Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor

US-Department-of-Veterans-Affair; Florida; On-site; USD 85,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs seeks a Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (LPMHC), GS-12, to provide expert clinical services to veterans in Florida.

Must hold a full, current license and CACREP-accredited education, with eligibility for EDRP consideration and a strong background in advanced counseling modalities. The role emphasizes supervision, program development, and interprofessional collaboration within the VA system, delivering comprehensive psychosocial care to

Qualifications

• Master's or doctoral degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling; CACREP-accredited program.
• Licensed to independently practice as a LPMHC; current unrestricted license.
• English language proficiency as per VA policy.

Responsibilities

• Provide advanced psychosocial assessments and diagnostic impressions.
• Deliver individual, group, and family counseling services for veterans.
• Coordinate psychosocial services and supervise trainees or licensure candidates.

Skills

Advanced clinical knowledge

Psychosocial assessment

Group counseling

Individual counseling

Clinical supervision

Leadership and mentorship

Education

CACREP-accredited program

Master's or Doctoral degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling

Job description

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

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. LPMHC must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, Section A, paragraph 3j.
• Education: You must have 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.

Grade Determinations

Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (LPMHC), GS-12:

• 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

Reference:

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

Physical Requirements:

The work does not inherently include physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with a workplace accommodation.

NOTE: Readjustment Counselors are multi-disciplinary and can be filled by: Social Worker, Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor, and Marriage & Family Therapist. Each discipline is announced separately, and applicants must apply to the announcement for which they are qualified.