Staff Psychologist - Home Based Primary Care

US-Department-of-Veterans-Affair; Salt Lake City (UT); On-site; USD 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs seeks a psychologist with a doctoral degree in psychology, eligible for licensure, and internship experience.

The role includes clinical service delivery and collaboration within VHA teams to support veterans' mental health needs. Applicants must meet citizenship and English proficiency requirements, complete APA/CPA-accredited internship, and hold a valid driver’s license for local travel as part of community-based care.

Qualifications

• Doctoral degree in psychology from APA/PCSAS/CPA-accredited program.
• Licensed psychologist or eligibility for licensure.
• Driver's license is required for local travel.

Skills

Professional treatments

Treatment design

Clinical procedures

Clinical research

Research execution

Education

Doctoral degree in psychology (APA/PCSAS/CPA accredited)

Dissertation primarily psychological

APA/CPA-accredited internship

Current, unrestricted psychology license

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: Must be proficient in spoken & written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3j.

Education AND Internship: 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. There are no job assignments in VHA that require the skills of a school psychologist; therefore, an applicant with a degree in the specialty area of school psychology is not eligible for appointment.

Have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally-accredited institution, with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature.

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.

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 & the VHA Office of Academic Affiliations at the time that the individual was an intern.

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.

Completion of an internship that was not accredited by APA or CPA at the time the program was completed may be considered eligible 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.).

Applicants who have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 & 1978 from a regionally-accredited institution with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature may fulfill this internship requirement by having the equivalent of a 1-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 1 year supervised internship experience was completed in a site acceptable to the doctoral program.

Licensure: 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 supervision of a licensed psychologist. Failure to obtain licensure during that period is justification for termination of the temporary appointment.

Drivers License: A valid state drivers license is required as this position requires local travel to provide community-based care to Veterans through the use of a government vehicle or other individual arrangements.

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-11 Experience: None beyond the basic requirements.

GS-12 Experience: At least one year of experience as a professional psychologist equivalent to the GS-11. Psychologists who are not licensed must practice under the supervision of a licensed psychologist but with less intense supervision than at the GS-11 grade level.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs): In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:

• Knowledge of & ability to apply a wide range of professional psychological treatments or assessment methods to a variety of patient populations
• Ability to design & 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 & research execution within the context of an established research team, including research participant relations, research documentation, data acquisition, maintenance, & collaboration

GS-13 Experience: At least two years of experience as a professional psychologist, with at least one year equivalent to the GS-12.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs): In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:

• Knowledge of, & ability to apply, professional psychological treatments to the full range of patient populations.
• Ability to provide professional advice & consultation in areas related to professional psychology & behavioral health.
• Knowledge of clinical research literature.

Preferred Experience

Home BasedGeriatric or Aging population within the past 5 years. Recent (within the past five years) Neuro Psych testing.

Reference

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