Staff Psychologist - RECRUITMENT/RELOCATION INCENTIVE, EDRP AVAILABLE

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 psycho-diagnostic services including assessment and using the most appropriate psychotherapeutic techniques in providing quality care.
• Performs psychological evaluations for Veterans with a range of psychiatric diagnoses and varying levels of cognitive functioning.
• Conducts psychological, cognitive, and neuropsychological assessments as needed.
• Provides psychoeducation to Veterans, family members, and/or caregivers.
• Provides comprehensive, evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions including individual, family, and group psychotherapy.
• Provides consultation to professional staff within the El Paso VAHCS and to community providers concerning clinical assessment findings and appropriate treatment plans for Veterans seen in the Behavioral Health Clinic.
• Develops, implements, and documents the psychotherapeutic treatment plan for an assigned caseload of Veterans, including prompt completion of clinical reminders, case notes and psychological reports.
• Functions independently as a member of the El Paso VAHCS Medical Staff with full clinical privileges. Assumes complete professional responsibility for his/her clinical assessment findings, patient care decisions, and clinical documentation.
• Provides crisis-intervention support as needed for urgent mental health walk-ins.
• Assists the program director or coordinator in the design, development, and implementation of clinical programs for a team of treatment providers.
• Assists the program director or coordinator 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 health care programs to effectively coordinate services.
• Compiles with national and local performance measures, including timely health care screening and completion of clinical reminders for all patients.
• Compiles with all CPRS documentation procedures, including timeliness standards for documentation and proper patient check out procedures (e.g., entering diagnostic and procedure codes).
• Attends and participates in administrative and informational meetings held by the Chief, Behavioral Health Service (or designee) and facility Director.
• Attends regular staff meetings, Medical Staff meetings, and complies with Psychology Service peer review procedures.

Requirements

Open to current, permanent VA and Federal Employees, current or former participants of the VA Health Professions Training (HPT) Program., and U.S. Citizens.

38 U.S.C. 7412 waives the requirement to apply Veterans preference to external applicants for appointments made from this announcement.

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.
• 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:
• Have a doctoral degree in psychology from a graduate program in psychology accredited by American Psychological Association (APA), Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System (PCSAS) or Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) at the time the program was completed. 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).
• 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:
• Re-specialization program must be completed in an APA or a CPA accredited doctoral program;
• 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 internship requirement, provided that such programs were sanctioned by VHA Central Office Program Director for Psychology and 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 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. (NOTE: Once board certified, employee is required to maintain board certification.)
• 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's doctoral program. If the internship experience is not noted on the applicant's official transcript, the applicant must provide a statement from the doctoral program verifying that the equivalent of a one- year supervised internship experience was completed in a site acceptable to the doctoral program.
• 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.