Clarification from the agency

Open to Current Permanent Veterans Health Administration (Agency) Employees ONLY, including Current Permanent Miami VA Healthcare System (Facility) Employees. Facility Employees will have FIRST consideration.

This position is located within the Mental Health Service at the Bruce W. Carter Department VA Medical Center in Miami, FL. The Psychology Technician provides administration and support for psychological testing under the supervision of a credentialed clinical psychologist and other duties as assigned.

Major duties and responsibilities include:

• Administration, scoring and reporting of structured psychological instruments identified by the supervising staff psychologist which could include standardized interviews, checklists, evaluations, questionnaires, and other evaluative instruments.
• Conducting standardized interviews, evaluations and screenings as assigned by the supervising staff psychologist; uses appropriate age and cultural norms in gathering and reporting data and observations.
• Conducts risk assessments, providing crisis interventions and safety planning, and referring the Veteran for clinical services as appropriate.
• Establishes rapport with the Veterans, their families and caregivers being served. Interacts therapeutically and appropriately with psychiatric and medically ill patients, their families and caregivers, Awareness of psychological state of the patient at all times during contact and clinical work. Awareness of role of age and cultural norms in these issues.
• Conducts psychoeducational interventions: administration, observation, evaluation, and reporting of the following educational interventions. Provides standard classroom lecture format, computer assisted psychoeducation, stress management and relaxation techniques, cognitive rehabilitation techniques, communication and assertiveness training, problem solving skills, habit management, relapse prevention, compliance with treatment, and other more specialized topics as identified and assigned by the supervising staff psychologist. The technician will be responsible for maintaining the standard therapeutic environment critical for the clinical effectiveness of the psychoeducational interventions. Included therein is the ability to instruct patients in the use of the computer or tablet where on-line interactive education is appropriate.
• Individual and group support and counseling services under the supervision of a licensed, credentialed psychologist. Provides supportive and beneficial individual and psychoeducational group services by using active listening skills, establishing rapport, providing support, and helping patients to explore constructive coping strategies. Working with the Veteran, family members and caregivers, and other members of the treatment team to identify strengths, needs, assets, preferences, goals and challenges and develop a treatment plan.
• Working with Veterans to help them to implement the treatment plan, regularly assess progress, and achieve goals. Write clear and succinct documentation of all services provided in electronic medical record and enter all appropriate workload.
• Collecting, entering, and tracking information and data into spreadsheets as directed by supervising psychologist.
• Provides patient care and support in behavioral health or mental health settings, including psychiatric or substance abuse treatment areas. Applies Prevention and Management of Disruptive Behavior (PMDB) techniques.
• Conducting administrative duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 4:30 pm (This position requires the ability to work weekends on either Saturdays or Sundays)
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Psychology Technician/PD06931A

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
• 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 dentification 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)

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period 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 probationary period or trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 05/29/2026.

Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-7 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-5. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade.

Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

EDUCATION REQUIREMENT: Completion of a bachelor's degree or higher from an accredited college or university with a major in an appropriate social or biological science, which included or was supplemented by 12 semester hours in psychology.
NOTE: You must submit copies of transcripts at the time of application. Education will not be credited without documentation. Please ensure that your transcripts show that a degree was conferred. Display copies of degrees or course listings do not provide the information needed.

~ AND ~

In addition to the above requirement, in order to meet the minimum qualifications for this position at the GS- 7 level you must have:

Experience: Two years of technical work under the direction of a professional psychologist. At least 6 months of this experience must be comparable in difficulty and responsibility to the next lower grade in the Federal service (GS-6), or 6 months comparable to the second lower grade (GS-5).
Technical duties include experience with one or more of the following: (1) Assisting in research as in systematic collection of psychology research data, recording and collecting data, preparing tabular or graphic presentation of data, in accordance with a predetermined research plan; (2) Assisting counseling psychologists in contacting potential employers for the purpose of making vocational placement, providing follow-up consultation, administering and scoring of interest, achievement and aptitude tests, securing work history and other relevant vocational information; (3) Assisting neuropsychologists in administering and scoring of selected tests of neuropsychology battery in accordance with clearly defined procedures; or (4) Assisting psychologists in completing behavior rating scales or in conducting behavior modification.

NOTE: Experience under the direction of a professional psychologist is required and MUST be documented on your resume. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

~OR~

SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION FOR EXPERIENCE: 1 full year of graduate study in psychology in an accredited college or university may be substituted for 1 years of experience and meets in full the requirements at the GS-7 level. Transcripts must be submitted at the time of application.

~OR~

SUPERIOR ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT (SAA): For the Psychology Technician, you may qualify based on superior academic achievement (SAA). Select the ONE statement below which best describes your educational background. NOTE: Transcripts (unofficial or official) must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation.

• I graduated in the top third of my class. Class is defined as the college, university, or major subdivision, such as the College of Liberal Arts or the School of Business Administration.
• I graduated with a Grade-point average of 2.95 or higher out of a possible 4.0. This grade point average could have been determined based on 4 years of education or based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum.
• I graduated with a grade-point average of 3.45 or higher out of a possible 4.0 based on courses required for my major field or courses in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum.
• I am a member of a national scholastic honor society.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY: In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), No person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. You must be proficient in basic written and spoken English in order to meet the requirements of this position.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Attention to Detail
• Customer Service
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Intervention
• Psychological Assessment
• Reading Comprehension
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork

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.

Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

Physical Requirements: Applicants must be physically and mentally able to efficiently perform the essential functions of the position without hazard to themselves or others. Depending on the essential duties of a specific position, usable vision, color vision, hearing, or speech may be required. However, in most cases, a specific physical condition or impairment will not automatically disqualify an applicant for appointment. The loss or impairment of a specific function may be compensated for by the satisfactory use of a prosthesis or mechanical aid. Reasonable accommodation may also be considered in determining an applicant's ability to perform the duties of a position. Reasonable accommodation may include, but is not limited to: the use of assistive devices, job modification or restructuring, provision of readers and interpreters, or adjusted work schedules.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

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 WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or contact for an interview. Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

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.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the 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:

• Resume
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action

The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position. Please make sure you have included other documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), SF-50's (current/former Federal employees), documentation to support Veterans Preference claims, or ICTAP/CTAP documentation (for displaced Federal employees). You will not be contacted for additional information.

• Cover Letter
• Professional Certification
• Resume
• Separation Notice (RIF)
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action (if applicable for Time in Grade and/or Eligibility):

• Most recent SF-50 if you are a current or former Federal employee
• An SF-50 showing your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade
• Award 50's do not provide sufficient information and will not be accepted for the purpose of verifying time-in-grade.
• Examples of appropriate SF-50's include:
  • Within grade increases at the highest grade held; or
  • Promotions with an effective date more than one year old; or
  • SF-50's at the highest grade held with an effective date more than one year old.

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