Department: Department of Veterans Affairs
Agency: Veterans Health Administration
Announcement: CBSV-13079838-27-SRL
Pay grade: GS 12
Closes: Oct 19, 2026
Open to: Open to the public, Veterans

Duties include but are not limited to the following:

• Provides a full range of diagnostic and evaluation services appropriate to the primary care setting, especially in the areas of general psychological evaluation of emotional and behavioral problems and suicide assessment;
• Provides a full range of psychological interventions consistent with training and expertise, with special emphasis on brief and evidenced-based interventions found to be effective in primary care settings;
• Develops, implements, and documents the psychotherapeutic treatment plan for an assigned caseload of patients, including prompt completion of clinical reminders;
• Facilitates patient and family education appropriate to the primary care setting and the specific presenting mental or behavioral health issues;
• Provides consultation services to support PCP decision-making, building on PCP interventions and improving PCP-patient working relationships;
• Provides interventions with a focus on allowing patients to remain with their Primary Care Provider (PCP) for the full range of their health care needs to the extent that this is clinically appropriate.
• Supervises trainees conducting direct clinical care;
• Provides administrative duties including: Scheduling of Veterans and related issues, returning Veterans' phone calls and secure messages, writing reports, attending organizational meetings;
• May be asked to provide service on a full time bases at one of the CBOC's Grants Pass/K-Falls;
• Complete certification of the VA National PCMHI Competency Training and continue to display competency and fidelity to the PCMHI model via ongoing review of relevant data and metrics;
• Provides primary clinical supervision for unlicensed staff and/or students, which may include back-up clinical supervision in other rotations, as directed by Training Director.
• May provide group supervision to an Intern cohort, on an as-needed basis, as determined by the Training Director.
• Is involved in the development and on-going improvement of the Training Programs and actively participates in relevant meetings related to the training mission (e.g., Training Committee)
• Assists the PCMHI Coordinator in the design, development, and implementation of clinical programs for a team of treatment providers.
• Assist the program PCMHI Coordinator in the execution of ongoing program evaluation and data-driven quality improvement projects to monitor the effectiveness of the clinical program.
• Facilitates liaisons with other health care programs in order to effectively coordinate services.
• Complies with national and local performance measures, including timely health care screening and completion of clinical reminders for all patients.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm
Telework: Ad-hoc telework available at supervisors discretion.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 000000
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.Contact [email protected], the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• 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 (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• 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.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• 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.

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

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.
  • 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.
• English Language Proficiency: LPMHCs must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3.j.

GS-12 Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor Grade Determinations:

• 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.
• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. 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.

Preferred Experience: Work in primary care setting or prior experiences working with same-day MH needs/crisis management.

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

Physical Requirements: There are no physical requirements for this occupation per OCHCO Communications email to VA Handbook 5019, updated on 4/17/2026.