Clarification from the agency

This position is ONLY open to current, permanent VA Western Colorado Health Care System Employees. NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

• Develop the schedule for all CRT staff & collaborate with on-call mental health providers to ensure that there is appropriate coverage for the ED.
• Identify & develop training for CRT staff as it relates to provision of care, orientation, documentation, etc.
• Serve as a member of the service line leadership, assisting with strategic planning, professional development, hiring, mentoring, coaching, & coverage.
• Function autonomously to set priorities to meet the needs of Veterans, staff, & services collaborated with.
• Communicate effectively with Chief & Deputy Chief about successes, needs, & challenges.
• Facilitate admissions to the Acute Mental Health Unit (5P) &/or collaborates with community facilities for psychiatric resources, to include admission.
• Ensure continuity of care for all Veterans presenting to the ED in mental health crisis by providing intervention &/or facilitating services with another provider(s).
• Provide education &referrals to veterans for community services, & coordinates these services, as necessary. Act as a liaison between community & VA programs as needed.
• Conduct all required Focused Professional Practice Evaluations (FPPE) & Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluations (OPPE).
• Ensure that staff are trained in conducting peer chart reviews.
• Ensure that clinical privileges are appropriate, & where needed additional privileges are requested by staff.
• Provide regular clinical supervision to team.
• Be accountable for practice of self & CRT team, including entering patient visits, appropriate clinical documentation, entering consults, & meeting productivity standards.
• Assess the ongoing needs of staff & provide appropriate education & training.
• Collaborate with other teams & services to increase education, awareness, & training opportunities.
• Appropriately delegate actions & duties to members of the team to promote professional development.
• Communicate with the Chief & Deputy Chief about needs & competing priorities.
• Consult with medical center staff on a wide variety of patient care issues.
• Conduct strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, & challenges (SWOC) assessment of program & address needs appropriately.
• Utilize LEAN principles & practices to respond to organizational & operation needs.
• Determine suicide & homicide risk utilizing current evidence-based research tools. Incumbent will fully assess suicide/homicide risk & protective factors to determine safety of the patients. Complete comprehensive suicide risk evaluations (CSRE), safety planning, & suicide behavior reports, as needed.
• Ensure adherence to facility & national risk management policies for assessment, management, consultation & documentation related to suicide/homicide risk.
• Provide assessment, brief psychotherapeutic interventions, & treatment referrals for veterans presenting with substance use disorders.
• Evaluate options to mitigate potential safety concerns which may include calling police for assistance, providing crisis intervention, mediating conflicts, &/or making referrals to ensure a safe outcome.
• Facilitate transfer &/or discharge from ED with appropriate continuity of care.
• Provide a full range of therapeutic interventions to veterans on the Psychiatric Inpatient Unit as part of after hour behavioral health services, including individual, couples/family & group psychotherapy using empirically supported approaches.
• Conduct daily treatment rounds on the inpatient unit during non-business hours (weekends & holidays).
• Document psychological interventions & consultation activities in the patient's clinical record utilizing the electronic health record (EHR) & ensures an appropriate hand-off & documentation when transferring patient care.
• Apply advanced professional LPMHC knowledge & evidence-based intervention strategies to a full range of complex psychosocial needs in the ED, including psychiatric emergencies, substance abuse treatment, homelessness, abuse, & geriatric psychiatric emergencies.
• Exhibit advance practice skills & clinical judgement in acute psychiatric emergencies.
• Provide a full range of psycho-diagnostic services including assessment & uses the most appropriate psychotherapeutic techniques in providing quality care.
• Perform evaluations for wide array of patients representing diverse diagnostic entities.
• Evaluate patients in the ED for involuntary psychiatric holds (M-1 only) & completes appropriate paperwork.
• Assess the effectiveness of CRT & present these to leadership. Develop metrics for the CRT to show impact of program.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm
Telework: On an ad-hoc basis.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 582920
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized. .
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.Contact VHA.ELRSProgramSupport@va.gov, the EDRP Program Office for questions/assistance. Learn more
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized.

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 (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). 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.

Education. Hold 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 http://www.cacrep.org/directory/.
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.

English Language Proficiency. LPMHCs must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3.j.

Grade Determinations. In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.
Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (Program Manager), GS-13

Experience, Education and Licensure. In addition to the basic requirements, candidates must have at least one year of progressively complex experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level. The experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment, demonstrating progressively more professional competency.

Assignments at the GS-12 level. LPMHCs administratively supervise their licensed staff and/or graduates and are considered LPMHC subject matter experts and may serve as the discipline lead. LPMHCs may provide treatment to patients. They direct the development and implementation of services and treatment to patients through the administrative supervision, mentoring, and oversight of assigned clinical staff. Their experience must demonstrate practice skills in a specialty area or in administration demonstrating progressively more professional competency and judgment.

GS-12, Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs). The candidate must demonstrate all of the KSAs below:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Ability to coordinate the delivery of specialized psychosocial services and programs. Ability to design system changes based on data.
4. 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.
5. Ability to teach, mentor staff and trainees, and provide supervision for licensure or for specialty certifications.
6. 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.

AND

GS-13, Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs). In addition to meeting the KSAs for the GS-12 grade level, the candidate must demonstrate the KSAs below:

1. Ability to make judgments and decisions associated with program management.
2. Ability to monitor program outcomes using data driven quality assurance process.
3. Ability to develop productivity standards appropriate to each service provided.
4. Ability to manage a wide range of programs which include the operation.

Preferred Experience: Understanding of VA Mental Health operations.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-13.

Physical Requirements: Must be in overall good health, able to sit at a desk working at a computer, engage in light to moderate physical
activity including sitting, walking, bending, and carrying supplies. LPMHC must be able to perform primarily light and sedentary duties with occasionally moderate physical demands, exercise patience, and control emotions, with reasonable accommodation, if necessary, without endangering the health and safety of the LPMHC or others. Position requires walking throughout the clinic and/or Medical Center, standing for extended periods of time, and
involves sitting at a computer and in counsel and consultation with Veterans and interdisciplinary teams. This position also requires close visual acuity to perform an activity such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal; extensive reading; and repetitive motions of the wrists, hands, and/or fingers.

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, resume, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

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.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

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

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.

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

• License
• Resume
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

Special Note for Applications: To complete your application, please use the following link https://vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Resume.docx to download the standard Clinical Resume Document. This one-page document does not need to be modified and must be uploaded into the two-page restricted 'Resume' document upload field.

Your full resume/CV may be uploaded without page limitation into the 'Other' document upload field.

The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position. Please 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
• License
• Other (1)
• Professional Certification
• Resume
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

Veterans' preference does not apply for internal or other current permanent Federal agency employees.

Next steps