Psychologist Program Manager-Inpatient Psychiatric Unit

Summary

The Inpatient Psychiatric Unit (IPU) is a 30-bed, acute inpatient psychiatric treatment facility for Veterans with a wide variety of cooccurring mental health disorders. The IPU is an essential program component of the facility that significantly impacts the health care provided to Veterans and serves as a resource regionally and nationally. The duties and responsibilities involve broad program management and direct supervision of staff.

Duties

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VA Careers - Psychologist: https://youtube.com/embed/77qHlLw9Xck

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

• Broad administrative and program management and development responsibilities for the Inpatient Psychiatric Unit (IPU), a 30-bed inpatient unit for treatment of Veterans with wide range of psychiatric and substance use disorders.
• Responsibilities include ensuring efficient daily operation of the organizational unit, professional management, and assisting in administrative responsibilities that are complex in scope and that constitute a significant portion of the Medical Center.
• Direct supervisory responsibility, and both technical and professional accountability, for the IPU Assistant Program Manager, staff physicians, and night shift APRNs and PAs.
• Responsibility for development of staff competencies and performance as well as promotion of working relationships and an effective treatment team environment.
• In conjunction with other IPU leadership and staff, responsible for management of an effective therapeutic milieu. This includes development and implementation of therapeutic programming, management of the social dynamics of patient interactions, and direction of staff-patient interactions.
• Assists in oversight of effective interventions administered by the interdisciplinary treatment team at individual and systems levels.
• Assists in maintaining a healthy environment of care.
• Engages facility services, such as Bioengineering, Information Technology, Patient Safety, and Environmental Services, to correct deficiencies in the treatment and work environment.
• Maintains awareness of physical safety of staff and patients.
• Assists in the development and implementation of safety protocols to address a variety of emergency scenarios.
• Ensures that staff and patients are trained in safety protocols on a regular basis.
• Works to ensure that treatment programming, staff development, and the environment of care are managed at a level that meets or exceeds required accreditation standards by the Joint Commission.
• Ensure that the IPU operations meet or exceed local facility and VA Central Office expectations for service delivery including OIG and MHEOC.
• Policies and procedures are developed that accurately reflect operational procedures.
• Policies and procedures are used for staff training and in support of required accreditation and service delivery standards.
• Works to maximize program performance and patient outcomes. To this end, implements and maintains a system of measurement to assess patient progress and treatment outcomes. Treatment programming is modified over time to maximize outcomes. Patient satisfaction is also measured with results informing treatment programming.
• Takes a lead role in developing and implementing new programming or special projects that improve the efficacy and safety of residential treatment.
• Assesses the efficacy of new projects and programming toward a goal of maximizing desired outcomes.

Work Schedule: M-F 8:00am-4:30pm.

Recruitment/Relocation Incentives (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized.

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: Ad-Hoc Maybe available based on services needs.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #: 61573O.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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) at the time the program was completed. The specialty area of the degree must be consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed. For the purpose of meeting this requirement, the term "specialty area" refers to the specific specialty areas recognized by the accrediting body and not to specific job duties that might require special skills. Currently, APA accredits doctoral programs in the specialty areas of clinical psychology, counseling psychology, school psychology, or combinations of two or more of those areas. PCSAS accredits doctoral programs in psychological clinical science. CPA accredits doctoral programs in clinical psychology, counseling psychology, clinical neuropsychology, and school psychology. There are no job assignments in VHA that require the skills of a school psychologist; therefore, an applicant with a degree in the specialty area of school psychology is not eligible for appointment. Strictly for the purpose of determining eligibility for appointment as a psychologist in VHA, there is no distinction between the specialty areas (with the exception of school psychology). Or, Have a doctoral degree in any area of psychology and, in addition, successfully complete a re- specialization program (including documentation of an approved internship completed as part of the re- specialization program) meeting both of the following conditions: (a) The re-specialization program must be completed in an APA or a CPA accredited doctoral program; and, (b) the specialty in which the applicant is retrained must be consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed. Or, Have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally-accredited institution, with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature. AND,
• Internships: that was accredited by APA or CPA at the time the program was completed and that is consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed. OR New VHA psychology internship programs that are in the process of applying for APA accreditation are acceptable in fulfillment of the internship requirement, provided that such programs were sanctioned by the VHA Central Office Program Director for Psychology and the VHA Office of Academic Affiliations at the time that the individual was an intern; OR
  VHA facilities that offered full-time, one-year pre-doctoral internships prior to PL 96- 151 (pre- 1979) are considered to be acceptable in fulfillment of the internship requirement; OR Applicants who completed an internship that was not accredited by APA or CPA at the time the program was completed may be considered eligible for hire only if they are currently board certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology in a specialty area that is consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed. (NOTE: Once board certified, the employee is required to maintain board certification. OR Applicants who have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally- accredited institution with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature may fulfill this internship requirement by having the equivalent of a one-year supervised internship experience in a site specifically acceptable to the candidate's doctoral program. If the internship experience is not noted on the applicant's official transcript, the applicant must provide a statement from the doctoral program verifying that the equivalent of a one- year supervised internship experience was completed in a site acceptable to the doctoral program.
• 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.

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:

Psychology Program Manager, GS-14

Experience: At least three years of experience as a professional psychologist, with at least one year equivalent to the GS-13 grade level.

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

1.Ability to organize work, set priorities, delegate tasks, and meet multiple deadlines.

2.Knowledge of and ability to utilize evidence based practices and clinical practiceguidelines appropriately and ability to guide staff in using these tools. 3. Ability to deal effectively with individuals or groups.

4. Skill in managing and directing the work of others to accomplish program goals andobjectives.

5.Ability to translate management goals and objectives into well-coordinated andcontrolled work operations.

6.Ability to establish and monitor production and performance priorities and standards.

7.Ability to analyze organizational and operational problems and to develop andimplement solutions that result in sound operation of the program.

Preferred Experience: VA Mental Health care experience. Experience with supervision and program management for inpatient psychiatric care.

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

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. The incumbent must be able to perform primarily light and sedentary duties with occasionally moderate physical demands, exercise patience, and control emotions, with reasonable accommodation, if necessary, without endangering the

health and safety of the incumbent or others. Position may require walking throughout the clinic and/or Medical Center, standing for extended periods of time, involves sitting at a computer and in counsel and consultation with Veterans and interdisciplinary teams. This position also requires close visual acuity to perform an activity such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures; tra