Psychologist Primary Care Mental Health Integration (PCMHI)

About the role

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. Program 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.

Responsibilities

• Provides PCMHI services to Veterans who are referred by PACT as potential candidates for mental health/behavioral health services.
• Supports same-day access to mental health services, including crisis intervention, for Veterans as deemed necessary by the service, in person and by telephone and telehealth.
• Makes the clinical decision to enroll Veterans in BHL telephone services for conditions warranting additional attention (e.g., depression monitoring, watchful waiting) and any of a number of dispositions within PC-MHI (e.g., brief therapy, referral management).
• Provides education appropriate to patients with mental and behavioral health concerns, their family members, and significant others.
• Provides comprehensive, evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions (EBP) appropriate to patients, including individual, family, and group psychotherapy (e.g., Motivational Interviewing (Ml) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), etc.) as indicated.
• Provides consultation to PACT staff, other care providers within The VA Medical Center at Memphis, CBOCs, VISN 9 BHL and PCMHI, and to community providers, concerning clinical assessment findings and appropriate treatment plans for patients.
• Develops, implements, and documents all patient care including treatment plans, crisis intervention and suicide risk assessment in CPRS to assure ongoing communication with PACT Teams and VISN 9 BHL.
• May provide clinical supervision and instruction to trainees on rotation in PCMHI.
• Affords assistance to the PACT and other PCMHI providers in the design, development, and implementation of clinical programs for Primary Care Clinics.
• Adheres to operational policies and procedures for the PACT Teams established by the Chief of Primary Care and/or Ambulatory Care Director.
• Affords assistance to the PCMHI and PACT in the execution of ongoing program evaluation and data-driven quality improvement projects to monitor the effectiveness of the clinical program.
• Facilitates liaisons with other care programs (e.g., Homeless Program, Veterans Justice Outreach, specialty mental health, etc) in the VA Medical Center at Memphis in order to effectively coordinate services for PACT patients.

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.

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• Licensure. 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.
• English Language Proficiency. Psychologists must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3j.
• Education:
  • 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.
  • Have 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:
  • (a) The re-specialization program must be completed in an APA or a CPA accredited doctoral program;
  • (b) the specialty in which the applicant is retrained must be consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed.
• 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.