Skip to main content
U.S. flag
Back to results
 

Psychology Technician

Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Health Administration
Hampton VA Medical Center - North Battlefield Campus

Summary

This position is located within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), VA Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network (VISN 6), Hampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center (HVAMC), under the Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences Service Line. This position is aligned with the Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Program/Outpatient Programs (BHIP/Outpatient) and is located at the North Battlefield Campus.

Overview

Help
Accepting applications
Open & closing dates
01/12/2026 to 02/02/2026
Salary
$62,639 to - $81,436 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 9
Location
6 vacancies in the following location:
Chesapeake County, VA
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
No
Travel Required
Not required
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
None
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Financial disclosure
No
Bargaining unit status
No
Announcement number
CBTA-12863922-26-RNL
Control number
854180800

Videos

Duties

Help

Duties include, but may not be limited to the following:

Clinical Support 40%

  1. Serves as the first line of care in the assigned clinic. The incumbent is available to respond to requests from external clinics by collecting information and providing assessments and triage. Discusses best disposition options with multidisciplinary team members and coordinates implementation of treatment recommendation.
  2. Completes psychiatric and physical diagnostic questionnaires.
  3. Maintains clinical records and documentation, ensuring regulatory compliance and compliance with Good Clinical Practices. d. Maintains responsibility for the implementation of the Behavioral Health Laboratory (BHL), working under the guidance of the supervisor or the Team Lead or designee. This will include monitoring patients in BHIP or Outpatient clinics, running relevant reports, and maintaining data.
  4. Organizes and assists in the scheduling of patient appointments as needed. f. Provides psychoeducation to Veterans using standardized individual and group protocols.
  5. Provides care management services to Veterans. This includes coordination with multi-disciplinary team members involved in the patient's care. Supports the LIPs' interventions through methods such as telephone-based support services. May encourage attention to health focused behaviors and treatment adherence.
  6. Completes clinical reminders on patients.
  7. Oversees daily activities of the assigned clinic and facilitates the flow of care.
  8. Develops a working knowledge of various treatment modalities delivered by the clinical staff.
  9. Conducts follow-up interviews and ongoing monitoring of patients' symptomatology utilized structured assessment instruments. This includes gathering information regarding treatment adherence and recognition of emergent needs.
  10. Conducts follow up with patients referred to other clinics or services to motivate attendance to the appointment or aid in stabilization and management of that patient before their appointment.
  11. Organizes group therapy activities.
Psychological Assessment 30%
  1. Completes structured diagnostic and clinical assessments for Veterans.
  2. Performs psychological, neuropsychological, or psychophysiological tests on Veterans referred for examinations. This includes both administration of instruments as well as scoring of said instruments. Provides timely summaries of relevant data collected within the assessment.
  3. Demonstrates and uses knowledge of medical terminology and diagnostic categories in the completion of psychological assessments.
  4. Reviews assessments completed by others and obtains missing information from providers, Veterans, and medical records.
  5. Assists in the training of pre-doctoral psychology interns and other trainees in test administration and scoring.
Triage & Clinical Interviewing 30%
  1. Independently triages patients, identifying immediate needs. Assesses for the safety of patients with timely and appropriate hand-off to licensed independent providers, including providing an entry level suicide risk assessment.
  2. Conducts patient interviews to assist in triaging Veterans to appropriate licensed clinical providers on the assigned team.
  3. Determines appropriate level of care need for patients.
  4. Refers to a variety of clinical options available in the assigned team or throughout the medical center and local community.
  5. Contacts patients through written correspondence and telephone calls, and conducts follow up interviews.

The incumbent performs other directly related duties as assigned.


Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30pm
Telework: Not Authorized
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Psychology Technician/PD000000

Requirements

Help

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
  • 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
  • Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/02/2026.

Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-08. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.

Basic Requirement: The following are basic requirements for appointment as a Psychology Technician in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), which all applicants must met.

  • Basic Education: Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university with a major in an appropriate social or biological science, which included or was supplemented by 12 semester hours in psychology. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED: If you do not submit your transcript, your application may not be reviewed.)
In addition to meeting the basic requirements one of the following minimum requirement criteria must be met to be qualified for this position.

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:
  • Specialized Experience: You must have two (2) year of technical work under the direction of a professional psychologist in a program of professional services, training or research. NOTE: Candidates for grades GS-9 must have had at least 6 months of experience comparable in difficulty and responsibility to the next lower grade (i.e., GS-08) in the Federal service, or 1 year comparable to the second lower grade (i.e., GS-07) in the Federal service. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Experience that involved the observation of and assistance in the application of techniques relating to behavior, capacities, traits, interests, and activities of either humans or, under laboratory conditions, animals. Experience may have been gained in connection with a program of research or direct services in psychology that gave a practical understanding of some of the principles, methods, and techniques of psychology needed to assist professional psychologists.
OR,
  • Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have completed two (2) full years of graduate study in psychology in an accredited college or university. NOTE: One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered as satisfying the 1 year of full-time study requirement. Part-time graduate education is creditable in accordance with its relationship to a year of full-time study at the school attended. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED: If you do not submit your transcript, your application may not be reviewed.)
You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:
  • Interpersonal Skills
  • Psychology
  • Self Management
  • Technical Competence
  • Technology Application
  • Writing


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.

Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

Physical Requirements: The environment involves everyday risks or discomforts that require normal safety precautions typical of such places as offices, meeting and training rooms, libraries, residences, or commercial vehicles, e.g., use of safe work practices with office equipment, avoidance of trips and falls, observance of fire regulations and traffic signals. The work area is adequately lighted, heated, and ventilated.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Education

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/
If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit:
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html
.

Additional information

Receiving Service Credit or Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator.

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

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 WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or contact for an interview. Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

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.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the 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.

Your session is about to expire!

Your USAJOBS session will expire due to inactivity in 8 minutes. Any unsaved data will be lost if you allow the session to expire. Click the button below to continue your session.