Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor-Substance Use Disorder (SUD)

Duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to: The incumbent has the ability to serve Veterans who tend to have frequent and severe crises, lack family or an adequate community support network, be poor at self-monitoring, and frequently fail to comply with instructions and treatment, or have significant deficits in coping skills and require continuing professional psychosocial support.

Provide ongoing comprehensive psychosocial services to Veterans and their families who have complex medical or psychiatric problems when needed for coverage or times of increased workload.

Incumbent ensures that programs provide integrated and highly coordinated services (resource information, linkages, consultative, crisis intervention, discharge planning, etc.).

The incumbent provides referral to VA medical and mental health treatment and to other VA services including VA benefits, as well as community-based social services and other non-VA entitlement programs.

The Substance Use Disorders Senior LPMHC independently evaluates the client's situation, including the Veteran's reaction and ability to deal with it, and arrives at a reasoned conclusion. Based on psychosocial assessment, professional judgment and advanced practice skills to make a psychosocial diagnosis.

Assesses at risk factors and develops a preliminary disposition plan involving the Veteran and family or significant others. Performs insightful assessment of serious and complicated cases involving substance use/use disorders involving psychiatric, catastrophic medical conditions, dementia and other high-risk diagnoses.

Makes independent professional decisions and recommendations for agency action. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 08:00am - 04:30pm Telework: Ad-hoc/Situational-Occasional, Non-routine Virtual: This is not a virtual position Functional Statement #: 82727F EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.

Contact VISN8CCOE@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more

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.

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.

NOTE: It is VHA policy that a LPMHC who does not yet have a license that allows independent practice must be supervised by a licensed independent practitioner of the same discipline who is a VA staff member and who has access to the electronic health record.

Exception: VHA may waive the licensure requirement for persons who are otherwise qualified, pending completion of state prerequisites for licensure. This exception only applies up to the full performance level. For grade levels at or above the full performance level, the candidate must be licensed.

The appointing official may waive the requirement of licensure for a period not to exceed 3 years for a LPMHC that provides care under the clinical supervision of a licensed LPMHC who is at or above the full performance level. This exception only applies at the entry level (GS-9).

For grade levels at or above the full performance level, the candidate must be licensed. The Human Resources Office will provide the unlicensed LPMHC in writing the requirement to obtain licensure, the date by which the license must be acquired, and the consequences for not becoming licensed by the deadline.

The written notice must be provided prior to the entrance on duty date. Failure to Obtain License: In all cases, LPMHCs must actively pursue meeting state prerequisites for licensure starting from the date of their appointment.

Failure to become licensed within three years from date of appointment will result in removal from the GS-0183 LPMHC series and may result in termination of employment.

Loss of Licensure: Once licensed, LPMHCs must maintain a full, valid, and unrestricted license to independently practice mental health counseling, which includes diagnosis and treatment. Loss of licensure will result in removal from the GS-0183 LPMHC occupation and may result in termination of employment.

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.

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).

Grade Determinations: In addition to meeting the basic requirements stated above, the following qualifications criteria must be met in determining the appropriate grade assignment of candidates.

GS-12 Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor Experience, Education, and Licensure: In addition to the basic requirements, candidates must have at least one year of progressively complex LPMHC experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level.

Senior LPMHCs must have five years of post-licensed experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment, demonstrating progressive professional competency and expertise and be licensed to provide clinical supervision to trainees or unlicensed LPMHCs.

While we no longer require essay-style responses to our Knowledge's Skills, Abilities, and Other Characteristics (KSAOs), you must be able to demonstrate that you possess the (below) competencies which are necessary to perform the work of the position.

Please ensure your resume/CV/application contains sufficient information to support the level of experience/education/training; otherwise, we will not be able to award you credit for the experience/education/training you claim.

These are the KSA's for this subject position: 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.

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.

Ability to coordinate the delivery of specialized psychosocial services and programs. Ability to design system changes based on data.

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. Ability to teach, mentor staff and trainees, and provide supervision for licensure or for specialty certifications.

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

Preferred Experience: 2 years of full-time experience in a Substance Use Disorder (SUD) program.

Expertise in evidence-based SUD clinical care, supervision or mentorship of staff, program development and quality improvement, collaboration within multidisciplinary teams, and competence serving different populations including those with co-occurring mental health disorders.

Physical Requirements: May require standing, lifting, carrying, sitting, stooping, bending, pulling, and pushing. May be required to wear personal protective equipment and undergo annual TB screening or testing as conditions of employment. Ability to drive/operate government vehicle.