Psychologist (Home Based Primary CareCLC)

As part of the Home-Based Primary Care (HBPC) team and the Community Living Center (CLC) team the Psychologist will specifically address the psychological needs of veterans with a wide variety of psychological difficulties including depression anxiety emotional dysregulation and other addition the incumbent will also provide prevention services to veterans to diminish the risk that clients may develop additional psychological problems. It is expected that the incumbent will successfully coordinate service delivery with other professions in the HBPC and CLC services.

The Psychologist applies advanced strategies to a full range of patient problems. They have advanced knowledge of culturally sensitive psychological assessment techniques diagnosis intervention and behavioral health that qualifies them to provide advice and consultation to professionals representing a variety of disciplines. The psychologist provides services to the families of veterans with dementia being served by HBPC and CLC when such care is directly related to the overall treatment plan for the veteran and will allow better care for the veteran and allow the family to sustain the veteran in the home environment.

The Psychologist provides screening for cognitive deficits to address specific functional questions or to determine if a referral for a complete neuropsychological evaluation or dementia assessment is needed. The Psychologist provides provides effective interventions with couples or families when appropriate to relieve relationship difficulties and/or promotes collaboration with the HBPC team and CLC team for the benefit of the veteran.

The Psychologist is expected to independently plan and implement treatment in a creative and flexible manner and must use sound judgment in selecting techniques or introducing new practices and methods adapting these as necessary to fit the needs of the patient population they serve. Staff psychologists at this level diagnose mental health disorders conduct psychological assessments treat mental health disorders through a variety of modalities provide adjunctive interventions for treatment of medical disorders and may conduct research.

VA Careers - Psychologist: Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

Work Schedule: Full-Time Monday-Friday 800am-4:30pm
Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance):Not Authorized
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more
Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave 13 days of sick leave 11 paid Federal holidays per year)
Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual based on prior work experience or military service experience.
Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth adoption or foster care placement of a child.
Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment full time employees with a total family income below $144000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66.
Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA
Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)
Telework: Not Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 13356F

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 Qualifications: The basic requirements for employment as a VHA psychologist are prescribed by Public Law 96-151 codified in 38 U.S.C. 7402. To qualify for appointment all applicants for the position of psychologist in VHA must meet the following:

1. Citizenship: Be a citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with chapter 3 section A paragraph 3.g this part.)
2. Education: 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. TRANSCRIPTS ARE REQUIRED TO VERIFY EDUCATION

1. 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.
2. Have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally accredited institution with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature.

1. Internship: 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.

1. 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.

1. VHA facilities that offered full-time one-year pre-doctoral internships prior to PL 96- 151 (pre- 1979) are acceptable in fulfillment of the internship requirement.

1. 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.)

1. 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. NOTE: Psychologists who meet the requirements of this revision and who were employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs prior to the implementation of this standard are considered to have fully met the requirements of this qualification standard.

1. Licensure: Holds 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.
2. Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.
3. 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.

• Quality of Experience: Experience is only creditable if it is post-doctoral experience as a professional psychologist directly related to the duties to be performed. Qualifying experience must also be at a level comparable to or exceeding professional psychology experience at the next lower level.
• Part-time Experience: Part-time experience is creditable according to its relationship to a full- time workweek. For example a psychologist employed 20 hours per week or on a half time basis would receive one full-time workweek of credit for each two weeks of service.
• Post-Doctoral Degree Fellowships: Postdoctoral fellowships or residencies are training programs in an advanced area of clinical practice. Training as a fellow or resident is creditable experience on a year-for-year basis.

• 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.

• 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.