OCA- Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor- (LPMHC)

The Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor Primary Care Mental Health Integration (PCMHI) LPMHC position is located in Primary Care Mental Health Integration (PCMHI) for the Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT). Provides screenings and a full range of psychological assessments for diagnosis and treatment planning - evidence-based group and individual psychotherapy - treatment planning - case management - and other clinical services within the Memphis Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

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.

• 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: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f)
• Education Requirement : You must have a master's or doctoral degree in: Clinical Mental Health Counseling
• Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling
• Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling
• or a related field - from a program accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP)
• Examples of related mental health counseling fields include - but are not limited to Addiction Counseling
• Community Counseling
• Gerontology Counseling
• Marital - Couple - and Family Counseling
• CACREP defines the date when graduates are considered to have graduated from a CACREP accredited program
• Additional information may be obtained from
• NOTE: Traditional Rehabilitation counseling programs that are accredited by CACREP do not meet the LPMHC qualification standards as Traditional Rehabilitation counseling differs from Clinical Rehabilitation counseling
• Licensure: Candidates must hold a full - current - and unrestricted license to independently practice as a Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor - which includes diagnosis and treatment
• NOTE: It is VHA policy that a LPMHC who does not yet have a license that allows independent practice must be supervised by a licensed independent practitioner of the same discipline who is a VA staff member and who has access to the electronic health record
• Loss of Licensure: Once licensed - LPMHCs must maintain a full - valid - and unrestricted license to independently practice mental health counseling - which includes diagnosis and treatment
• Loss of licensure will result in removal from the GS- 0101 LPMHC occupation and may result in termination of employment
• Experience - Education - and Licensure
• In addition to the basic requirements - candidates must have at least one year of progressively complex LPMHC experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level
• Senior LPMHCs must have five years of post-licensed experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment - demonstrating progressive professional competency and expertise and be licensed to provide clinical supervision to trainees or unlicensed LPMHCs
• Assignments: Senior LPMHCs provide treatment to patients with complex needs including multiple mental health diagnoses - and numerous psychosocial issues - 8 using independent judgment
• LPMHCs at this level provide clinical consultation to less experienced staff which may include coordinating crisis situations
• Senior LPMHCs will provide clinical supervision to LPMHC staff and/or LPMHC trainees - and may serve as the subject matter expert for the discipline
• Senior LPMHCs develop behavioral health related training curriculum and often conduct trainings for clinical staff
• LPMHCs model ethical and professional behaviors and standards to include multicultural awareness
• Senior LPMHCs meet routinely with interprofessional team members and leadership to communicate about program and patient issues for in depth problem solving
• Senior LPMHCs collaborate with internal and external stakeholders and frequently serve as a liaison
• This assignment is to be relatively few in number based on the size of the facility/service and applying sound position management
• This assignment must represent substantial additional responsibility over and above that required at the full performance grade level and cannot be used as the full performance level of this occupation
• In addition to meeting the KSAs for the GS-11 grade level - the candidate must demonstrate all of the KSAs below: 1
• Advanced knowledge of and mastery of theories and modalities used in the specialized treatment of complex mental illness
• Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of veteran patients - including making psychosocial and psychiatric diagnoses within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice
• Ability to determine priority of services needed and provide specialized treatment
• 2
• Advanced and expert skill in a range of specialized interventions and treatment modalities for Veterans with complex needs
• This includes individual - group - and/or family counseling - or psychotherapy and advanced level psychosocial - and/or case management interventions used in the treatment of Veterans
• 3
• Ability to coordinate the delivery of specialized psychosocial services and programs
• Ability to design system changes based on data
• 4
• Ability to provide subject matter consultation to colleagues and trainees on the psychosocial treatment of patients - rendering professional opinions based on experience - expertise and role modeling effective clinical skills
• 5
• Ability to teach - mentor staff and trainees - and provide supervision for licensure or for specialty certifications
• 6
• Ability to engage in written and oral communication with leadership/staff and community stakeholders regarding policies - procedures - practice guidelines - and issues pertaining to the practice of the profession
• Reference: See VA Handbook 5005/120 - Part II - Appendix G39 Physical Requirements: This position requires potentially long periods of continued walking - standing - and sitting
• The incumbent may be exposed to infected patients and contaminated materials and may be required to don protective clothing
• S/he may occasionally be exposed to patients who are combative secondary to delirium - dementia - or psychiatric disorders
• S/he must be a mature - flexible - sensible individual capable of working effectively in stressful situations - and able to shift priorities based on patient needs
• S/he must complete annual Employee Health requirements - such as TB screening or testing on hire - as a condition of employment
• The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12.

• The PACT LPMHC provides PCMHI services to Veterans who are referred by PACT as potential candidates for mental health/behavioral health services
• The Psychologist provides a full range of mental health assessment services as indicated for primary care environment and diagnoses mental disorders - particularly for complex or unusually difficult patients including those with medical conditions that have mental health components (e.g. - diabetes - thyroid disorders - digestive system disorders - chronic pain - other chronic illnesses as well as substance use disorders).Major duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to: The LPMHC will support same-day access to mental health services for Veterans as deemed necessary by the service - in person and by telephone and telehealth
• The PACT LPMHC receives Veteran referrals through the PACT
• The PCMHI provider provides same-day access and warm handoff care and Veterans - and will also respond to non-emergent requests with an appointment for a later date
• The PACT LPMHC makes the clinical decision to enroll Veterans in BHL telephone services for conditions warranting additional attention (e.g. - depression monitoring - watchful waiting) and any of a number of dispositions within PC-MHI (e.g. - brief therapy - referral management)
• The PACT LPMHC guides mental health care for referred Veterans to completion or until the Veteran is integrated into specialty mental health care (e.g
• PTSD Clinic (PCT) - Mental Health Clinic (MHC) - Chemical Dependency Center (CDC)
• The LPMHC provides education appropriate to patients with mental and behavioral health concerns - their family members - and significant others
• The PACT LPMHC provides comprehensive - evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions (EBP) appropriate to patients - including individual - family - and group psychotherapy (e.g. - Motivational Interviewing (Ml) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) - etc.) as indicated
• The PACT LPMHC provides consultation to PACT staff - other care providers within The VA Medical Center at Memphis - CBOCs - VISN 9 BHL and PCMHI - and to community providers - concerning clinical assessment findings and appropriate treatment plans for patients
• Other duties as assigned
• Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm Telework: Not available Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Functional Statement #: 000000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: May be authorized for highly qualified Applicants Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized