Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health 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. Program Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) & eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after review of the EDRP application. Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply.

Responsibilities

• Provide multiple modalities of direct service readjustment counseling, including individual, couple, group, and family.
• Screening and Assessment: Works directly with eligible individuals to establish a therapeutic relationship sufficient for completing all required readjustment counseling intake procedures to include an assessment of risk for self-harm and psychosocial stressors.
• Counseling Planning/Goal Setting: Based on the outcome of the intake, will develop and periodically update an individualized readjustment counseling service plan that reflects a course of therapeutic and psychosocial interventions, inclusive of outcome measurements.
• Direct Service Provision: Independently implement professional clinical practice applications in the provision of readjustment counseling to individuals, couples, families, and groups.
• Risk Assessment and Crisis Intervention: Above full performance, the individual provides consultation and associated support for staff developing crisis intervention strategies, which includes assessment, safety planning, and complex treatment planning using independent clinical judgment using family systems theory/therapy.
• Care coordination: Links the Veteran with other community services, resources, and opportunities to maximize the Veteran's independence, health, and well-being.
• Outreach: Acts as clinical consultant to the Vet Center outreach workers to improve their sensitivity to clinical indicators and basic interviewing questions to expedite the transition of prospective clients contacted on outreach to actual Vet Center readjustment counseling clients.
• Documentation/Administrative Responsibilities/Consultation: Actively participate in one-to-one clinical and administrative oversight during administrative and clinical staff meetings as directed by the Vet Center Director.
• Clinical Supervision, Consultation, Training, Review and Evaluation: provides clinical consultation services to other staff members with clinical service responsibilities under the supervision of the Vet Center Director. The scope of clinical consultation services will include all aspects of direct readjustment counseling service such as advising on the clinical assessment, service planning, and case coordination with community providers when the individual's needs are beyond the scope of services available at a Vet Center.
• Team cohesion and coordination: Actively participate in staff meetings designed to promote team building and staff development.

Requirements

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 spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, Section A, paragraph 3j.
• Education: You must have 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.

Qualifications

Grade Determinations: Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (LPMHC), GS-12:

• 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.
• 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:
• 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.
• 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.
• Ability to coordinate the delivery of specialized psychosocial services and programs. Ability to design system changes based on data.
• 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.
• Ability to teach, mentor staff and trainees, and provide supervision for licensure or for specialty certifications.
• 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.