Clinical Psychologist

Description:

This position is located within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), VA Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network (VISN 6), Hampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center (HVAMC), under the Community Based Clinics (CBOCs). This position is aligned with the Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Program/Outpatient Mental Health Services.

Requirements:

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. Psychologists must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3j

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).

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.

Grade Requirements:

a. Creditable Experience
(1) Current Professional Psychology Practice. To be creditable, psychological work experience can be obtained through paid or non-paid employment providing psychological work or through participating in a supervised postdoctoral psychology training program (i.e., fellowship or residency). Psychological work experience must have occurred after the doctoral degree was obtained and must have required the use of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics associated with current professional psychology practice. "Professional psychology practice" includes but is not limited to the following psychology-oriented job duties: providing professional clinical services, conducting research, carrying out education and training activities, carrying out program evaluation activities, clinical consultation, supervision and administration.

(2) 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.

(3) 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.

(4) 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 considered to be creditable experience on a year-for-year basis.

b . Grade Determinations . In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates:

GS-11 (Entry Level)

Experience. None beyond the basic requirements.

Assignment. Staff psychologists at this level diagnose mental disorders, conduct psychological or neuropsychological assessments, treat mental disorders through a variety of 6 modalities, provide adjunctive interventions for treatment of medical disorders, and may conduct research. They may be assigned to any program area. Psychologists who are not licensed must practice under the close supervision of a licensed psychologist.

GS-12 (Developmental Level)

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.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:
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.

Assignment. Staff psychologists at this level diagnose mental disorders, conduct psychological or neuropsychological assessments, treat mental disorders through a variety of modalities, provide adjunctive interventions for treatment of medical disorders, and may conduct research. They may be assigned to any program area.

GS-13 (Full Performance, Level)

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

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities . In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:
1. Knowledge of, and ability to apply, professional psychological treatments to the 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.

Assignment. This is the full performance level for staff psychologists. At this level, psychologists are licensed to practice independently in the provision of psychological services, consulting with peers and supervisors as appropriate. They may be assigned to any VHA program and setting, such as inpatient or outpatient medicine, primary care, surgery, mental health, neurology, rehabilitation medicine, geriatrics, Compensation and Pension, Vet Centers, and the VHA National Center for Organization Development. Psychologists diagnose mental disorders, conduct psychological or neuropsychological assessments, treat mental disorders through a variety of modalities, and provide adjunctive interventions for treatment of medical disorders. Among the modalities provided are individual, family, and group psychotherapies and other interventions such as behavioral health and community interventions. Psychologists consult with medical center staff on a wide variety of patient care issues. Staff psychologists may be involved in program evaluation, teaching, training, and research activities.

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

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-13. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-11 to GS-13.

Physical Requirements: The physical demands of the work are generally minor. The work is primarily sedentary in nature and usually occurs within climate controlled clinical and administrative settings. Use of fingers may be required to operate computers. There may be occasional light lifting/carrying (15 pounds or less) requirements to relocate boxed materials from one area to another, equipment and room set-up, and ambulation related to physical inspections of the facilities.