[Hiring] Staff Psychologist @WG Bill Hefner Salisbury VA Medical Center

Role Description

This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific eligibility requirements per VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Program Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) & eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after review of the EDRP application. Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply.

This announcement is open to current, permanent VA employees of VISN 2, Legacy VISNs 6, 7, and 8. Applicant must live within a 50-mile radius of legacy VISNs 6, 7, or 8 and within 75-mile radius of a major VA Medical Center.

The Clinical Resource Hub (CRH) is a repository of clinical and administrative staff that serve Veterans Affairs facilities within a VISN. Staff within the CRH are expected to provide interprofessional services to VISN facilities that are underserved or experiencing gaps in clinicians due to the inability to match provider supply with demand. Services provided by CRH staff are conducted via virtual care.

The VISN 6 CRH provides comprehensive outpatient mental health and primary care services to Veterans throughout VISN 6 including 7 medical center catchment areas. Services are targeted to catchment areas and clinics that are experiencing access challenges or gaps in clinical services.

Services are conducted via multiple modalities, including telehealth to clinic and telehealth to non-VA sites. In addition to services that support underserved facilities within the VISN, the CRH provides support and coverage to non-VA sites of care under the Advancing Telehealth Through Local Access Stations (ATLAS) program, Clinical Contact Centers, and nationally to Telehealth Emergency Management (TEM) sites. The VISN 6 CRH also provides graduate medical training opportunities and support during systemic transitions (e.g., Cerner implementation).

Duties include but are not limited to:

• Diagnosing mental disorders, conducting psychological and/or neuropsychological assessments, treating mental disorders through a variety of modalities, and providing adjunctive interventions for treatment of medical disorders.
• Providing individual, family, and group psychotherapies, and other interventions such as biofeedback, psychological hypnosis, and environmental interventions.
• Consulting with medical center staff on a wide variety of patient care issues.
• Involvement in program evaluation and/or research activities.
• Reporting to the TMH Hub Psychology Program Manager, under the direct supervision of the TMH Hub Chief, and the CRH Director.
• Functioning in accordance with the policies, principles, professional ethics, and techniques of accepted Psychology practice.
• Independently making use of guides in a creative flexible manner and using sound judgment in selecting techniques or introducing new practices and methods.
• Conducting a full bio-psychosocial assessment of the Veteran with specific examination of current coping skills, emotion regulation, and support networks in place.
• Providing evidence-based psychotherapy (EBP) for varying mental health diagnoses.
• Utilizing measurement-based care by routinely and frequently using specialized outcome measures, such as the PTSD Checklist (PCL) and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ).
• Participating fully in peer review, assessing the quality of professional psychology standards provided in the organization.
• Identifying patient problems requiring consultation with other multi-disciplinary medical center staff and making appropriate referrals.
• Assuring appropriate referrals to specialty programs, including community resources.

Work Schedule: Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

This position is currently operating under an extension to the return-to-office requirement. That extension can be withdrawn at any time, at which point the employee would be required to return to the office.

Qualifications

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• 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).
  • OR have a doctoral degree in any area of psychology and successfully complete a re-specialization program.
  • OR have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally-accredited institution, with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature.
• 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.
• Internship: Have successfully completed a professional psychology internship training program that was accredited by APA or CPA.
• Board Certification: Must be board certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology in a specialty area consistent with the assignment.

Requirements

• At least 2 years of experience as a professional psychologist, with at least one year equivalent to the GS-12 level.
• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (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.
• Preferred Experience: A minimum of two years of experience working within a Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Program (BHIP).

Benefits

• Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
• EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.
• Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Physical Requirements

• Must be in overall good health, able to sit at a desk working at a computer.
• Engage in light to moderate physical activity including sitting, walking, bending, and carrying supplies.
• Position requires walking throughout the clinic and/or Medical Center, standing for extended periods of time, and involves sitting at a computer and in counsel and consultation with Veterans and interdisciplinary teams.
• Requires close visual acuity to perform activities such as preparing and analyzing data and figures, transcribing, and viewing a computer terminal.