Psychologist- Outpatient Mental Health

Summary

The Battle Creek VA Medical Center's Psychiatry Service is hiring Psychologists to serve in the outpatient mental health clinics. This position has primarily clinical duties in outpatient clinics. The incumbent diagnoses mental disorders, conducts psychological assessments, treats mental disorders through a variety of modalities, and provides adjunctive interventions for treatment of medical disorders.

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Duties

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.

Duties of this position may include, but are not limited to:

• Psychological assessment and consultation
• Psychological assessment may involve interviewing and/or testing of patients. The incumbent will be available to consult with other staff members and make recommendations of the types of psychological evaluations that would be beneficial. He/She will oversee the administration and scoring of psychological assessment procedures, interpretations and report the findings of the evaluation in the medical record in a timely fashion. He/She will assist in integrating the findings into the treatment plan for patients.
• Psychological treatment
• The incumbent conducts psychological and/or brief/basic neuropsychological assessments and can treat mental health problems in patients in an inpatient mental health care setting, applies principles/techniques of behavioral health to patients being treated for medical/mental health conditions, including assisting patients with improving health behaviors, smoking cessation, pain management, adherence to recommended treatments, managing chronic or terminal illness and assisting in or developing new therapy groups and practices.
• Research
• Although this is a clinical position, the incumbent psychologist has the opportunity to develop hypotheses and research designs and prepare or implement research programs on his/her own time. Individual research protocols must be submitted for approval to the Committee on the Protection of Human Subjects as well as the Medical Center's Research and Development Committee, and the local Investigational Review Board (IRB) (Ann Arbor). Outcome or other types of research-focused programming may be required by the Veterans Affairs Central Office (VACO) and official time will then be allocated as needed to complete any required research directives. Any VACO protocols will have been preapproved by a national IRB and can be implemented as soon as available. The psychologist may serve as a consultant to other staff members on their research projects and may be asked to collaborate with others under the same criteria noted above. The incumbent may be asked to present and/or share, any or all pertinent information, obtained in the educational activities noted above, that were supported in part or totally by the BCVAMC with other staff.
• Education and training
• The incumbent may provide clinical supervision to psychology students, including Postdoctoral Psychology residents or Psychology Interns in the American Psychological Association (APA) approved predoctoral internship at Battle Creek VAMC, if mutually agreed upon with the Service Chief. In addition, the psychologist may conduct seminars, case conferences or other educational meetings in his/her area/s of expertise.

The incumbent interacts and works with clinicians from other disciplines as a member of a multidisciplinary treatment team. The incumbent is skillful in interpersonal relationships including conflict resolution and the ability to work collaboratively with staff from other professions.

The incumbent is responsible for timely completion of all clinical charting and documentation required by the VAMC for veterans for whom the incumbent provides services.

The psychologist will perform all other duties assigned by the Program Manager, Inpatient Mental Health, even though they may not be outlined above, as long as he or she can do so without violating ethical standards and are approved, credentialed and privileged by the PSB.

Work Schedule: Mon-Fri 8:00am-4:30pm.

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized

EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.Contact VHA.ELRSProgramSupport@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more

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Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• You may be required to serve a probationary period.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details.
  
  

Qualifications

Basic Requirements:

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  United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
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  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.
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  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 re-specialization program meeting both of the following conditions: a) the re-specialization 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.
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  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 fulltime, 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.
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  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.
  
  

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).

Experience: In additional to meeting the basic requirements as stated above, you must have the following:

• 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:
  
  
  
  

1. 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: Psychologist Qualification Standard



Physical Requirements: Light Lifting (under 15 lbs); Light carrying (under 15 lbs); Straight pulling (1hr); Walking (2hr); Standing (2hr); Ability for rapid mental and muscular coordination simultaneously; Far vision correctable in one eye to 20/20 and to 20/40 in the other; Hearing aid permitted.

Education


IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application



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. 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.

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.

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