Marriage and Family Therapist (Readjustment Counselor)

About the role

This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific eligibility requirements per VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment.

Responsibilities

• Screening and Assessment: Work directly with eligible individuals to establish a therapeutic relationship sufficient for completing all required readjustment counseling intake procedures, including an assessment of risk for self-harm and psychosocial functioning. Use this information to identify the presenting clinical focus areas and develop the readjustment counseling service plan.
• Counseling Planning/Goal Setting: Develop and periodically update an individualized readjustment counseling service plan that reflects a course of therapeutic and psychosocial interventions, including identification of achievable goals and measurable outcomes.
• Direct Counseling Service Provision: Implement the individualized counseling plan through an appropriate course of individual, group, couple, and/or family readjustment counseling, maintaining an effective therapeutic relationship with eligible clients.
• Risk Assessment and Crisis Intervention: Apply risk assessment procedures during the initial assessment and periodically throughout the planned course of readjustment counseling, as required and appropriate. For individuals identified from intermediate to high risk, develop a safety plan and provide crisis case management services.
• Care Coordination: Establish and maintain a network of community care relationships, internal and external to VA, to coordinate access to readjustment counseling through community referrals to the Vet Center, and ensure that eligible individuals and/or family members receive the full spectrum of services to support the veteran's readjustment that are outside the scope of readjustment counseling.
• Outreach: Maintain active coordination with Vet Center outreach workers to ensure seamless referral to Vet Center services for those individuals and family members engaged in the community at outreach events that may require follow-up readjustment counseling.
• Team Cohesion and Coordination: Actively participate in Vet Center staff meetings designed to promote team building and staff development through cojoint planning and problem-solving, staff discussion of problematic cases, coaching, and mentoring new hires.
• Documentation/Consultation: Document all clinical interactions with eligible individuals and episodes of care coordination on their behalf as required by RCS policy, and provide consultation services to other staff and community partners.

Qualifications

• Education: Hold a master's degree or doctoral degree in marriage and family therapy from a program approved by COAMFTE, or hold a master's degree or doctoral degree in marriage and family therapy from a MFT program from a regionally accredited institution, or hold a master's degree or doctoral degree in a comparable mental health degree (Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor, Social Work, Psychiatric Nursing, Psychology, and Psychiatry) that meets the current VA qualification standard of that profession.
• Licensure: Must hold a full, current, and unrestricted MFT license to independently practice marriage and family therapy in a State. Exception: The Secretary or his/her designee may waive the licensure requirement for persons who are otherwise qualified, pending completion of State prerequisites for licensure examinations, for a period not to exceed three years from the date of employment, on the condition that MFTs appointed on this basis provide care only under the supervision of a fully licensed MFT with an AAMFT approved license. This exception only applies at the entry grade level (GS-9).

Skills

• Knowledge of human development throughout the lifespan, interventions based on research and family systems theory and therapy, formal diagnostic criteria, risk assessment, evidence-based practice, and assessment tools.
• Ability to assess, with supervision, the psychosocial functioning and needs of Veterans and their family members.
• Knowledge to formulate, implement, and re-evaluate a treatment plan through continuous assessment, identifying the Veteran's challenges, strengths, readiness to change, external influences, and current events surrounding the origins and maintenance of the presenting issue, and interactional patterns within the client system.
• Basic knowledge and understanding of existing relevant statutes, case law, ethical codes, and regulations affecting professional practice of marriage and family therapy.
• Ability to draft documents, manage data, maintain accurate, timely, and thorough clinical documentation, and track quality improvements.
• Ability to provide counseling and/or psychotherapy services, under supervision, to individuals, groups, couples, and families in a culturally competent manner that facilitates change through restructuring and reorganizing the client system.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with Veterans and their families, colleagues, and other professionals in collaboration throughout treatment regarding clinical, ethical, and legal issues and concerns.
• Ability to assist Veterans and their families in making informed decisions relevant to treatment, including limits of confidentiality.
• Ability to provide orientation, training, and consultation to new MFTs, including clinical oversight of MFT graduate students, and/or provide clinical supervision to pre-licensure MFTs.
• Ability to use computer software applications for drafting documents, data management, maintaining accurate, timely, and thorough clinical documentation, and tracking quality improvements.

Benefits

• The position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program.

Pay

• Salary range is determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after review of the EDRP application.

Schedule

• Monday-Friday
  8:00am to 4:30pm - some nights and weekends may be required