- Citizenship. Citizen of the United States.
- Licensure. Applicants 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 38 U.S.C. 7405(c)(2)(B) not to exceed 2 years from date of employment on the condition that such a psychologist provide care only under the supervision of a psychologist who is licensed].
- Education. Applicant 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 applicants are to be employed. For the purpose of meeting this requirement, the term "specialty area" refers to the specific specialty areas recognized by the accrediting body and not to specific job duties that might require special skills. Currently, APA accredits doctoral programs in the specialty areas of clinical psychology, counseling psychology, school psychology, or combinations of two or more of those areas. PCSAS accredits doctoral programs in psychological clinical science. CPA accredits doctoral programs in clinical psychology, counseling psychology, clinical neuropsychology, and school psychology; OR Have a doctoral degree in any area of psychology and, in addition, successfully complete a re-specialization program (including documentation of an approved internship completed as part of the re-specialization program) meeting both of the following conditions:
The re-specialization program must be completed in an APA or a CPA accredited doctoral program;
and
- The specialty in which the applicant is retrained must be consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed. OR
- Have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally accredited institution, with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature.
AND
- Internships. Applicants 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 OR
- 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.
Grade Determinations:
GS-11 Experience: None beyond the basic requirements listed above.
GS-12 Experience: Applicants must have at least 1 year of experience as a professional psychologist equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-11). In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:
- 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 Experience: Applicants must have at least 2 years of experience as a professional psychologist, with at least one year equivalent to the GS-12 level. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:
- Knowledge of, and ability to apply, professional psychological treatments to the 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.
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.
References: VA Handbook 5005/103, Part II, Appendix G18, Psychologist Qualification Standard GS-180 Veterans Health Administration.
Physical Requirements: The work requires the Staff Psychologist to be independently mobile throughout the medical center as needed. Significant time is spent reading (charts, reports, etc.), documenting in the computerized patient record, and verbally communicating with patients, colleagues, supervisors and/or community partners. Some standing, walking, bending, pushing, and lifting (moderately heavy) may be involved. S/he should be capable of prolonged movement and be physically capable of reading patient records/reports, documenting all clinical encounters in the patient computerized record.
VA HANDBOOK 5005/106, PART II, APPENDIX G43 dated April 3, 2018.
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.