Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor

Major Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Work autonomously in a treatment setting where psychosocial issues are complex and require a high degree of clinical management in addition to creative problem solving.
• Facilitates referrals to VA and community psychiatric facilities, demonstrates an understanding of the involuntary commitment process and keeps mental health management informed of identified needs.
• Complete rapid mental health assessments for the purpose of developing crisis management plans in collaboration with other hospital service or health care providers.
• Completes comprehensive face to face triage assessments and communicates clinically relevant information to the on-call psychiatrist.
• Developing the initial treatment plan, and setting achievable, recovery- based treatment goals with the Veteran/family.
• Knowledge of evidence based treatment modalities. They will select and refer Veterans to VA facility or community care providers to ensure quality evidence-based care for psychosis/schizophrenia spectrum, PTSD, mood disorders, and co-occurring disorders such as anxiety and substance abuse.
• Subject matter expert on VA and/or community resources.
• Collaborate with other service providers in reassessing the veteran's needs.
• Educating the Veteran and/or caregiver of the available services and assisting them in establishing the appropriate referrals based on the Veteran's preference or that of his surrogate decision-maker.
• Responsible for using the current social work resource file of VA and community social service programs and enhancing the content to the benefit of Veterans.
• Understands the intimidation of bureaucracy and will act as an advocate when it serves the best interest of the Veteran/family.
• Makes rapid assessments and developing crisis management plans for admission to mental health inpatient programs.
• Accesses multiple resource directories in addition to previously developed resources to meet the demands of a crisis.
• Provides education related to VA and community resources, entitlements, Advance Directives/Living Will and will refer Veterans/families to the appropriate interdisciplinary team member for identified health education needs.
• Review the medical record to accurately determine the strengths and limitations of each Veteran being referred for mental health services.
• The incumbent will enter all Veteran/family contacts in the electronic record using appropriate formats and templates

Work Schedule: Rotating schedule consisting of nights and weekends. Tour of duty to be determined by Supervisor.
Telework: Not Available.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 512-25425-F
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized.
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.Contact visn5hredrpcoordinators@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance.
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• 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 evaluation.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

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. In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), no person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English.
• Education - Master's or doctoral degree in one of the following: 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 . NOTE: Traditional Rehabilitation counseling programs that are accredited by CACREP do not meet the Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (LPMHC) qualification standards as Traditional Rehabilitation counseling differs from Clinical Rehabilitation counseling.
• Licensure - Must hold a full, current, and unrestricted license to independently practice as a Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor, which includes diagnosis and treatment.

Grandfather Provision: An LPMHC employed in VHA on the effective date of the qualification standard (4/3/2018) who did not meet all the basic requirements in this standard may not be promoted beyond the full performance level (GS-11) or be newly placed in supervisory or managerial positions until meeting the full qualification requirements.

Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements stated above, the following qualification criteria must be met for each grade. The candidate's qualifications must clearly demonstrate the level of competence required for the grade.

GS-12 Senior LPMHC Experience Requirements: In addition to meeting the basic requirements, you must possess:

1. A minimum of 5 years of post-licensed experience (with at least 1 year equivalent to the GS-11 grade level) 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;
2. Experience that Demonstrates the following GS-11 Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
   • 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 Senior LPMHC Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: In addition to meeting the GS-11 level experience and KSAs above, you must possess the following Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs):

• 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.

Preferred Experience:

• Experience with psychiatric crisis management.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit .

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

Physical Requirements: Majority of work is completed in an office setting. The work of this position of primarily sedentary with occasional walking of short distances. No heavy lifting required. The incumbent must be a mature, flexible, sensible individual capable of working effectively in stressful situations, able to shift priorities based on patient needs.