Summary

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.

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Duties

A RECRUITMENT INCENTIVE MAY BE AUTHORIZED

The Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor provides clinical psychosocial and Evidence Based Therapies to eligible Veterans and their family members to meet biological, psychological, social, and environmental needs. Veterans treated in Social and Behavioral Health come primarily from the Anchorage catchment area. Their health care and psychosocial problems and needs are complex and require clinical oversight and creative problem solving.

The Senior LPMHC is responsible for providing outpatient mental health treatment and psychosocial intervention to address a broad range of SUD and mental health issues. The incumbent serves Veterans who tend to have serious, frequent and severe crises, lack family or adequate community support networks, frequently fail to comply with instructions and treatments, have significant deficits in coping skills, and require continuing psychosocial support. The Senior LPMHC provides a continuum of care encompassing individual, group, couple, and family counseling, demonstrating possession of advanced practice skills and judgment.

FUNCTIONS OF POSITION:

Interview Clients and Conduct Psychosocial Assessments.

• Interview Veterans and their family members to establish facts about the Veteran's situation, presenting problems, their causes, and the impact of such problems on the Veteran's functioning and health as part of a comprehensive psychosocial assessment.
• Interpret and explain VA's treatment and benefit programs.
• Review all data and make a clinical assessment identifying needs and strengths.
• Use advanced clinical training, insight, and experience to interpret data and identify viable treatment options.
• Assess high risk factors, acuity, and need for services.
  
  

Make Psychosocial Diagnoses.

• Evaluate the client's situation, including the Veteran's reaction and ability to cope with his/her life stressors and arrive at a reasoned conclusion.
• Based on the psychosocial assessment, use professional judgment and advanced practice skills to make a psychosocial diagnosis.
• Assess at-risk factors and develop a preliminary disposition plan involving the Veteran and family or significant others.
• Perform insightful assessment of serious and complicated cases involving psychiatric illness involving psychiatric, catastrophic medical conditions, dementia, and other high-risk diagnoses.
• Make independent professional decisions and recommendations.
  
  

Plan Effective Treatment.

• Develop psychosocial treatment plans in coordination with interdisciplinary team members, including goals for psychosocial clinical treatment.
• Provide independent consultation and make recommendations to the interdisciplinary team on a course of treatment.
• Independently conclude the appropriate action, even in instances where actions can have serious impact on the life of the Veteran. This may include long-term institutional or nursing home care or separation from family members. These decisions are based on advanced practice skills, professional judgment, and expertise regarding the Veteran's self-care capability, family support system, and health care needs.
• Evaluate own practice on an on-going basis through participation in professional peer review, case conferences, research studies, or other organized means.
• Be active in and accept responsibility for the development and maintenance of professional standards of treatment.
• Adjust the psychosocial treatment plan and interventions based on changing needs and response to interventions.
  
  

Implement Treatment.

• Provide individual and group therapy to patients and their families, on a regularly scheduled basis to engage in activities or discussion designed to improve patients' cognitive, social, emotional, vocational, and behavioral functioning.
• Give advice, guidance, emotional support, and other assistance.
• Provide individual and group counseling services, including psychotherapy.
• Assist and encourage Veterans and significant others in facing problems, thinking them through, evaluating the situation realistically, considering alternative courses of action, and arrive at plans for using resources to resolve problems.
• Use highly developed professional, clinical, and advanced practice skills to treat Veterans with complex problems, histories of non-compliance with treatment, and inability or unwillingness to participate in treatment.
  
  

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

Work Schedule: Mon - Fri, 8:00am to 4:30pm.

Telework: Ad-hoc.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #: 000000.

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: AUTHORIZED.

EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.Contact VHAEDRPProgramSupport@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.

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Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• You may be required to serve a trial period.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
  
  

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.

Basic Requirements.

The basic requirements for employment as a LPMHC are prescribed by statute in 38 U.S.C. GRADE DETERMINATIONS.

• 7402(b)(11). To qualify for appointment as a LPMHC all applicants must:
• Citizenship. Be a citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with applicable law).
• 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.
• English Language Proficiency. LPMHCs must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C.
• 7402(d).
  

In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.

Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor, 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/.

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



Physical Requirements: The physical demands of this position require light lifting and carrying (under 15 pounds); use of fingers; both hands required; both eyes required; hearing (aid may be permitted); and emotional and mental stability.

Environmental Factors: Work may be performed outside and inside; prolonged sitting; and you must be able to work alone and closely with others.

Education

This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. If selected for this position, you must meet specific individual eligibility requirements in accordance with VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) and eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after complete review of the EDRP application. Contact VHA.ELRSProgramSupport@va.gov for questions/assistance.


IMPORTANT: This position has a positive education or training requirement. An unofficial copy of college transcripts showing completion of the required degree or program is required and must include the name of the school, your name, date conferred or completed, and degree or certificate type.



Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Additional information

Receiving Service Credit or Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status.

VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38, and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority.

If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

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Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.