Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor

US-Department-of-Veterans-Affair; Chesapeake (VA); On-site; USD 65,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Hampton VA Medical Center, seeks a Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (GS-11) to provide mental health counseling and supervision.

You will diagnose, treat, and consult within MH&BS, aligning with BHIP/Outpatient Mental Health and VA policies. Requirements include a CACREP-accredited degree, active licensure for independent practice, and relevant clinical experience.

Qualifications

• Master's or doctoral degree in CACREP-accredited counseling field.
• Full, current license to independently practice as LPMHC.
• Citizenship per VA policy.
• Experience in mental health counseling; VA experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Provide professional evaluations and treatment planning.
• Deliver psychotherapy and psychoeducation groups.
• Provide complex crisis intervention and stabilization.
• Offer subject matter consultation to colleagues and trainees on counseling processes.
• Collaborate with patients to establish goals and treatment plans.

Skills

Clinical decision making

Counseling fundamentals

Consultation skills

Crisis intervention

Collaborative therapy goals

Multicultural counseling

DSM knowledge

Group psychotherapy

Education

CACREP accredited program

Master's or Doctoral in Counseling

Job description

This position is located within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), VA Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network (VISN 6), Hampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center (HVAMC) located at the North Battlefield CBOC, under the Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences (MH&BS) Service Line. This position is aligned with the BHIP/Outpatient Mental Health.

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. Hold 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

• Licensure. Persons 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: It is VHA policy that a LPMHC who does not yet have a license that allows independent practice must be supervised by a licensed independent practitioner of the same discipline who is a VA staff member and who has access to the electronic health record.
  • Failure to Obtain License. In all cases, LPMHCs must actively pursue meeting state prerequisites for licensure starting from the date of their appointment. Failure to become licensed within three years from date of appointment will result in removal from the GS-0183 LPMHC series and may result in termination of employment.
  • Loss of Licensure. Once licensed, LPMHCs must maintain a full, valid, and unrestricted license to independently practice mental health counseling, which includes diagnosis and treatment. Loss of licensure will result in removal from the GS-0183 LPMHC occupation and may result in termination of employment.

Grade Determinations

GS-11 Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (Full Performance Level)

Experience, Education, and Licensure

In addition to the basic requirements, candidates must have at least one year of post-master's or post-doctoral degree mental health counseling experience (VA or non-VA experience) and must be licensed to practice at the independent practice level and demonstrate the KSAs below. LPMHCs may provide clinical supervision over the clinical practice of an unlicensed LPMHC or LPMHC trainee. Some state licenses do not license an individual to provide clinical supervision to trainees or unlicensed LPMHCs. Please refer to specific state licensing laws regarding the requirements for providing clinical supervision.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

In addition to meeting the KSAs for the GS-09 grade level, the candidate must demonstrate all of the KSAs below:

• Ability to make professional evaluations, decisions, and recommendation for treatment planning and implementation.
• Advanced knowledge and mastery of the fundamentals of the counseling process which includes defining patient/family problems and maintaining an effective counseling relationship.
• Ability to provide subject matter consultation to colleagues and trainees on the counseling process within various specialty areas, build on the foundation of competence through regular meetings and discussions to explain assignments, review progress of cases and confer about the counseling perspectives and orientation.
• Ability to provide complex crisis intervention and stabilization to patients who are in psychological distress. Requires independent judgment and skill.
• Ability to establish goals/treatment through a collaborative process with the patient utilizing advanced counseling skills, including evidenced-based practices, screening, and psychosocial assessment.
• Ability to use a wide variety of individual, group, or familial counseling interventions; demonstrates sensitivity to diversity and possesses multicultural counseling skills.
• Ability to fully utilize the current DSM in making diagnoses and formulation of treatment goals and application of appropriate clinical intervention using professional counseling practices.
• Ability to develop and facilitate psychotherapy and psycho-education groups that include life skills, family support, and community integration. This may include evidence-based psychotherapy.

Reference:

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

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-11.

Physical Requirements:

The work is primarily sedimentary.