Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor

Summary

This position is located within the (VHA), VA Augusta Health Care System Mental Health Service, in the Substance Use Recovery Center (SURC). The Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (LPMHC) practices independently at the advanced licensure level and provides professional counseling, diagnostic evaluations, treatment planning, and recovery-oriented interventions to Veterans experiencing substance use disorders (SUD) and co-occurring mental health conditions.

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Duties

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Duties to include but not limited to:

• Independently provides specialized counseling services for Veterans with SUD, co-occurring mental health diagnoses, and complex psychosocial needs.
• Delivers recovery-focused interventions aimed at increasing motivation, enhancing coping skills, reducing use, preventing relapse, and supporting long-term recovery.
• Uses advanced clinical judgment to assess withdrawal risk, overdose risk, trauma exposure, psychosocial instability, legal issues, and other factors that impact recovery.
• Conducts detailed biopsychosocial assessments including substance use history, treatment experiences, strengths, barriers, and readiness for change.
• Provides diagnostic impressions within LPMHC professional scope, integrating co-occurring mental health and SUD considerations.
• Evaluates complex multiple causation (psychological, social, medical, environmental) to determine individualized treatment needs.
• Develops individualized treatment plans encompassing relapse-prevention strategies, recovery goals, risk-mitigation plans, counseling modalities, and interdisciplinary coordination.
• Determines appropriate use of VA and community resources, including detoxification services, residential SUD programs, psychosocial rehabilitation, MAT support, peer services, and sober-living environments.
• Provides consultation and recommendations to interdisciplinary team members, community partners, and other clinical providers regarding assessment findings and care strategies
• Provides individual, group, and family counseling using evidence-based modalities for SUD (MI, CBT-SUD, harm-reduction approaches, contingency management where appropriate, relapse-prevention curricula).
• Facilitates structured SUD groups, psychoeducation classes, early recovery skills groups, and therapeutic workshops.
• Encourages Veterans and families to explore concerns, evaluate consequences of substance use, consider alternatives, and develop plans for recovery.
• Coordinates referrals to community or VA resources such as halfway houses, shelters, residential treatment facilities, and vocational/educational programs.
• Participates in SURC program development, evaluation of treatment effectiveness, creation of clinical guidelines, and improvement of service delivery.
• Uses outcome measures, practice-based evidence, peer review, and case-conference participation to evaluate and improve clinical practice.
• Adjusts treatment plans based on ongoing assessment, clinical response, and changing Veteran needs.
• Educates Veterans and family/significant others on substance use, mental health conditions, relapse prevention strategies, coping skills, and recovery planning.
• Provides orientation and training to new LPMHCs, Social Workers, and interdisciplinary team members.
• Serves as a mentor to less-experienced counselors and provides clinical support to trainees, interns, and students.
• Educates interdisciplinary staff on psychosocial dynamics, SUD impact, recovery principles, and counseling approaches.
• Independently documents assessments, diagnostics, treatment plans, process notes, safety plans, case consultations, referrals, and follow-up care in electronic and paper formats according to VA and clinic standards.
• Ensures documentation reflects expert diagnosis, ethical counseling practices, and clear justification for treatment decisions.

Work Schedule : Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm; subject to change based upon agency needs

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.
• 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 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 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

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.
• 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 havefrom 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. 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

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).

Grade Determinations :

GS-183-12-Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor

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:

1.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.

2.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.

3.Ability to coordinate the delivery of specialized psychosocial services and programs. Ability to design system changes based on data.

4.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.

5.Ability to teach, mentor staff and trainees, and provide supervision for licensure or for specialty certifications.

6.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 working in substance use, interdisciplinary teams, brief evidence-based interventions, and brief/focused assessments.

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

Physical Requirements: Please refer to VA Handbook 5019

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: 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:

Additional information

Receiving Service Credit for 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.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

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