Staff Psychologist

Clinical Responsibilities

• Provides a full range of biopsychosocial diagnostic services including psychological testing and assessments as well as neuropsychological screening.
• Performs routine and in-depth mental health and psychological evaluations including intake assessments.
• Provides evidence-based psychotherapy and other therapeutic interventions utilizing VA based guidance and guidelines.
• Provides a full range of therapeutic interventions for patients including individual couples and group psychotherapy.
• Uses the most appropriate psychotherapeutic techniques in providing quality care.
• Performs routine brief assessments as appropriate.
• Provides brief mental health and behavioral interventions as appropriate.
• Provides clinical care coordination and case management of patients as appropriate.
• Liaisons/advocates on behalf of the Domiciliary Substance Use Disorder Program team and/or Veteran/caregiver between settings of care both internal and external to the VA.
• Provides patient and caregiver education both in individual and group formats.
• Provides crisis intervention services seeking to address the cause as well as the presenting complaint coordinates family conferences and serves as a liaison to family members as needed.
• Assesses the need for referral for more intensive and/or specialty mental health services.
• Independently identifies high-risk patients and connects with needed resources and services as needed.
• Consults collaborates and coordinates with other staff who provide care to Veteran.
• Completes comprehensive Veteran-centered recovery-focused treatment plans and updates as appropriate/required.
• Completes clinical reminders.
• Monitors the efficiency effectiveness timeliness quality of services offered within the program area.
• Reviews relevant data assesses the data develops and implement ideas for improvement.
• Serves as psychology champion for treatment planning discharge planning and psychosocial and psychotherapeutic needs.

• Provides clinical supervision to psychology trainees.
• Involvement in the training of medical students medical and psychiatric residents nursing students fellows and other graduate or post-graduate trainees as appropriate.

• Serves on Medical Center or Healthcare System VISN and/or National VA committees or task forces as assigned by the Supervisor or the Associate Chief of Staff for Mental Health.
• Represents psychology on decision-making committees at the Medical Center or Healthcare System as assigned by the Supervisor or the Associate Chief of Staff for Mental Health.
• Represents the Medical Center or Healthcare System at professional/program community group/events and committees.
• Serves as a consultant to one or more Vet Center(s) including but not limited to the Vet Centers located in Detroit Pontiac Dearborn and Macomb.
• Perform VA police psychological examinations as needed.
• Contributes to policy formulation and participates in establishing procedures within the assigned area.
• Other duties as assigned.

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.
• 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 ( Effective May 7 2025 drivers licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
• 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.

• 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.

Qualifications

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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 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. (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 candidates doctoral program. If the internship experience is not noted on the applicants 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.
• 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. 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 the authority of 38 U.S.C. 7405 (c)(2)(B) for a period not to exceed two years from the date of employment on the condition that such a psychologist provide care only under the supervision of a psychologist who is licensed. Failure to obtain licensure during that period is justification for termination of the temporary appointment.

• GS11: no additional experience beyond the basic requirement
• GS12: at least 1 full year of experience as a professional psychologist equivalent to the GS11 level and are able to demonstrate the following knowledge skills and abilities:
  1. Knowledge of and ability to apply a wide range of professional psychological treatments or assessment methods to a variety of patient populations.
  2. Ability to design and implement effective treatment strategies.
  3. Ability to incorporate new clinical procedures.
  4. Ability to conduct research activities such as designing and implementing clinical research projects (staff psychologists with specified research job duties).
  5. 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.
• GS13: at least 2 addition years of experience with at least one year equivalent to the GS12 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.
  2. Ability to provide professional advice and consultation in areas related to professional psychology and behavioral health.
  3. Knowledge of clinical research literature.