Senior Counselor - Marriage and Family Therapist (Advanced)

Summary

This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific eligibility requirements per VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Program Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) & eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after review of the EDRP application. Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply.

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Duties

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NOTE: This position can be recruited multi-disciplinary and can be filled by: Marriage & Family, Social Worker & Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor. Each discipline is announced separately, and applicants must apply to the announcement for which they are qualified.

The Vet Center Senior Counselor provides direct counseling services, outreach, referral, and follow-up care coordination to eligible individuals, couples, and family members. The Senior Counselor plays a key role in the coordination of client care and staff professional development, providing expert clinical consultation to other clinicians on complex psychosocial conditions, relational and readjustment stress utilizing evidence-based family systems theory/therapy. Responsible for the following domains of service for providing direct readjustment counseling to eligible clients and for developing staff performance through training and clinical supervision.

• Direct Service Provision: Independently implement professional clinical practice applications in the provision of readjustment counseling to individuals, couples, families, and groups.

• Risk Assessment and Crisis Intervention : Provides consultation and associated support for staff developing crisis intervention strategies, which includes assessment, safety planning, and complex treatment planning using independent clinical judgment using family systems theory/therapy.

• Care Coordination: Communicates routinely with inter-professional team members and leadership to communicate about program and patient issues for in-depth problem solving, while consistently modeling ethical and professional behaviors and standards to include multicultural awareness. Serves on committees, work groups, and task forces at the facility, Medical Center and Zone, District, or national level, or in the community as deemed appropriate by the Vet Center Director.

• Outreach: Acts as clinical consultant to the Vet Center outreach workers to improve their sensitivity to clinical indicators and basic interviewing questions to expedite the transition of prospective clients contacted on outreach to actual Vet Center readjustment counseling clients. Actively Coordinates with Vet Center Outreach Specialists to ensure seamless referral of individuals engaged in the community at outreach events.

• Documentation/Administrative Responsibilities/Consultation: Actively participate in one-to-one clinical and administrative oversight during administrative and clinical staff meetings as directed by the Vet Center Director. Documents clinical interactions and services delivered as required by policy.

• Screening and Assessment: Works directly with eligible individuals to establish a therapeutic relationship sufficient for completing all required readjustment counseling intake procedures to include an assessment of risk for self-harm and psychosocial stressors.

• Counseling Planning/Goal Setting: Based on the outcome of the intake, will develop and periodically update an individualized readjustment counseling service plan that reflects a course of therapeutic and psychosocial interventions, inclusive of outcome measurements.
• Clinical Supervision, Consultation, Training, Review and Evaluation : Provides clinical consultation services to other staff members with clinical service responsibilities under the supervision of the Vet Center Director. The scope of clinical consultation services will include all aspects of direct readjustment counseling service such as advising on the clinical assessment, service planning, and case coordination with community providers when the individual's needs are beyond the scope of services available at a Vet Center.
  • Will provide clinical consultation and supervision to meet the requirements for independent licensure with special attention to providing to unlicensed staff/trainees systematic clinical supervision towards licensure.
  • Will provide clinical oversight (chart auditing, etc) as outlined by policy.
• Team cohesion and coordination: Actively participate in staff meetings designed to promote team building and staff development.
• Other Duties: May perform other duties as assigned as appropriate for the grade and assignment and which are within the scope of practice

Work Schedule : 8:00am - 4:30pm Monday thru Friday some evenings and weekends possible, standard operational hours with occasional evenings based on operational need of the facility

Telework : Not Available

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement # : 32348A

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives : Recruitment incentive may be authorized

EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.Contact View email address on click.appcast.io, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more

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.
• 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.
• 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

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. MFTs must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, Section A, paragraph 3j.
• Education. Master's or doctoral degree in one of the following:
  • Marriage and Family Therapy from a program approved by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE), OR
  • Marriage and Family Therapy from a MFT program from a regionally accredited institution, OR
  • A comparable mental health degree (Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor, Social Work, Psychiatric Nursing, Psychology, and Psychiatry) that meets the current VA qualification standard of that profession.
• Licensure. Persons hired or reassigned to MFT positions in the GS-0182 series in VHA must hold a full, current, and unrestricted MFT license to independently practice marriage and family therapy in a state.
• Grandfather Provision - An MFT employed in VHA on the effective date of the qualification standard (4/18/2018) 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 all 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.

• Education, Experience and Licensure.
  • In addition to meeting the basic requirements, to qualify for the GS-12 you must possess have you successfully completed evidence-based training in family therapy and graduated from a COAMFTE accredited program OR have passed the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Board (AMFTRB) examination. Candidate must have at least 5 years of post-licensed clinical experience in delivery of family systems therapy (with at least 1 year equivalent to the GS-11 grade level). This experience must demonstrate the use of an evidence-based family therapy model while exhibiting progressive professional competency and expertise that demonstrates the following professional Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities.
    
    
    • Ability to provide specialized consultation for complex cases involving individuals, families and/or couples utilizing evidenced-based family systems theory/therapy.
    • Ability to provide crisis intervention which includes assessment, safety planning and complex treatment planning using independent clinical judgment utilizing family systems theory/therapy.
    • Ability to provide family systems therapy, which seeks to address Veterans and their family members on an individual level and deals with interpersonal interactions.
    • Ability to provide unlicensed MFT staff/trainees with systemic clinical supervision towards licensure from a family systems theory/therapy perspective.
  • Additional Requirement : AAMFT Approved Supervisor credential; this position provides systemic clinical supervision.

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

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

Physical Requirements: The work does not inherently include physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with a workplace accommodation.

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: 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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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.