Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor

The Oklahoma City VA Health Care System, Mental Health Service, is currently recruiting for One Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor to help care for our Veterans at the Stillwater VA Clinic. 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. Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement. Basic Requirements Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. Education : 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. 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. Failure to Obtain License . In all cases, LPMHCs must actively pursue meeting state prerequisites for licensure starting from the date of their appointment. Failure to become licensed within three years from date of appointment will result in removal from the GS-0183 LPMHC series and may result in termination of employment. 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-0183 LPMHC occupation and may result in termination of employment. English Proficiency Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). 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 In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. GS-12 Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (Above the Full Performance Level) Experience, Education, and Licensure. In addition to the basic requirements, candidates must have: 1 year of post-master's OR post- doctoral degree mental health counseling experience (VA or non-VA experience) and must be licensed to practice at the independent practice level and demonstrate the KSAs in subparagraph (c) below. Senior LPMHCs must have 5 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. AND must meet the below GS 11 KSAs 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 Knowledge Skills and Abilities. In addition to meeting the KSAs for the GS-11 grade level, the candidate must demonstrate all of the GS-12 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 This vacancy is a GS-12 position, which is above the Full Performance Level. Physical Requirements The work is moderately active. Typically, the employee is driving a vehicle, walking around various facilities/settings, visiting with patients or community partners standing up, and at times sits comfortably while working. There will also be some light exertion required when walking, standing, bending or climbing stairs, carrying of light items such as papers, books, laptop, small objects, or driving an automobile. Must be able to sit/stand for long periods of time and lift 20 lbs. #J-18808-Ljbffr US-Department-of-Veterans-Affair