Staff Psychologist-Pain

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 a full range of psychotherapy services including psychological assessments for treatment purposes. Uses the most appropriate techniques in providing quality care to Veterans with chronic pain and co-occurring diagnosis such as Depressive Disorders, Anxiety Disorders, Trauma Disorders and other psychiatric diagnoses as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 5-TR.
• Demonstrates expertise in using contemporary interview and psychometric assessment methods for behavioral health conditions and/or mental disorders.
• Provides evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions for chronic pain as indicated and appropriate for the specific job setting and duties of the psychologist, which may include individual, couples, family, and group psychotherapy and psychoeducation.
• Provides consultation to health care providers about assessment findings and treatment plan for patients to ensure that care is coordinated, collaborative, and integrated within the patient's care team.
• Provides clinical care coordination, as indicated and appropriate, for the specific job setting and duties of the psychologist.
• Complies with all Service Line documentation requirements, including standards for timely completion of CPRS/EMR patient contact notes, use of required documentation templates, clinical reminders, treatment plans, and risk assessment protocols.
• Adheres to all Facility and Service Line policies and practices for delivering clinical care, including but not limited to risk assessment and reduction practices for potentially dangerous behavior (suicide and violence), timeliness of care and access standards, professional conduct requirements, and CPRS/EMR documentation conventions.
• Achieves minimal clinical workload expectations as established by the Service.
• Fully licensed and function independently as a member of the Medical Staff with full clinical privileges. Psychologists at this grade additionally assume independent professional responsibility for their clinical assessment findings, patient care decisions, and documentation.
• Collaborate with the interdisciplinary team on recommended interventions and treatment strategies; provision of behavioral health services; possible provision of mental health services via tele-health modality.
• Provides a full range of psycho-diagnostic services appropriate, which may include structured interviews, behavioral assessments, and standardized psychological evaluation instruments to assess cognitive, emotional or personality factors for treatment purposes.
• Provides the highest quality of care through selecting and applying the most appropriate psychotherapeutic techniques, with an emphasis on evidence-based treatments for chronic pain consistent with practice guidelines.
• Provides evaluations specifically to assess combat-related psychological conditions, the effects of military sexual trauma, and/or to determine the need for evaluation and referral for substance use disorders.
• May provide adjunctive interventions for the treatment of medical disorders, such as those which address stress management, compliance with medical treatments, Whole Health, following an integrated care model.
• As a member of the clinical team, demonstrates leadership qualities that add to a positive work environment and be involved in program evaluation or research activities.

Requirements

The duties of this position include but are not limited to the following:

• Provides a full range of psychotherapy services including psychological assessments for treatment purposes. Uses the most appropriate techniques in providing quality care to Veterans with chronic pain and co-occurring diagnosis such as Depressive Disorders, Anxiety Disorders, Trauma Disorders and other psychiatric diagnoses as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 5-TR.
• Demonstrates expertise in using contemporary interview and psychometric assessment methods for behavioral health conditions and/or mental disorders.
• Provides evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions for chronic pain as indicated and appropriate for the specific job setting and duties of the psychologist, which may include individual, couples, family, and group psychotherapy and psychoeducation.
• Provides consultation to health care providers about assessment findings and treatment plan for patients to ensure that care is coordinated, collaborative, and integrated within the patient's care team.
• Provides clinical care coordination, as indicated and appropriate, for the specific job setting and duties of the psychologist.
• Complies with all Service Line documentation requirements, including standards for timely completion of CPRS/EMR patient contact notes, use of required documentation templates, clinical reminders, treatment plans, and risk assessment protocols.
• Adheres to all Facility and Service Line policies and practices for delivering clinical care, including but not limited to risk assessment and reduction practices for potentially dangerous behavior (suicide and violence), timeliness of care and access standards, professional conduct requirements, and CPRS/EMR documentation conventions.
• Achieves minimal clinical workload expectations as established by the Service.
• Fully licensed and function independently as a member of the Medical Staff with full clinical privileges. Psychologists at this grade additionally assume independent professional responsibility for their clinical assessment findings, patient care decisions, and documentation.
• Collaborate with the interdisciplinary team on recommended interventions and treatment strategies; provision of behavioral health services; possible provision of mental health services via tele-health modality.
• Provides a full range of psycho-diagnostic services appropriate, which may include structured interviews, behavioral assessments, and standardized psychological evaluation instruments to assess cognitive, emotional or personality factors for treatment purposes.
• Provides the highest quality of care through selecting and applying the most appropriate psychotherapeutic techniques, with an emphasis on evidence-based treatments for chronic pain consistent with practice guidelines.
• Provides evaluations specifically to assess combat-related psychological conditions, the effects of military sexual trauma, and/or to determine the need for evaluation and referral for substance use disorders.
• May provide adjunctive interventions for the treatment of medical disorders, such as those which address stress management, compliance with medical treatments, Whole Health, following an integrated care model.
• As a member of the clinical team, demonstrates leadership qualities that add to a positive work environment and be involved in program evaluation or research activities.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Be a citizen of the United States.
• 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. 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 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: 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. NOTE: The applicant must provide an official transcript and/or certificate documenting the completion of the re-specialization program, which includes completion of an APA or CPA internship.
• OR Have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally-accredited institution, with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature.
• AND 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.