Clarification from the agency

This vacancy announcement is open to current, permanent employees of VHA (Veterans Health Administration) only. NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

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Preferred Experience: CPE Educator experience and VA Chaplain experience preferred, ACPE accreditation required; National Faculty preferred. They will have experience with pastoral care in acute and critical care inpatient settings, including the facilitation of goals-of-care conversations. They will know how to help patients and their families discover meaning in their suffering and identify sources of hope. They will also be familiar with Department of Veterans Affairs policies on life-sustaining treatments and informed consent.

Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Serves as a Chaplain professional providing comprehensive, religious ministry services to Veteran patients.
• Provides extended and intensive pastoral counseling.
• Ensures program effectiveness in compliance with all ACPE requirements.
• Manages the daily operations of the CPE Center and develops and implements program policies and procedures.
• Serves as a certified Educator of record for all CPE students for an assigned, designated area.
• Provides administrative oversight and programmatic resources and monitors educational outcomes.
• Offers students an opportunity to develop and expand professional caring skills in a clinical setting to address a person's spiritual, emotional and physical needs; and offers students experience with hands-on spiritual care for patients.
• Advises and collaborates with other members of the interdisciplinary treatment team (IDT).
• Maintains effective rapport with physicians, medical officers, psychologists, nurses, therapists, social workers, or others involved in IDT.
• Leads various complex and sensitive projects, task groups, and assignments to obtain pertinent high-level information needed for Chaplain Service management officials.
• Provides emotional support and counseling using empathy and strong interpersonal skills to effectively connect with people of all ages.
• Ensures various complex assignments are carried out in a pluralistic environment, which encompasses sensitivity to the religious needs of many separate religious denominations and faith groups.
• Conducts rituals before groups of people, which requires effective leadership and public speaking skills.
• Conducts regular rounds of hospital wads where patients are critically ill.
• Provides advanced care planning education, information, and counsel for patients and their families.
• Provides pastoral ministry to patients with respect to their patient's faith group, including conscientious attention during emergencies and crises.
• Engages in group consultative discussions or conferences to provide Chaplain related input to collaborate on the evaluation and review of patient's progress.
• Uses thorough knowledge of different faiths to perform various religious rituals, lead prayers, and answer spiritual questions.
• Provides pastoral counseling on medical and ethical matters.
• Counsels patient with long term health illness to aid in developing and maintaining patience, determination, and perseverance.
• Interacts and maintains cooperative relationships with Medical Center personnel, family, local clergy, individuals, and groups in the community.
• Administers ordinances, rites or sacraments; prepares and delivers sermons; arranges for the atmosphere and symbolism of worship; and conducts funeral services when needed.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

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: Applicants must possess a Master of Divinity degree or equivalent educational qualifications as evidenced by a graduate-level theological degree from a college, university or theological school accredited by a member of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) or Association of Theological Schools (ATS) and recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
• Foreign Education: To be creditable, theological or related education completed outside the U.S. must be submitted to a current affiliate agency of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) listed at https://www.naces.org/members.
• Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE): Applicants must have completed four units of CPE from a CPE center that is accredited by an organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. CPE Educator experience and VA chaplain experience required; ACPE accreditation required; National Faculty preferred.
• Ecclesiastical Endorsement: In accordance with 38 C.F.R. § 17.655, ecclesiastical endorsement is a condition of employment as a VA chaplain. An individual must possess and maintain a full and active ecclesiastical endorsement to be employed as a VA chaplain. Applicants must have an ecclesiastical endorsement, dated within the past 12 months. Ecclesiastical endorsements must be from the official national endorsing authority of the applicant's/employee's faith group or denomination.
• Board Certification: Applicants must be a Board Certified Chaplain certified by the Board of Chaplaincy Certification Inc. (BCCI) ® or nationally recognized certification body that utilizes the BCCI ® Common Qualifications and Competencies for Professional Chaplaincy or a certifying organization that has a reciprocity agreement with BCCI ®.

• Specialty Certification: Specialty certification is demonstrated advanced practice and/or specialization in chaplaincy beyond the board certification and is required for the GS-12 grade level. Specialty certification from a professional chaplain certifying body that is directly related to the assignment is qualifying for a senior chaplain assignment. YOU MUST PROVIDE COPY OF SPECIALTY CERTIFICATION

• Assignment: For all assignments above the journey level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty), range of variety, and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. This assignment is a senior chaplain. Senior chaplain assignments may include serving at a facility in clinical settings where there is limited access to onsite supervision such as small healthcare systems, Community Based Outpatient Clinics, other Federal agencies or satellite outpatient clinics. Senior chaplains typically practice in a specialized program area, that may include intensive and extended pastoral counseling as an integral part of the treatment program, with patients facing complex moral, ethical, or spiritual problems. The senior chaplain may be assigned administrative responsibility to independently develop and implement programs and curriculum. They are accountable for clinical program effectiveness and modification of service patterns, which may include research and leadership of clinical teams. The senior chaplain works with full understanding of its relationship to the objectives of the institution, and to successfully integrate it with the work of the institutional staff, collaborates with and advises the other senior members of the treatment team in the provision of comprehensive healthcare services to Veterans, ensures equity of access, service, and benefits to this population, ensures the care provided is of the highest quality. The senior chaplain provides leadership, direction, orientation, coaching, in-service training, staff development, and continuing education programs for assigned chaplain staff. This assignment is to be relatively few in number based on the size of the facility/service and applying sound position management. This assignment must represent substantial additional responsibility over and above that required at the full performance grade level and should not be used as the full performance level of this occupation.
• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:
  • i. Ability to apply relevant theories and methodologies to their ministry specialty.
  • ii. Ability to integrate specialized psychological and sociological theory with an advanced approach to spiritual care.
  • iii. Skill to seek out primary research and research literature that informs the ministry specialty and one's spiritual care practice.
  • iv. Skill in developing and implementing methods for measuring effectiveness of chaplain practice and services in the specialty area, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services and to design system changes.
  • v. Ability to mediate conflict, hold various emotions and diffuse moral distress among staff and complex crisis situations.
  • vi. Ability to provide specialized consultation, teaching and mentoring to colleagues and students on advanced spiritual care interventions in the service delivery area.
  • vii. Ability to apply advanced clinical knowledge to write policies, procedures and/or practice guidelines pertaining to the service delivery area.

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, resume, 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.