Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor

Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Syracuse, New York

Salary Range: $73939 - $96119 Per Year

Job Summary: The Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (locally called the PCMHI LPMHC) is a full-time position assigned to Mental Health Intensive Case Management program, Health Care for Homeless Veteran program, Vocational Rehabilitation services, Suicide Prevention program, Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery Program, Transition and Care Management Services and Polytrauma services as well as Primary Care Mental Health Integrated services.

Major Duties:

• VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU VA Careers - Licensed Clinical Social Worker: https://youtube.com/embed/U_xC25QsN0w Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional This Primary Care Mental Health Integration (PCMHI) Counselor position is administratively aligned with the Mental Health Service and is assigned as a Colocated Collaborative Care (CCC) behavioral health consultant in Primary Care. PCMHI is a component of the interdisciplinary Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT). The PCMHI CCC counselor provides brief, evidence-based interventions, education, and consultation services to Veterans, Primary Care Providers (PCPs), and allied PACT members. The PCMHI counselor works collaboratively within PACT to promote prevention, early identification, and treatment of most mild to moderate behavioral health and health behavior concerns as part of routine primary care. The PCMHI counselor provides functional assessment, triage, brief intervention, education, and consultative services regarding a wide range of possible concerns. Consistent with the VA Whole Health philosophy, the PCMHI counselor promotes awareness of the important mental and behavioral aspects of wellness and overall health outcomes. The PCMHI counselor utilizes a Population-Based Care and Public Health approach, recognizing the PCP as the overall leader of the treatment team and maximizing the reach of services to as many Veterans as possible. The PCMHI counselor duties are as follows: The incumbent provides functional assessment, triage, brief intervention, education, and consultative services regarding a wide range of possible concerns. Collaborates with PCPs and the interdisciplinary PACT to support high quality, effective, and coordinated service delivery at the patient and programmatic levels Maintains daily open access slots and encourages same day warm handoffs within PACT Completes most individual appointments (e.g., 75%) within 30 minutes Uses Measurement Based Care (MBC) in accordance with nationally recommended guidelines for PCMHI Conducts initial functional assessments that are focused on the main reason(s) for referral and are less extensive than traditional mental health intake evaluations (e.g., 30 minutes vs. 60 or 90 minutes for traditional evaluation) Supports Stepped-Care principles to facilitate "on-time, on target" services to Veterans, matching the intensity of services with the level of clinical need Refers Veterans with more severe or complex needs to the appropriate general or specialty mental health program Provides time-limited, brief, evidence-based, individual or group interventions (e.g., approximately 1-6 sessions) for a broad range of behavioral health and health behavior concerns within the primary care setting Utilizes intermittent visits and flexible patient contact strategies to support brief but longitudinal PCMHI care as part of PACT Ensures quality of care by successfully completing the national VA PCMHI Competency Training Program (or approved equivalent) and associated ongoing education modules Writes clear, concise notes that are optimized for collaboration within PACT based on the PCMHI CCC functional assessment and follow-up visit guidelines Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: Not Available Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases, When setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade). 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 $144,000 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 Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized This vacancy is a multi-disciplinary announcement. If you are a Psychologist and are interested in applying, please apply to Vacancy 12840259 .If you are a Social Worker and are interested in applying, please apply to Vacancy 12840261

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: Hold 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 http://www.cacrep.org/directory/. 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: Persons hired or reassigned to LPMHC positions in the GS-0183 series in VHA 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. 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). Grade Determinations: Preferred Experience: One year of post-master's experience as a Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor. Grade Determinations: GS-9 Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (Entry Level) a) Experience, Education, and Licensure. The entry level is used for LPMHCs with less than one year of post-master's degree experience or for LPMHCs who are graduates, not yet licensed at the independent practice level.GS-11 Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (Full Performance Level)(a) Experience, Education, and Licensure. In addition to the basic requirements, candidates must have at least 1 year of post-master's degree mental health counseling experience; OR In addition to the basic requirements, a doctoral degree in mental health counseling, or a related field may be substituted for the required 1 year of professional mental health counseling experience. GS-11 Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (Full Performance Level)(a) Experience, Education, and Licensure. In addition to the basic requirements, candidates must have at least 1 year of post-master's degree mental health counseling experience; OR In addition to the basic requirements, a doctoral degree in mental health counseling, or a related field may be substituted for the required 1 year of professional mental health counseling experience. In addition, incumbent must demonstrate the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs) listed below: Knowledge of community resources, how to make appropriate referrals to community and other governmental agencies for services, and ability to coordinate services. Ability to independently assess the psychosocial functioning and needs of patients and their family members and to formulate and implement a treatment plan, identifying the patient's problems, strengths, interdisciplinary treatment team. Ability to independently conduct psychosocial assessments and provide psychosocial treatment to a wide variety of individuals from various socio-economic, cultural, ethnic, educational and other diversified backgrounds. This requires knowledge of human development and behavior (physical and psychological) and the differential influences of the environment, society and culture. Knowledge and experience in the use of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities and treatment procedures. This includes acute, chronic and traumatic illnesses/injuries, common medications and their effects/side effects, and medical terminology. Knowledge of psychosocial treatment and ability to independently implement treatment modalities in working with individuals, families and groups who are experiencing a variety of psychiatric, medical and social problems to achieve treatment goals. This requires judgment and skill in utilizing supportive, problem solving or crisis intervention techniques. Ability to independently provide counseling and/or psychotherapy services to individuals, groups and families. LPMHC must practice within the bounds of their license or certification. Ability to provide consultation services to other staff about the psychosocial needs of patients and the impact of psychosocial problems on health care and compliance with treatment. Ability to provide orientation and coaching to new LPMHC's and counseling graduate students. Ability to serve as a field instructor for mental health counselor graduate students who are completing VHA field placements. Ability to independently evaluate his/her own practice through participation in professional peer review case conferences, research studies, or other organized means. Knowledge and skill in the use of computer software applications for drafting documents, data management, and tracking, especially those programs in use by VHA. Reference: VA Handbook 5005/50, part II, Appendix G43 For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-11. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-11. Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary.

How to Apply: All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the full questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on 12/15/2025 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12840261. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USAJOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire. Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package. NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date.

Application Deadline: 2025-12-15