This Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (LPMHC) position is located within the Aleda E. Lutz VA Medical Center system. The experienced LPMHC independently provides clinical psychosocial and case management services at an advanced practice level to eligible veterans and their family members to meet their mental health needs. This position includes clinical treatment, advocacy, and linkage with appropriate VA and community service providers/agencies as needed by one of the Veterans.

Duties

Primary Care Mental Health Integration provides same day mental health support within the primary care environment. This position will include brief therapy, crisis response, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Duties include, but are not limited to: Interview's veterans and their family members/significant others to establish facts about the veteran's situation, presenting problems and their causes, and the impact of such problems on the veteran's functioning and health as part of a psychosocial assessment. Refers veterans to Benefits officers. Interprets data using advanced clinical training, insight, and experience. Assesses veterans for symptoms of abuse, follows VA guidelines for reporting. Independently evaluates the client's situation. Develops a preliminary disposition plan involving the veteran and family or significant others. Performs insightful assessment of serious and complicated cases involving psychiatric illness involving psychiatric, catastrophic medical conditions, dementia and other high-risk diagnoses. Uses the initial assessment to determine the veteran's likelihood to accept differing types of assistance or referrals. Effectively uses professional skills when treating antagonistic, indifferent, or evasive veterans and their significant others with both positive and negative reactions. Understands disparate values and reaches veterans and families from different social and ethnic groups. Assists and encourages veterans and significant others in facing problems, thinking them through, evaluating the situation realistically, considering alternative courses of action, and arriving at plans for using resources to resolve problems. Develops working relationships and agreements with other organizations having responsibilities for the same patient population. Maintains a current and productive network of referral resources. Documents independently in the medical records utilizing electronic formats, including psychosocial assessments, diagnostics, treatment, progress notes, follow up, and referral. Other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: 7:30am - 4:00pm Monday - Friday Telework: Available on an ad-hoc basis Virtual: This is not a virtual position Functional Statement #: 92673-0 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

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). 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. Grandfather Provision. All persons employed in VHA in as LPMHC on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the grade held, including positive education and licensure/certification/registration that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation. Grade Determinations. In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor, GS-11 (Full Performance Level) Experience, Education, and Licensure. In addition to the basic requirements, candidates must have at least one year of post-master's or post- doctoral degree mental health counseling experience (VA or non-VA experience) and must be licensed to practice at the independent practice level. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to meeting the KSAs for the GS-9 grade level, the candidate must demonstrate all of the KSAs below: Ability to make professional evaluations, decisions, and recommendation for treatment planning and implementation. Advanced knowledge and mastery of the fundamentals of the counseling process which includes defining patient/family problems and maintaining an effective counseling relationship. Ability to provide subject matter consultation to colleagues and trainees on the counseling process within various specialty areas, build on the foundation of competence through regular meetings and discussions to explain assignments, review progress of cases and confer about the counseling perspectives and orientation. Ability to provide complex crisis intervention and stabilization to patients who are in psychological distress. Requires independent judgment and skill. Ability to establish goals/treatment through a collaborative process with the patient utilizing advanced counseling skills, including evidenced- based practices, screening, and psychosocial assessment. Ability to use a wide variety of individual, group, or familial counseling interventions; demonstrates sensitivity to diversity and possesses multicultural counseling skills. Ability to fully utilize the current DSM in making diagnoses and formulation of treatment goals and application of appropriate clinical intervention using professional counseling practices. Ability to develop and facilitate psychotherapy and psycho- education groups that include life skills, family support, and community integration. This may include evidence based psychotherapy. Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-11. 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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Contacts

• Address Aleda E Lutz Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center 1500 Weiss Street Saginaw, MI 48602 US
• Name: Elizabeth Troiani
• Phone: 407-631-8635
• Email: [email protected]