Clarification from the agency

Open to current, permanent employees of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) including Title 38, Hybrid Title 38, and VCS employees covered by VA/OPM Interchange Agreements. This does not include temporary, term, or intermittent appointments. All others will be disqualified and not receive consideration. NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

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The Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor will serve as a Clinical Program Coordinator and is located in the Peer Support Outreach Center (PSOC), in the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL) within the Office of Suicide Prevention (OSP). This position provides clinical oversight to the Peer Support Outreach Center staff.

Major Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Serves as the clinical mental health expert for all staff of the Peer Support Outreach Center (PSOC).
• Provides a full range of clinical, consultative, and support services to the peer support responders.
• Reviews and develops interventions and procedures to ensure best practices for PSOC.
• Act as subject matter expert (SME) to develop standard works, policies and procedures based on best practices.
• Participates actively in staff meetings to provide clinical perspective on operations and topics impacting the call center.
• Keeps up to date on latest best practices in peer support, evidence-based literature and shares this information with staff.
• Provides training to staff on best practices in peer support content.
• Actively engages with peer support experts within VHA and the community.
• Works with leadership and support staff in the design, development, and implementation of clinical interventions to ensure best practice models are in place for callers.
• Conducts program evaluation and analysis for process improvement and program efficiency and effectiveness.
• Assists management in on-going program evaluation activities and data-driven quality improvement projects.

Functional Statement #: Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor/ 07830A
This is not a bargaining unit position.
Work Schedule: Tour of duty is Monday through Friday 1:30pm-10pm EST. Tour is subject to change based on program needs.
Compressed/Flexible Work Schedule: Not authorized.
Remote: This is remote position. Selectees will work 100% of the time in a non-VA-owned space outside of the local commuting area of a parent station. The employee's workspace must be suitable for conducting business and as such, remote employees are expected to provide a secure, distraction-free home-based worksite with reliable high speed internet connectivity. The employee will be required to travel to the closest VA Medical Center or VA Outpatient Clinic for issuance of equipment, and as needed for technical support. Selectees will be required to self-certify that their remote workplace meets all safety, privacy, and internet speed requirements.
Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases.
Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year). Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior [work experience] or military service experience.
Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.
Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66.
Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA.
Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement).
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not required
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

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.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• 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.

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

**NOTE: This position is multi-disciplinary and can be filled by: Staff Psychologist (CBZY-12875505-26-TW) or Marriage and Family Therapist (CBZY-12875506-26-TW) or Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (CBZY-12875507-26-SG) or Social Worker (CBZY-12875508-26-SG). Each discipline is announced separately, and applicants must apply to the announcement for which they are qualified.

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. The basic requirements for employment as a LPMHC are prescribed by statute in 38 U.S.C. §7402(b)(11).

• United States Citizenship: Be a citizen of the United States. Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• English Language Proficiency: Must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Policy.
• Education Requirement: This position requires that candidates possess a master's or doctoral degree in: Clinical Mental Health Counseling; Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling; Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling; or a related field, from a program accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). Examples of related mental health counseling fields include, but are not limited to Addiction Counseling; Community Counseling; Gerontology Counseling; Marital, Couple, and Family Counseling. CACREP defines the date when graduates are considered to have graduated from a CACREP accredited program. Additional information may be obtained from http://www.cacrep.org/directory/. NOTE: Traditional Rehabilitation counseling programs that are accredited by CACREP do not meet the LPMHC qualification standards as Traditional Rehabilitation counseling differs from Clinical Rehabilitation counseling.
• Licensure: Individuals hired or reassigned to LPMHC positions in the GS-0183 series in VHA must hold a full, current, and unrestricted license to independently practice as a Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor, which includes diagnosis and treatment. NOTE: For grade levels at or above the full performance level, the candidate must be licensed.

Grandfathering Provision: 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 addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.

Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (Program Coordinator), GS-12

• Experience, Education, and Licensure: In addition to the basic requirements, candidates must have at least one year of progressively complex experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Experience must have been in a major specialty treatment program area such as, but not limited to, Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), mental health intensive case management (MHICM), or other areas of equivalent scope and complexity. Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment, demonstrating progressively more professional competency.
• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to meeting the KSAs for the GS-11 grade level, the candidate must demonstrate all of the KSAs below:
  • In depth knowledge of the program coordinated, and demonstrated knowledge and ability to write policies procedures and or practice guidelines for the program.
  • Ability to make key decisions in the hiring and identification of top candidates.
  • Ability to provide leadership in facilitating the process of coordinating program consults, assessments, admissions, care assignments and discharges.
  • Ability to provide subject matter consultation to other colleagues and trainees within the field of counseling working on an interdisciplinary team.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

Physical Requirements: The work is performed in an office setting. The position requires some standing, bending and carrying items such as training materials.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-12.

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.