About Job

Summary

The Suicide Prevention Coordinator (SPC) will serve to facilitate implementation of suicide prevention strategies at the Memphis VA Medical Center and VA Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs). Activities will include support for the identification of Veterans at high risk for suicide and coordinating enhanced care.

Duties

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Major duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to:

The incumbent facilitates efficient and appropriate delivery of mental health services across episodes of care within the medical center and community.
The incumbent assists with training all stakeholders on appropriate suicide risk evaluation and intervention for Veteran identified as at elevate risk for suicide.
Incumbent serves as point of contact for suicide prevention training for the overall facility but is the main point of contact for CBOCs. provides ongoing site visits and consultations to ensure CBOC staff remain up to date with suicide prevention policies and procedures.
The incumbent assist with coordination and provision of postvention services to next of kin and staff members who are impacted by deaths by suicide.
The Suicide Prevention Coordinator ensures that outreach is conducted with community partners outside of the VA Medical Center in keeping with the public health model of early intervention and prevention of crisis by providing education and support to those outside of a healthcare environment.
The Suicide Prevention Coordinator also ensures that Veteran Crisis Line (VCL) requests are acted upon in the appropriate time frames. The SPC facilitates enhanced care for those individuals who are seen for mental health concerns in the Emergency Department through the Safety Planning in the Emergency Department (SPED) intervention.
Suicide Prevention Coordinator also assists with providing outreach to Veterans identified at increased risk for adverse outcomes through the REACH VET program.
Provides clinical consultation regarding patients at high acute risk for suicide, reviews and assigns high risk flags and ensures connection to appropriate clinical care.
Serves as the suicide prevention representative for committee across the continuum of care.
The incumbent may also be assigned additional duties as needed within or outside of their specific program area of the Mental Health Service.

Work Schedule: Primarily Monday-Friday 8:00-4:30 (evenings/weekends occasionally for outreach events)

Telework: ADHOC

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.`

Functional Statement #: 000000

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: May be authorized to highly qualified applicants.

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

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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 probationary 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.
Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).

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:

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: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f).
Education Requirement : 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/.
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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: Candidates 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.
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- 0101 LPMHC occupation and may result in termination of employment.
- Experience, Education, and Licensure. In addition to the basic requirements, candidates must have at least one year of progressively complex experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Experience must have been in a major specialty treatment program area such as, but not limited to, Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), mental health intensive case management (MHICM), or other areas of equivalent scope and complexity. Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment, demonstrating progressively more professional competency.
Assignments: . At this level, LPMHC Program Coordinators are administratively responsible for a clinical program and provide treatment to patients in a major specialty. They manage the daily operations of the program, develop policies and procedures, and prepare reports and statistics for facility, VISN, and national use. They may supervise unlicensed graduate LPMHCs and may administratively manage any employees assigned to their program.

In addition to meeting the KSAs for the GS-11 grade level, the candidate must demonstrate all of the KSAs below:

1. In depth knowledge of the program coordinated, and demonstrated knowledge and ability to write policies procedures and or practice guidelines for the program.

2. Ability to make key decisions in the hiring and identification of top candidates.

3. Ability to provide leadership in facilitating the process of coordinating program consults, assessments, admissions, care assignments and discharges.

4. Ability to provide subject matter consultation to other colleagues and trainees within the field of counseling working on an interdisciplinary team.

Reference: VA Regulations, specifically VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Appendix G0180 Psychologist Qualification Standard. This can be found in the local Human Resources Office.

Physical Requirements: Light lifting, light carrying, use of fingers, hearing (aid permitted), operation of a motor vehicle may be required.

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

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

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/.
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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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Benefits

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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

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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.