Clarification from the agency

NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below. Open to current permanent Department of Veteran Affairs employees. First Consideration will be given to Orlando VA Healthcare System Employees (Station 675)

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The Associate Chief of Staff (ACOS) of mental health is responsible for crafting the mission and vision of the Orlando VA Health Care System (OVACHS) Mental Health service, developing and overseeing the clinical practice of Mental Health employees, designing and implementing clinical programs and plans of care, and formulating, implementing and overseeing quality improvement measures. The selectee will demonstrate successful experience as a supervisor, administrator and clinician and will perform broad-ranging higher-level management functions in the administration, development, and care delivery of this comprehensive mental health service. The incumbent must apply expert knowledge and experience in mental health diagnoses, disabilities, and treatment procedures across all settings of mental health care including inpatient, outpatient, residential, and community-based programs, including acute, chronic and traumatic mental illness, mental health medications and their effects/side effects, and mental health regulatory statutes, including environment of care requirements. The selectee will also directly provide health care to patients within their area of clinical expertise.
The ACOS of mental health designates service priorities and objectives, supervises clinical programs, as well as supervises and evaluates performance of staff assigned to those programs. The ACOS of Mental Health is expected to make independent, professional decisions and recommendations with occasional recourse to supervisory guidance. Duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

• Primary leadership and management of comprehensive Mental Health operations at this large and growing 1a level VA Health Care System, including clinical, administrative, operational, and management functions of the service.
• Ensure Mental Health policies, contracts, and related concerns are fully researched, coordinated, vetted, and staffed prior to executive approvals. Advise leadership entities, including Executive Leadership, on policy and legal implications, key issues, and relationships with internal and external interest groups, and recommend courses of action.
• Supervise the respective Section Chiefs of each discipline, including selecting, evaluating, and initiating personnel actions for all MHS.
• Ensure establishment and attainment of program monitors and outcome measurements using data-driven quality assurance tools and processes.
• Manage and direct the work of complex organizational units to accomplish program goals and objectives. This includes translating management goals and objectives into controlled operations by organizing work, setting service-level priorities, delegating tasks, and meeting deadlines. Devise ways to adapt operations to evolving conditions.
• Propose, request, administer, and control service resources including fund control points, utilization of overtime and fee expenditures, contracts, authorization and obligation of funds for necessary services and equipment.
• Develop new and expanded mental health services and programs within the health care system, including analysis of all necessary information such as physical resource requirements, staffing, seasonal fluctuations, and changes in procedures and policies as required for safe and successful clinical operations.
• Coordinate facility Mental Health responses in the event of disasters, critical occurrences of violence at the facility, and or mass/casualty events.
• Travel between main facility and other sites of OVAHCS-related Mental Health care as needed.
• Develop and provide responses to official correspondence at the Medical Center, VISN, and VACO levels, inclusive of responses to elected representatives, the OIG Hotline, and similar entities concerning Mental Health related patient care and matters of public interest.
• Consult and serves as SME and resource for other service lines and facility leadership concerning Mental Health matters and programs.
• May be required to participate in the On-Call rotation schedules to accommodate patient care needs during weekends, holidays, evenings and nights.
• Other duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: The primary tour of duty will be M-F 8am to 4:30pm. However, the selectee may be required to work or travel between any of the locations within Corporate Orlando, including the Lake Nona campus.
Telework: Not available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: Senior Psychologist Program Manager - Deputy ACOS GS-15 80524F
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: May be authorized for highly qualified candidate
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.Contact (VISN8CCOE@va.gov), the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized

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.
• 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.
• 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).
• 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

To qualify for this position, applicant must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

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: (1) 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. OR (2) 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: (a) The re-specialization program must be completed in an APA or a CPA accredited doctoral program; and, (b) The specialty in which the applicant is retrained must be consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed. OR Have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally-accredited institution, with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature. AND
• Internship: (a) 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 (b) 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 (c) 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 (d) 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 (e) 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.
• English Language Proficiency: Psychologists must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3j.

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). All persons employed in VHA as a psychologist on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series and grade held, including positive education (i.e., degree and internship requirements) and licensure/certification that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation.

• Employees grandfathered under this provision for this revision may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance journey) level, or changed to lower grade within the occupation, but may not be promoted beyond the journey level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions or beyond the assignment currently held for those being grandfathered to assignments above FPL.
• Psychologists who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed on a temporary or permanent basis until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard.
• Psychologists initially grandfathered into this occupation who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure that meet all of the basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation.
• NOTE: If psychologists who are grandfathered under this provision leave the occupation, the employee loses protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of reentry to the occupation.

Grade Determinations: Senior Psychologist Program Manager, GS-15

• Specialized Experience: At least four years of experience as a professional psychologist, with at least one year equivalent to the GS-14 grade level.

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

Physical Requirements: The work requires patience and emotional regulation. The work may also require assisting physically disabled Veterans. Day-to-day work involves sitting, walking, standing and carrying light objects.

How you will be evaluated

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

While we no longer require essay-style responses to our Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities, (KSA's), you must be able to demonstrate that you possess the (below) competencies which are necessary to perform the work of the position. Please ensure your resume/CV/application contains sufficient information to support the level of experience/education/training. Otherwise, we will not be able to award you credit for the experience/education/training you claim. The KSA's for this positions are;

1. Skill in managing and directing the work of large, complex organizational units and in applying effective management practices.
2. Skill in persuasion, negotiation, and motivation to negotiate multiple program policies.
3. Skill in interpersonal relationships in dealing with employees and other managers using advanced consultation and problem solving skills.
4. Skill in the application and analysis of measurement tools to systems issues.
5. Ability to balance responsibilities in a complex environment and to work with great autonomy; ability to set priorities and delegate tasks, meet multiple deadlines, analyze complex organizational problems; and ability to develop and implement effective solutions for those problems.
6. Ability to assess need for basic and complex services across multiple programmatic contexts.
7. Ability to coordinate the efforts of multiple program elements across a complex system.

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.