinical supervision to LPMHC staff and/or LPMHC trainees, and may serve as the subject matter expert for the discipline. Senior LPMHCs develop behavioral health related training curriculum and often conduct trainings for clinical staff. LPMHCs model ethical and professional behaviors and standards to include multicultural awareness. Senior LPMHCs meet routinely with inter- professional team members and leadership to communicate about program and patient issues for in depth problem solving. Senior LPMHCs collaborate with internal and external stakeholders and frequently serve as a liaison. This assignment is to be relatively few in number based on the size of the facility/service and applying sound position management. This assignment must represent substantial additional responsibility over and above that required at the full performance grade level and cannot be used as the full performance level of this occupation. (c) 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:1. 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.2. 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.3. Ability to coordinate the delivery of specialized psychosocial services and programs. Ability to design system changes based on data.4. 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.5. Ability to teach, mentor staff and trainees, and provide supervision for licensure or for specialty certifications.6. 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: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required. References: VA HANDBOOK 5005/106 PART II APPENDIX G43 Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required.

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 White City VA Medical Center 8495 Crater Lake Highway White City, OR 97503 US
• Name: Keri Perez
• Phone: 541-440-1000 X40312
• Email: [email protected]