Clarification from the agency

Open to All U.S. Citizens If you are a current, permanent VA employee or Federal employee from another agency, you should apply CBST-11770292-23-CRA.

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The Staff Psychologist - MHI is fully integrated into the specialty medical clinic team, engaging in a variety of team-based activities, including huddles, meetings, case review, consultation, and education. Direct service delivery occurs via brief, focused interventions, with a large percentage of those being seen via warm handoff within the medical specialty clinic to ensure same day access.

The duties below are described at the full performance level, and may include but not limited to:
Clinical Practice Management:

• Collaborates with Specialty Medical Team members and others as appropriate (e.g. General Mental Health, Primary Care) to support high quality, effective, and coordinated service delivery at the patient and programmatic levels.
• Maintains daily open access slots and encourages same day warm handoffs within the Specialty Medical Clinic
• Completes most individual appointments within 30 minutes.
• Uses Measurement Based Care (MBC) in accordance with nationally recommended guidelines.
• Advances clinic capacity to complete (or coordinate to ensure the completion of) suicide risk assessments and intervention within the Specialty Medical Setting.
• Conducts initial functional assessments that are focused on the main reason(s) for referral and are less extensive than traditional mental health intake evaluations (e.g., 30 minutes vs. 60 or 90 minutes for traditional evaluation).
• Supports Stepped-Care principles to facilitate "on-time, on target" services to Veterans, matching the intensity of services with the level of clinical need
• Refers Veterans with more severe or complex needs to the appropriate general or specialty mental health program
• Provides a full range of psychological interventions consistent with training and expertise, with special emphasis on brief and evidenced-based interventions found to be effective in Specialty Medical Setting.
• Provides time-limited, brief, evidence-based, individual or group interventions (e.g., approximately 1-6 sessions) for a broad range of mental health and health behavior concerns within the Specialty Medical Setting, making exceptions as needed depending on Veteran need and disease-course.

Consultation and Interdisciplinary Team-Based Skills:

• Engages in Specialty Medical Team huddles and meetings to cultivate collaborative team functioning and serves as a subject matter expert for behavioral health considerations.
• Provides education to Special Medical Team on mental health and health behavior issues, as well as tips to promote effective patient communication, motivational enhancement, and behavior change.
• Integrates self into routine workflow of the Special Medical Team and seeks opportunities to offer expertise or direct patient care services to support team-based care.
• Tolerates interruptions, demonstrates flexibility and adaptability, and maintains availability for ad hoc team discussion
• Accepts and encourages same day warm handoffs.
• Routinely provides feedback (verbal and/or written) to team members on the same day as referral.
• Works collaboratively with other team members to ensure high quality, effective, Veteran-centered services at both patient and programmatic levels.
• Within the Special Medical Care setting, raises awareness and understanding regarding the mental and behavioral health impacts and needs often associated with the medical conditions being addressed.
• Assist Specialty Medical Team in streamlining procedures for standard screenings and referrals (e.g., same day warm handoffs).

Academic/Teaching/Training:

• May supervise Psychologist trainees (e.g., predoctoral interns, practicum students and post-doctoral fellows) in accordance with training program policies and accrediting agency requirements
• May provide staff and student didactic training and consultation as requested in content areas of scholarly and/or clinical expertise
• May supervise or train allied health providers in accord with facility and regulatory standards regarding such training Research/ Program Evaluation.
• Actively participates in program evaluation required by the funding initiative for the position, and/or may participate in research activities as approved by supervisor

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8am-430pm (Part Time 20 Hours approximately)
Telework: Not Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 00257F, 00256F, 00255F
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• You may be required to serve a probationary period.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details.

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.
• English Language Proficiency Requirement - Per VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, Section A, Paragraph 3j: No person will be appointed under authority of 38 U.S.C., chapter 73 or 74, to serve in a direct patient-care capacity in VHA who is not proficient in written and spoken English.
• Education Requirement: You must 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. OR Have a doctoral degree in any area of psychology and, in addition, successfully completed a 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; and
  • b) the specialty in which you were retrained is consistent with the assignment you are am applying for;
• OR Have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally-accredited institution, with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature.
• Internship Requirement -You must provide a copy of your transcript, program information and completion date in your resume, or copy of current board certification to receive credit.
• You must 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'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: Candidates must 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. You must provide an unexpired copy to receive credit.
  • Exception: Non-licensed applicants who otherwise meet the eligibility requirements may be given a temporary appointment as a "graduate psychologist" at the GS-11 or GS-12 grade under the authority of 38 U.S.C. 7405 (c)(2)(B) for a period not to exceed two years from the date of employment on the condition that such a psychologist provide care only under the supervision of a psychologist who is licensed. Failure to obtain licensure during that period is justification for termination of the temporary appointment.

May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria).

Grade Determinations:
In additional to meeting the basic requirements as stated above, you must have the following:
GS-11 (Entry Level): None beyond the basic requirements.

GS-12 Level: at least 1 full year of experience as a professional psychologist equivalent to the GS-11 level. Examples of experience include: diagnose mental disorders, conduct psychological or neuropsychological assessments, treat mental disorders through a variety of modalities, provide adjunctive interventions for treatment of medical disorders, and may conduct research. They may be assigned to any program area.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills and Abilities. In addition to the experience, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs in their resume: 1. Knowledge of and ability to apply a wide range of professional psychological treatments or assessment methods to a variety of patient populations; 2. Ability to design and implement effective treatment strategies; 3. Ability to incorporate new clinical procedures; 4. Ability to conduct research activities, such as designing and implementing clinical research projects (staff psychologists with specified research job duties); 5. Ability to perform basic research tasks of scholarship and research execution within the context of an established research team, including research participant relations, research documentation, data acquisition, maintenance, and collaboration.

GS-13 Level: at least 2 addition years of experience, with at least one year equivalent to the GS-12 level, as a professional psychologist that was obtained through employment as a psychologist or through participating in a supervised post-doctoral psychology training program that demonstrates. Example of experience includes: diagnose mental disorders, conduct psychological or neuropsychological assessments, treat mental disorders through a variety of modalities, provide adjunctive interventions for treatment of medical disorders, and may conduct research. 1) active professional practice that was paid/non-paid employment and/or 2) a full, current and unrestricted license. To be creditable, the experience must have required the use of knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics associated with current psychology practice.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills and Abilities. In addition to the experience, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs in their resume:: 1. Knowledge of, and ability to apply, professional psychological treatments to a full range of patient populations. 2. Ability to provide professional advice and consultation in areas related to professional psychology and behavioral health.3. Knowledge of clinical research literature.

Preferred Experience: None

References: VA Handbook Appendix G18 February 7, 2018

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-13. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-11 to GS-13.

Physical Requirements: Light lifting, under 15 pounds; Light carrying, under 15 pounds; Use of fingers; Walking .5 hours; Standing .5 hours; Hearing (aid permitted); Kneeling 1 hours

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, résumé, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.