Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor - Program Coordinator

US-Department-of-Veterans-Affair; Adrian (MI); On-site; USD 90,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) seeks a Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor-Program Coordinator (GS-12) for the Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Program at the Jackson and Adrian Clinics. The role leads an interprofessional team delivering outpatient mental health services to Veterans with a range of concerns.

The incumbent administers a clinical program, develops policies, and prepares reports while supervising graduate LPMHCs and coordinating care across the team.

Qualifications

• Master’s or doctoral degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling or related CACREP-accredited program.
• Full, current, unrestricted license to independently practice as an LPMHC.
• Proficiency in spoken and written English per VA standards.
• Grandfather Provision applicability as described in VA qualification standards.

Responsibilities

• Administer a clinical program and provide treatment to Veterans in outpatient setting.
• Oversee daily program operations, develop policies and procedures, and prepare reports.
• Supervise unlicensed graduate LPMHCs and administratively manage program staff.
• Coordinate consults, admissions, care assignments and discharges within an interdisciplinary team.

Skills

Advanced practice skills

Leadership

Interdisciplinary teamwork

Education

Master’s or doctoral degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling

CACREP-accredited program

Job description

This position is for a Program Manger in our Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Program (BHIP) at the Jackson and Adrian Clinics. Team leaders provide direct care and manage an interprofessional team that provides services to Veterans presenting with a variety of mental health concerns in an outpatient mental health setting.

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. 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.
• English Language Proficiency. LPMHCs must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3.j.
• Grandfather Provision. All persons employed in VHA in as LPMHC on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the grade held, including positive education and licensure/certification/registration that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation. For employees who do not meet all the basic requirements required in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it, the following provisions apply:
  • Such employees in an occupation that requires a licensure, may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance level, or demoted within the occupation, but may not be promoted beyond the full performance level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions.
  • Such employees in an occupation that requires a licensure/certification/registration only at higher grade levels must meet the licensure/certification/registration requirement before they can be promoted to those higher grade levels.
  • Employees 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.
  • If an employee who was retained (grandfathered) under this provision leaves that 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.
  • Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation, who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure/certification/registration that meet all the basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation.

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

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.
• Assignments. LPMHC Program Coordinators are administratively responsible for a clinical program and provide treatment to patients in a major specialty. They manage the daily operations of the program, develop policies and procedures, and prepare reports and statistics for facility, VISN, and national use. They may supervise unlicensed graduate LPMHCs and may administratively manage any employees assigned to their program.
• 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/

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12.

Physical Requirements: The work of the LPMHC is largely office based and in a sedentary setting. No manual labor is required above ordinary situations. Incumbent must be capable of using a computer given that all clinical charting is electronic.