Staff Psychologist MHRRTP

**This is an Open and Continuous announcement for multiple locations and can be taken down at any time.**

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

This posting is for a Staff Psychologist - Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program (MHRRTP). The selectee will provide a full range of clinical services. The selected Psychologist will be a member is a multidisciplinary team that provides a full range of services for Veterans experiencing problems with homelessness mental health diagnoses psychosocial challenges and/or substance use disorders. The MHRRTP Psychologist conducts assessments of personality and cognitive functioning to help inform the development of treatment plan and support Veterans recovery and well-being. The selected Psychologist will practice on an interdisciplinary team providing crisis interventions evidenced-based psychotherapies and measurement-based care. Some of the duties include but are not limited to;

• Provides a full range of psycho-diagnostic services for the purpose of diagnostic clarification and treatment planning recommendations.
• Provides a full range of psychological therapeutic interventions for MHRRTP residents utilizing empirically supported modalities when indicated.
• Develops implements and documents the psychotherapeutic treatment plan for an assigned caseload of patients including prompt completion of clinical reminders.
• Provides a full range of therapeutic interventions including crisis interventions evidenced-based psychotherapies (individual and group modalities) and measurement-based care.
• Independently provides psychological services at all levels of complexity and consults with peers and supervisors as appropriate.
• Provides comprehensive behavioral and mental health services to Veterans with complex and chronic disabling disorders including homelessness unemployment addictions and mental illnesses.
• Screening assessment diagnosis and treatment of mental or psychosocial disorders as well as other behavioral problems with an emphasis on the application of time-limited recovery oriented evidence-based interventions.
• Group therapy individual therapy crisis intervention treatment planning and case managements services.
• Assessment and intervention for subclinical symptoms such as dysphoria anxiety adjustment difficulties and family issues.
• Evaluation of cognitive deficits to address specific functional questions or determine if referral is needed for neuropsychological assessment.
• Assessment for competency of a patients ability to make medical decisions understand advanced directives perform specific functions or live independently.
• Assisting staff in determining how to present treatment options and educational material to patients in a format they can understand.
• Counseling with couples or families when appropriate to relieve relationship difficulties provide support or promote collaboration with the clinical team.
• Behavioral health interventions to address pain management disability adjustment sleep problems weight loss smoking cessation or medical compliance.
• Presenting informed reports or educating multi-disciplinary teams on the use of newly proven or evidence-based intervention techniques.
• 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.
• Education: (1) 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. OR (2) 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: (a) The re-specialization program must be completed in an APA or a CPA accredited doctoral program; and (b) 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
• Internship: (a) 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 (b) 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 (c) 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 (d) 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.) OR (e) 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: 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 temporary appointment as a graduate psychologist at the GS-11 or GS-12 grade under the authority of 38 USC 7405 for a period not to exceed two years of 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.)
• English Language Proficiency: Psychologists must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005 Part II Chapter 3 section A paragraph 3j.

• Employees grandfathered under this provision for this revision may be reassigned promoted up to and including the full performance journey) level or changed to lower grade within the occupation but may not be promoted beyond the journey level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions or beyond the assignment currently held for those being grandfathered to assignments above FPL.
• Psychologists who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed on a temporary or permanent basis until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard.
• Psychologists initially grandfathered into this occupation who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure that meet all of the basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation.
• NOTE: If psychologists who are grandfathered under this provision leave the occupation the employee loses protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of reentry to the occupation.

• Experience: None beyond the basic requirements.

• Experience: At least one year of experience as a professional psychologist equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-11). Psychologists who are not licensed must practice under the supervision of a licensed psychologist but with less intense supervision than at the GS-11 grade level.

• Experience: At least two years of experience as a professional psychologist with at least one year equivalent to the GS-12 grade level.