Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor

The Oklahoma City VA Health Care System, Mental Health Service, is currently recruiting for One Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor to help care for our Veterans. Individuals selected will work at the Oklahoma City VA Medical Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma until the Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) they are selected for opens.

Qualifications:

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 :

English Proficiency Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). Citizenship Must be a citizen of the United States. Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7407(a).

Education :

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.

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. 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-12 Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (Above the Full Performance Level) Experience, Education, and Licensure. In addition to the basic requirements, candidates must have: 1 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 in subparagraph (c) below. Senior LPMHCs must have 5 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. AND must meet the below GS 11 KSAs 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 family counseling interventions. 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. GS 12 Knowledge Skills and Abilities. In addition to meeting the KSAs for the GS-11 grade level, the candidate must demonstrate all of the GS-12 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/ . This vacancy is a GS-12 position, which is above the Full Performance Level.

Physical Requirements:

See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services.