Job opening: Staff Psychologist - Primary Care Mental Health Integration
Salary: $72 553 - 166 865 per year
Published at: Mar 15 2024
Employment Type: Full-time
Truman VA Medical Center is committed to Diversity and Inclusion. Together, we strive to create and maintain a working and learning environment that promotes professional growth and teamwork. We offer an inclusive, equitable, and welcoming environment where we celebrate our individual differences and unite as a team toward a common goal of providing outstanding service to our Nation's Veterans.
Duties
PCMHI offers assistance to Veterans when habits, behaviors, stress, worry, or emotional concerns about physical or other life problems are interfering with daily life and/or overall health. The collocated collaborative care psychologist is embedded into a primary care clinics located in certain CBOCs to offer functional assessments, brief psychotherapy, and consultation to primary care staff. Within this program, a provider is expected to see a number of comorbid psychological and medical conditions and provide psychological interventions to address both mental health and the behavioral components of physical health, working closely with primary care staff to offer interdisciplinary care to address the whole person.
Duties at the full performance level may include but are not limited to:
Clinical Responsibilities:
Serves as an integral member of the primary care team to provide accessible, integrated, biopsychosocial health care services to patients assigned to the primary care team.
May provide a full range of psychodiagnostic services, including psychological assessment and psychological testing of patients. Selects the optimum battery of tests or procedures to gain the appropriate information in each case.
May oversee the administration and scoring of psychological assessment procedures, interprets and reports the findings of the evaluation in the medical record in a timely fashion, and integrates the findings to inform treatment planning for patients unless opts to use the testing services of the main facility.
Administrative responsibilities:
Assists the Program Manager/Supervisory Psychologist (and/or Senior Psychologist Program Manager) in the design, development, and implementation of clinical programming, and assists Supervisory Psychologist in the execution of ongoing program evaluation and data-driven quality improvement projects to monitor the effectiveness of clinical programming.
The incumbent facilitates liaisons with other health care programs in order to effectively coordinate and improve services.
Regularly attends and actively participates in BMNS Team meetings. Incumbent also attends and participates in administrative and informational meetings held by the Service Line Chief (or designee) and facility Director. The incumbent regularly attends Psychology Service staff meetings, Medical Staff meetings, and complies with Psychology Service peer review procedures. The incumbent may also participate in Behavioral Health and/or hospital committees or work groups, as assigned.
Teaching and Training:
Provides clinical supervision and instruction for psychology practicum students, pre-doctoral interns, and/or post-doctoral fellows, as assigned.
May serve as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Missouri and provide trainings and didactics to psychiatry residents, as appropriate.
May provide in-service training or presentations to other mental health providers, providers within other service lines, and may also be tasked with presenting trainings/didactics to community providers or law enforcement agencies, as appropriate.
Research:
Remains aware of current research by attending professional conferences and by reading professional publications. The incumbent may also present his/her own findings or theories at such conferences and/or in professional publications.
May perform independent research, based on his/her interest and ability and approval of the Program Manager/Supervisory Psychologist (and/or Senior Psychologist Program Manager) and Service Line Chief. The incumbent takes responsibility for the ethical preparation and implementation of his or her research program to be approved by an institutional review board (IRB) and review process.
Other Significant Responsibilities/Truman VA, VISN, National, or University:
1) May serve as the Behavioral Health representative for Truman VA, University of Missouri,
VISN, and/or National committees, workgroups, task forces, as pertains to the incumbent's
position and expertise and as assigned by the Supervisory Psychologist, and/or Service Line
Chief.
These positions are 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.
Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Telework: May be available for certain positions.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
EDRP Authorized: Authorized. Contact
[email protected] for questions. Learn more
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required
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: Must be proficient in both spoken and written English.
Education: Must possess one of the following:
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. For the purpose of meeting this requirement, the term "specialty area" refers to the specific specialty areas recognized by the accrediting body and not to specific job duties that might require special skills. Currently, APA accredits doctoral programs in the specialty areas of clinical psychology, counseling psychology, school psychology, or combinations of two or more of those areas. PCSAS accredits doctoral programs in psychological clinical science. CPA accredits doctoral programs in clinical psychology, counseling psychology, clinical neuropsychology, and school psychology. There are no job assignments in VHA that require the skills of a school psychologist; therefore, an applicant with a degree in the specialty area of school psychology is not eligible for appointment. Strictly for the purpose of determining eligibility for appointment as a psychologist in VHA, there is no distinction between the specialty areas (with the exception of school psychology).. OR
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:
The re-specialization program must be completed in an APA or a CPA accredited doctoral program; and
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; AND
Internships
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: You 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
Exception. Non-licensed applicants who otherwise meet the eligibility requirements may be given a temporary appointment as a "graduate psychologist" at the GS-11 or GS-12 grade under the authority of 38 U.S.C. § 7405 [(c)(2)(B)] for a period not to exceed two years from the date of employment on the condition that such a psychologist provide care only under the supervision of a psychologist who is licensed. Failure to obtain licensure during that period is justification for termination of the temporary appointment.
Grade Determinations:
Grade Determinations:GS-11 (Entry Level) Requirement:
Experience. None beyond the basic requirements.
GS-12 (Developmental Level) Requirements:
Experience. At least one year of experience as a professional psychologist equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-11). Psychologists 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 the experience above, you must demonstrate the following Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
Knowledge of and ability to apply a wide range of professional psychological treatments or assessment methods to a variety of patient populations.
Ability to design and implement effective treatment strategies.
Ability to incorporate new clinical procedures.
Ability to conduct research activities, such as designing and implementing clinical research projects (staff psychologist with specified research job duties).
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 (Full Performance Level) Requirements:
Experience: In addition to meeting the basic requirements, do you possess at least two years of experience as a professional psychologist, with at least one year equivalent to the GS-12 grade level.
In addition to the experience above, you must demonstrate the following Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
Knowledge of, and ability to apply, professional psychological treatments to the full range of patient populations.
Ability to provide professional advice and consultation in areas related to professional psychology and behavioral health.
Knowledge of clinical research literature.
Preferred Experience: 5 or more years of Geriatrics Experience.
References: VA Handbook 5005/103 PART II Appendix G18The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-13. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-11 to GS-13.
Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and 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 Harry S Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital
800 Hospital Drive
Columbia, MO 65201
US
- Name: Rachel Kempker
- Phone: 573-926-9547
- Email: [email protected]