Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor

US-Department-of-Veterans-Affair; Augusta (GA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

The Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (GS-12) provides advanced clinical mental health services to Veterans in the MH RRTP. Duties include comprehensive assessments, individual and group psychotherapy, treatment planning, crisis intervention, interdisciplinary collaboration, and discharge coordination to support recovery, rehabilitation, and community reintegration.

Applicants pending licensure may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all

Qualifications

• U.S. citizenship is required; non-citizens may be considered only when VA policy allows.
• Master's or doctoral degree in CACREP-accredited Clinical Mental Health Counseling.
• Full, current unrestricted license to independently practice as LPMHC; supervision required if independent practice license is not yet held.

Responsibilities

• Provide comprehensive assessments for Veterans.
• Deliver individual and group psychotherapy.
• Develop and implement treatment plans.
• Provide crisis intervention as needed.
• Engage in interdisciplinary collaboration with care teams.
• Coordinate discharge planning and community reintegration.

Skills

Advanced clinical skills

Psychotherapy (individual & group)

Crisis intervention

Interdisciplinary collaboration

Clinical supervision/mentoring

Education

Master's or Doctoral in CACREP‑accredited CMHC

CACREP accreditation required

Job description

The Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (GS-12) provides advanced clinical mental health services to Veterans in the Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program (MH RRTP). Duties include comprehensive assessments, individual and group psychotherapy, treatment planning, crisis intervention, interdisciplinary collaboration, and discharge coordination to support recovery, rehabilitation, and community reintegration.

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 havefrom 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.

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

GS-183-12-Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor

Experience, Education, and Licensure.

In addition to the basic requirements, candidates must have at least one year of progressively complex LPMHC experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Senior LPMHCs must have five years of post-licensed experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment, demonstrating progressive professional competency and expertise and be licensed to provide clinical supervision to trainees or unlicensed LPMHCs.

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:

• Advanced knowledge of and mastery of theories and modalities used in the specialized treatment of complex mental illness. Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of veteran patients, including making psychosocial and psychiatric diagnoses within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. Ability to determine priority of services needed and provide specialized treatment.
• Advanced and expert skill in a range of specialized interventions and treatment modalities for Veterans with complex needs. This includes individual, group, and/or family counseling, or psychotherapy and advanced level psychosocial, and/or case management interventions used in the treatment of Veterans.
• Ability to coordinate the delivery of specialized psychosocial services and programs. Ability to design system changes based on data.
• Ability to provide subject matter consultation to colleagues and trainees on the psychosocial treatment of patients, rendering professional opinions based on experience, expertise and role modeling effective clinical skills.
• Ability to teach, mentor staff and trainees, and provide supervision for licensure or for specialty certifications.
• Ability to engage in written and oral communication with leadership/staff and community stakeholders regarding policies, procedures, practice guidelines, and issues pertaining to the practice of the profession.

Preferred Experience:

Prefer a minimum of 2 years of experience in a clinical setting providing psychotherapy.

Reference:

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

Physical Requirements:

Please refer to VA Handbook 5019