Clarification from the agency

This job is open to current permanent Veterans Healthcare Administration employees, VHA HPTs, and U.S. Citizens 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 Staff Psychologist is assigned to the Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Program (BHIP) team in General Mental Health (GMH) services at the Joplin CBOC of the Veterans Healthcare System of the Ozarks (VHSO). The BHIP team provides care to Veterans with a wide variety of mental health symptoms and uses a collaborative care model and a recovery framework to delivery evidence-based treatments to the eligible veteran population. Clinical care focuses on the implementation of Evidence Based Psychotherapy (EBP) as a primary intervention and using Measurement Based Care (MBC) to regularly assess treatment progress and outcomes. Clinical services include clinical assessment, differential diagnosis, utilization of MBC, team decision making for individualized treatment planning, as well as direct delivery of clinical services in individual, group, couples/family, and telehealth formats. The Clinical Psychologist will provide all services in accordance with relevant policies and VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines, with a strong emphasis on delivering EBPs whenever possible and clinically indicated.

Duties will include but not limited to:

1. Provides culturally sensitive clinical services for a wide range of mental disorders. This includes identification of at-risk patients and delivery of comprehensive risk assessments and safety planning. This also includes thorough and complete psychodiagnostic assessments of both their own patients and as a consultant to other clinicians.
2. Provides education to patients, family members, and significant others.
3. Provides comprehensive, evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions, including individual, family, and group psychotherapy.
4. Assumes a collaborative role with Veterans and other team members in developing and implementing recovery-oriented treatment plans.
5. Functions on the BHIP team as a consultant, mentor, or other roles as appropriate to promote the team mission.
6. Provides consultation to professional staff within the BHIP team, the CBOC, the Mental Health Service and the larger medical center, as well as to community providers when appropriate.
7. Develops, implements, and documents the individualized treatment plan for an assigned caseload of patients.
8. Complies with national and local performance measures, including timely health care screening and completion of Clinical Reminders in the electronic medical record.
9. Complies with all clinical documentation procedures, including timeliness standards for documentation and proper patient check out procedures.
10. Functions independently as a member of the VHSO's Mental Health Service staff with full clinical privileges. The incumbent assumes complete professional responsibility for their clinical assessment findings, patient care decisions, and documentation.
11. Complies with all measures necessary to maintain current practice capability, including all licensure and credentialing requirements.
12. Performs other clinical duties as assigned by Program Manager, Deputy ACOS for MH, and/or ACOS for MH, provided they are clinically qualified to perform such duties.

Work Schedule: Full-time, 8:00am to 4:30pm Monday-Friday, subject to change based on the needs of the service.
Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not authorized.
Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): May be authorized.
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact Jennifer.Isbell-Gross@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more
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)
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)
Telework: Available as determined by Agency policy.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 01295F/01296F/01297
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 identification 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

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:
  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. The specialty area of the degree must be consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed. For the purpose of meeting this requirement, the term "specialty area" refers to the specific specialty areas recognized by the accrediting body and not to specific job duties that might require special skills. Currently, APA accredits doctoral programs in the specialty areas of clinical psychology, counseling psychology, school psychology, or combinations of two or more of those areas. PCSAS accredits doctoral programs in psychological clinical science. CPA accredits doctoral programs in clinical psychology, counseling psychology, clinical neuropsychology, and school psychology. There are no job assignments in VHA that require the skills of a school psychologist; therefore, an applicant with a degree in the specialty area of school psychology is not eligible for appointment. Strictly for the purpose of determining eligibility for appointment as a psychologist in VHA, there is no distinction between the specialty areas (with the exception of school psychology).
     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:
     1. The re-specialization program must be completed in an APA or a CPA accredited doctoral program; and,
     2. the specialty in which the applicant is retrained must be consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed.
        OR
     3. Have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally-accredited institution, with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature.]
        AND
     4. Internships
        1. 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
        2. 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
        3. 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
        4. 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
        5. 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.

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:

Staff Psychologist, GS-11 (Entry Level)

• Experience. None beyond the basic requirements.

Staff Psychologist, GS-12 (Developmental Level)

• Experience. At least one year of experience as a professional psychologist equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-11). Psychologists who are not licensed must practice under the supervision of a licensed psychologist but with less intense supervision than at the GS-11 grade level.
• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:
  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.

Staff Psychologist, GS-13 (Full Performance, Level)

• Experience. At least two years of experience as a professional psychologist, with at least one year equivalent to the GS-12 grade level.
• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:
  1. Knowledge of, and ability to apply, professional psychological treatments to the 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:

• Evidence Based Psychotherapy (EBP), such as CBT-D, ACT, IPT, CBT-I, CBT-CP, DBT.
• Experience providing behavioral health services with adult populations.
• Experience providing behavioral health services through telehealth modalities.
• Experience working as a member of a collaborative multidisciplinary care team

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

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS13. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS11 to GS13.

Physical Requirements: Physical aspects associated with work required of this assignment are typical for the occupation, see Duties section for essential job duties of the position. May require standing, lifting, carrying, sitting, stooping, bending, puling, and pushing. May be required to wear personal protective equipment and undergo annual TB screening or testing as conditions of employment.

How you will be evaluated

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

Area of consideration - Eligible applications will be reviewed and referred in the following order:
1st Area of Consideration - current permanent "Veterans Health Care Systems of the Ozarks" employees including satellites;
2nd Area of Consideration - current permanent Veterans Healthcare Administration employees;
3rd Area of Consideration - current/past Health Professional Trainees (HPTs); and
4th Area of Consideration - all other applicants.

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.