Staff Psychologist

Company: Department of Veterans Affairs
Location: Jackson
Posted on: June 13, 2021

Job Description:

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Duties

Summary

The Staff Psychologist works as a member of the Mental Health Outpatient Clinic interdisciplinary team and provides expert clinical services emphasizing substance abuse, addictions, and co-occurring psychiatric conditions. Some of the Veterans served have serious mental illnesses and require long-term care and follow-up, while others require care for a time-limited period. Services are provided using individual and group formats and will utilize both in person and video tele-health modalities.

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Responsibilities

• If you are a Current Permanent Federal Employees or Past/Current/Upcoming VHA HPT Graduates, apply to vacancy CBST-11135901-21-LA*

Duties performed include, but are not limited to the following:

• Provide a wide range of psychological assessment services, including expert assessment and diagnostic services for patients with moderate to severe mental illness;
• Provide motivational enhancement activities to prepare Veterans to participate in clinically appropriate care;
• Provide evidence-based treatment/rehabilitation services for veterans with mental or behavioral health conditions;
• Lead in-person and tele-med psychotherapy groups for Veterans with mental or behavioral health conditions;
• Provide psychoeducation and couples/family counseling as indicated;
• Provide expert consultation to providers within and outside of mental health to assist in diagnosis and treatment of their patients;
• Provide screening for cognitive deficits to determine if a referral for an expert neuropsychological evaluation is needed;
• Promote communication /interactions between medical team members, patients, and their families to facilitate the medical treatment process;
• Provide training for and coordinate work of Psychology technicians and other staff as assigned;
• Use tele-mental health modalities to provide psychological assessment and diagnostic services to Veterans located at CBOCs or their home;
• Oversee the establishment and interpretation of data from program monitors and outcome measurements within programs assigned using a data-driven quality assurance process;
• Provides information to VA and community providers about telemedicine and psychotherapy services.

Performs other related duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. or 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. (Subject to change based upon agency needs)

Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific individual eligibility requirements in accordance with VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) and eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after complete review of the EDRP application. Learn more

Travel Required

Not required

Supervisory status

No

Promotion Potential

13

• Job family (Series)

0180 Psychology

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Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Designated and/or random drug testing may be required
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• Subject to a background/security investigation
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process

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.
• English Language Proficiency Requirement - Per VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, Section A, Paragraph 3j: No person will be appointed under authority of 38 U.S.C., chapter 73 or 74, to serve in a direct patient-care capacity in VHA who is not proficient in written and spoken English.
• Education Requirement - You must 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. OR, have a doctoral degree in any area of psychology and, in addition, successfully completed a respecialization program meeting both of the following conditions: a) the respecialization program must be completed in an APA or a CPA accredited doctoral program; and b) the specialty in which you were retrained is consistent with the assignment you are am applying for; OR, have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally-accredited institution, with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature.
• Internship Requirement - You must 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, 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, 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, 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). NOTE: 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: Candidates must 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. Exception: Non-licensed applicants who otherwise meet the eligibility requirements may be given a temporary appointment as a "graduate psychologist" at the GS-11 or GS-12 grade under the authority of 38 U.S.C. 7405 (c)(2)(B) for a period not to exceed two years from the date of employment on the condition that such a psychologist provide care only under the supervision of a psychologist who is licensed. Failure to obtain licensure during that period is justification for termination of the temporary appointment.

Preferred Experience:

• Experience working with Veterans in an outpatient mental health setting.
• Experience providing evidenced based psychotherapy for serious mental illness and other diagnoses (e.g., depression, anxiety) with symptoms severity and/or complexity necessitating intervention at a higher level of care than is provided in a primary care setting.
• Experience working with an interprofessional team to develop and implement collaborative treatment plans.
• Experience completing assessments for diagnostic clarification, treatment planning, and measurement based care.
• Utilization of recovery-oriented, person-centered, and trauma-informed principles.
• Experience: In additional to meeting the basic requirements as stated above, you must have the following:
• GS-11 Level: no additional experience beyond the basic requirement
• GS-12 Level: at least 1 full year of experience as a professional psychologist equivalent to the GS-11 level, and are able to demonstrate the following knowledge, skills and abilities:
• Knowledge of and ability to apply a wide range of professional psychological treatments or assessment methods to a variety of patient populations.
• Ability to design and implement effective treatment strategies.
• Ability to incorporate new clinical procedures.
• Ability to conduct research activities, such as designing and implementing clinical research projects (staff psychologists with specified research job duties).

• 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.

• GS-13 Level: at least 2 addition years of experience, with at least one year equivalent to the GS-12 level, as a professional psychologist that was obtained through employment as a psychologist or through participating in a supervised post-doctoral psychology training program that demonstrates 1) active professional practice that was paid/non-paid employment and/or 2) a full, current and unrestricted license. To be creditable, the experience must have required the use of knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics associated with current psychology practice:
• Knowledge of, and ability to apply, professional psychological treatments to a full range of patient populations.
• Ability to provide professional advice and consultation in areas related to professional psychology and behavioral health.

• Knowledge of clinical research literature.

• Experience is only creditable if it is post-doctoral degree experience as a professional psychologist directly related to the duties performed.

Reference: VA Regulations, specifically VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Appendix G18 Psychologist Qualification Standard. This can be found in the local Human Resources Office.

Physical Requirements: The work is sedentary. It occasionally requires carrying of light objects such as files, books and papers. Some walking, standing and bending is required. No special physical qualifications are required.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-13. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-11 to GS-13.

Education

IMPORTANT: 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.

Keywords: Department of Veterans Affairs, Jackson , Staff Psychologist, Other , Jackson, Mississippi