Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor

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.

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Duties

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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 : Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 4:30 pm; some nights and weekends required.

Telework : Ad-hoc

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement # : 82263A

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives : Not 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

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. LPMHC must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, Section A, paragraph 3j.
• Education: You must have 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. Additional information may be obtained from
  • 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.

Grade Determinations : Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (LPMHC), GS-12:

• 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:
  • 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

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.

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

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.