Psychology Program Manager - Primary Care Behavioral Health (PCBH)

The PCBH Program Manager serves as the professional leader of the Primary Care Behavioral Health (PCBH) Program and reports to the Section Chief of Behavioral Medicine. PCBH is co-located with the Primary Care medical teams, with an emphasis on integration of mental health services within primary care. This responsibility requires broad based clinical, administrative and supervisory knowledge and skills. The incumbent is directly responsible for the planning, development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of treatment program operations.


Duties may include but are not limited to:

• As a full clinical member of the PCBH Team, provides a full range of clinical services appropriate to the primary care setting, especially in the areas of diagnostic and psychosocial assessment and evaluation of emotional and behavioral problems.
• Provides a full range of psychological interventions consistent with training and expertise, with special emphasis on brief and evidenced-based interventions found to be effective in primary care settings.
• Facilitates patient and family education appropriate to the primary care setting and the specific presenting mental or behavioral health issues.
• Provides consultation services for primary care providers to maximize the effectiveness of their interventions in reducing health-risk behaviors and enhancing health-promoting behaviors, with a significant emphasis on a prevention-oriented model of care.
• Provides consultation to Primary Care providers, other Behavioral Health clinicians and team members in the development of individual treatment plans.
• Completes structured diagnostic and clinical assessments for participants. This requires knowledge of medical terminology, diagnostic categories, and chart review.
• Provides direct administrative supervision to the interdisciplinary PCBH team staff, which may consist of psychologists, social workers, APRNS, PAs, and/or psychiatrists across 5 sites of care, including the VAMC, WHC, and the PCCs.
• Engages in close coordination with PCBH Care Managers and their supervisor(s) regarding programmatic requirements and needs.
• Serves as the POC for PACT Peer Specialists and floating BHS staff assigned to/covering PCBH at designated clinic site on matters related to PCBH programing.
• Program management responsibilities include the development of short- and long-range goals and plans, development and implementation of policies and procedures to ensure goal attainment, management of administrative and programmatic resources, and outcomes monitoring using data-driven quality assurance processes.
• Serves as liaison between MH and PC on day-to-day coordination of care issues.
• Leads PCBH in supporting Primary Care Provider (PCP) decision-making, building on PCP interventions and improving PCP-patient working relationships.
• Provides leadership and guidance in carrying out program planning, outcome evaluation, and staff development activities.
• Provides the expertise and leadership so that the integrated care and collaborative practice model is fully implemented, allowing patients to remain with their PCP for the full range of their health care needs to the extent that this is clinically appropriate.
• Assumes responsibility for developing and implementing procedures so that the minimum structural and process requirements stipulated by VACO for the Primary Care-Mental Health Integration Funded programs are satisfied.

• Work Schedule: Full-Time, Monday-Friday, compressed tour may be considered
  Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized
  Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized
  EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact , the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance.
  Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases
  Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year)
  Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior [work experience] or military service experience.
  Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.
  Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66.
  Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA
  Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)
  Telework: Available (Ad Hoc)
  Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
  Functional Statement #: 593-00973-F
  

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 (). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification 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).
• 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. Psychologists must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3j.
• Education.
  • Have a doctoral degree in psychology from a graduate program in psychology accredited by the American Psychological Association, the Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System or the Canadian Psychological Association 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. For the purpose of meeting this requirement, the term "specialty area" refers to the specific specialty areas recognized by the accrediting body and not to specific job duties that might require special skills. Currently, APA accredits doctoral programs in the specialty areas of clinical psychology, counseling psychology, school psychology, or combinations of two or more of those areas. PCSAS accredits doctoral programs in psychological clinical science. CPA accredits doctoral programs in clinical psychology, counseling psychology, clinical neuropsychology, and school psychology. 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. Strictly for the purpose of determining eligibility for appointment as a psychologist in VHA, there is no distinction between the specialty areas (with the exception of school psychology).
  • Have a doctoral degree in any area of psychology and, in addition, successfully complete a re-specialization program (including documentation of an approved internship completed as part of the re-specialization program) meeting both of the following conditions:
    1. The re-specialization program must be completed in an APA, or a CPA accredited doctoral program; and,
    2. the specialty in which the applicant is retrained must be consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed.
    3. OR,
    4. Have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally accredited institution, with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature. AND,

Internships

• Have 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. OR
• 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 and the VHA Office of Academic Affiliations at the time that the individual was an intern, OR
• 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; OR,
• Applicants who completed an internship that was not accredited by APA or CPA at the time the program was completed may be considered eligible for hire 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.) OR,
• Applicants who have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally accredited institution with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature may fulfill this internship requirement by having the equivalent of a one-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 one-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.
English Language Proficiency. Social workers must be proficient in spoken and written English.

Board Certification. Persons hired to psychology positions in the VHA who completed an internship that was not accredited at the time the program was completed must be 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. The board certificate must be current and the applicant must abide by the certifying body's requirement for continuing education.

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).
Grandfathering Provision. [All persons employed in VHA as a psychologist on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series and grade held, including positive education (i.e., degree and internship requirements) and licensure/certification that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation. (1) Employees grandfathered under this provision for this revision may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level, or changed to lower grade within the occupation, but may not be promoted beyond the journey level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions or beyond the assignment currently held for those being grandfathered to assignments above FPL.] (2) Psychologists who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed on a temporary or permanent basis until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard. (3) Psychologists initially grandfathered into this occupation who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure that meet all of the basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation.

Psychology Program Manager, GS-14
Experience: At least three years of experience as a professional psychologist, with at least one year equivalent to the GS-13 grade level.
Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:

• 1. Ability to organize work, set priorities, delegate tasks, and meet multiple deadlines.
  2. Knowledge of and ability to utilize evidence based practices and clinical practice guidelines appropriately and ability to guide staff in using these tools.
  3. Ability to deal effectively with individuals or groups representing widely divergent backgrounds, interests, and points of view.
  4. Skill in managing and directing the work of others to accomplish program goals and objectives.
  5. Ability to translate management goals and objectives into well-coordinated and controlled work operations.
  6. Ability to establish and monitor production and performance priorities and standards.
  7. Ability to analyze organizational and operational problems and to develop and implement solutions that result in sound operation of the program.

Preferred Experience: Supervisory, Program Management, Medical-Mental Health Integrated Care Settings.

References: VA Handbook 5005/103, Part II Appendix G18