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Psychologist (Community Based Outpatient Clinic)

Employer
USAJobs
Location
Charlotte Hall, Maryland
Closing date
Sep 26, 2020
Duties

Summary

You could be part of an important initiative to provide mental health care for our nations Veterans! The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) needs mental health professionals who possess the energy, compassion, and commitment to serve those who serve our Country. Whatever the job title, every position in VA will give you a chance to make a meaningful and personal contribution to the lives of truly special and deserving people - our Veterans. America's Veterans need you!
Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

This announcement is open until positions are filled.

As a Licensed Provider for the Department of Veterans Affairs, you will practice independently in the provision of psychological services, engage in professional and scientific work which relates to behavior, capacities, personality, interests, emotions and mental disorders. Consulting with peers and supervisors as appropriate.

PLEASE NOTE: Qualified clinical trainees, residents, fellows, interns, etc. are encouraged to apply; please follow the instructions in the How to Apply section.

The incumbent will serve as a psychologist providing evidence-based psychotherapy and other psychologist's services primarily for the Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) of the DC VA Medical Center The incumbent will provide a range of individual and group psychotherapy services, and psychological evaluations.

The incumbent will provide a full range of psychological services utilizing best practices in implementing psychotherapeutic techniques to provide quality care. Familiarity and skill in evidence based practices, such as CBT, CPT and DBT are expected. Incumbent works with interdisciplinary teams at each CBOC for the coordination of service delivery that may include screenings, intakes, diagnostic assessments and treatment of veterans with a wide range of mental health problems. The psychologist will provide therapeutic interventions including individual therapy, group therapy couples/family therapy psycho-education, and consultation. The psychologist will conduct evaluations to aid in the differential diagnosis of complex cases. Services will be provided both face to face as well as utilizing tele-mental health at the Montgomery County CBOC while services will be provided fully through tele-mental health at the Charlotte Hall CBOC as the position will be full-time telework - the salary for the position would be adjusted based on the location in which you would be located (the salary reflected in the announcement is that of the Washington, DC locality).

Major duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
  • Diagnose mental disorders, conduct psychological or neuropsychological assessments, treat mental disorders through a variety of modalities, and provide adjunctive interventions for treatment of medical disorders
  • Provide are individual, family, and group psychotherapies and other interventions such as behavioral health and community interventions
  • Consult with medical center staff on a wide variety of patient care issues. Staff psychologists may be involved in program evaluation, teaching, training, and research activities
  • May be called upon to provide clinical coverage or back-up for colleagues.
  • Work assignments may vary at times due to changing clinical needs.
  • Must possess the analytical ability to research, assemble, and compile information and data, evaluate the results against appropriate standards, and recommend corrective action where indicated and to translate research into practical interventions for improved patient outcome.
  • Provide urgent and emergent care to veterans.
  • Participation in committees of the Psychology Service, Mental Health Service, Medical Center, and VHA is part of the professional role of the position.
  • Provide therapeutic interventions including individual therapy, group therapy, couples/family therapy, psycho-education, and consultation.
  • Conduct evaluations to aid in the differential diagnosis of complex cases.
  • Services will be provided both face-to-face at each Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) as well as through the utilization of tele-mental health.
Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00am until 4:30pm
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP).

Travel Required

Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
13

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

  • You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
  • Applicants tentatively selected are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior and will not be appointed if a verified positive drug test result is received. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment.
  • Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
  • You may be required to serve a probationary period
  • Subject to a background/security investigation
  • Must be proficient in written and spoken English
  • Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process


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 Requirement - Per VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, Section A, Paragraph 3j: No person will be appointed under authority of 38 U.S.C., chapter 73 or 74, to serve in a direct patient-care capacity in VHA who is not proficient in written and spoken English.
  • Education Requirement - You must have a doctoral degree in psychology from a graduate program in psychology accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA), the Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System (PCSAS), or the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) 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. OR, have a doctoral degree in any area of psychology and, in addition, successfully completed a respecialization program meeting both of the following conditions: a) the respecialization program must be completed in an APA or a CPA accredited doctoral program; and b) the specialty in which you were retrained is consistent with the assignment you are am applying for; OR, have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally-accredited institution, with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature.
  • Internship Requirement - You must 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). NOTE: 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: Candidates must 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. Exception: Non-licensed applicants who otherwise meet the eligibility requirements may be given a temporary appointment as a "graduate psychologist" at the GS-11 or GS-12 grade under the authority of 38 U.S.C. 7405 (c)(2)(B) for a period not to exceed two years from the date of employment on the condition that such a psychologist provide care only under the supervision of a psychologist who is licensed. Failure to obtain licensure during that period is justification for termination of the temporary appointment.
  • Experience: In additional to meeting the basic requirements as stated above, you must have the following:
    • GS-11 Level: no additional experience beyond the basic requirement
    • GS-12 Level: at least 1 full year of experience as a professional psychologist equivalent to the GS-11 level, and are able to demonstrate the following knowledge, skills and abilities:
    • Knowledge of and ability to apply a wide range of professional psychological treatments or assessment methods to a variety of patient populations.
    • Ability to design and implement effective treatment strategies.
    • Ability to incorporate new clinical procedures.
    • Ability to conduct research activities, such as designing and implementing clinical research projects (staff psychologists with specified research job duties).
    • Ability to perform basic research tasks of scholarship and research execution within the context of an established research team, including research participant relations, research documentation, data acquisition, maintenance, and collaboration.
    • GS-13 Level: at least 2 addition years of experience, with at least one year equivalent to the GS-12 level, as a professional psychologist that was obtained through employment as a psychologist or through participating in a supervised post-doctoral psychology training program that demonstrates 1) active professional practice that was paid/non-paid employment and/or 2) a full, current and unrestricted license. To be creditable, the experience must have required the use of knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics associated with current psychology practice:
    • Knowledge of, and ability to apply, professional psychological treatments to a full range of patient populations.
    • Ability to provide professional advice and consultation in areas related to professional psychology and behavioral health.
    • Knowledge of clinical research literature.
*Experience is only creditable if it is post-doctoral degree experience as a professional psychologist directly related to the duties performed.

Reference: VA Regulations, specifically VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Appendix G18 Psychologist Qualification Standard. This can be found in the local Human Resources Office.

Physical Requirements: Emotional and mental stability; communication abilities; working alone; working closely with others.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-13. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-11 to GS-13.

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: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/ . 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: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html .

Additional information

Receiving Service Credit or 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. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. 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.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

This is a random drug testing position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

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.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.

If you are unable to apply online, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application .

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, résumé, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

NOTE: The Professional Standards Board (a peer-review group) will review the selected candidate's education and experience and recommend the grade and salary at which the candidate will be placed. For internal selectees eligible for promotion, the board will recommend grade and HR will determine step in accordance with policy.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Not Required

Drug test required
Yes

Required Documents

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes:

  • VA Form 10-2850C
  • Resume
  • Transcript


VA Form 10-2850c - Application for Associated Health Occupations can be found at: http://www.va.gov/vaforms/search_action.asp?FormNo=2850&tkey=&Action=Search .

The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position. Please use this checklist to ensure you have included all documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), SF-50's (current/former Federal employees), etc.
  • Cover Letter
  • DD-214/ Statement of Service
  • Disability Letter (VA)
  • License
  • VA Form 10-2850C
  • Resume
  • SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
  • Transcript


If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education .

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

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