Summary

This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific individual eligibility requirements in accordance with VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Program Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) and eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after complete review of the EDRP application.

Duties

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The VA Hudson Valley Healthcare is recruiting for a full time Psychologist- Suicide Prevention Coordinator. The position is located in the Mental Health Care Line, at the Castle Point VA Medical Center.

The VA Hudson Valley Health Care System offers a full range of acute and chronic care services for veterans residing in six adjacent counties, including, Dutchess, Westchester, Putnam, Orange, Rockland and Sullivan serving over 400,000 Veterans. Services include, but are not limited to medicine, surgery, psychiatry, rehabilitative medicine, long term care, women's health, blind rehabilitation, mental health, substance abuse, PTSD, and services for the seriously mental ill and nursing home care. There are numerous specialty clinics and laboratories.

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

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

The major duties and responsibilities of the position include but are not limited to:

• Oversee program operations and evaluations, identifying areas for improvement, gathering relevant data, assessing the data, developing and implementing ideas for improvement and evaluating efficacy of improvement efforts.
• Serve as facility subject matter expert (SME) and point of contact (POC) for matters related to suicide, including prevention, intervention, postvention efforts, education and outreach, and suicide behavior and death reporting.
• Provide general consultation to healthcare providers on available resources for suicidal individuals, as well as expertise and direction in the areas of system design to prevent deaths by suicide within the VA HVHCS catchment area.
• Collaborate with other SPCs and VA at-large to share best practices through multiple touch points; accurately documenting services rendered to improve the SPP overall;
• Serve on committees and workgroups as assigned at the local, regional, and/or national level related to suicide prevention and patient safety.
• Implements, monitors and tracks all applicable guidelines consisting of organizational vision, mission, and goals; established program policies, procedures, and objectives; clinical pathways, and national suicide prevention standards of care, performance, conduct, and ethical behavior, to guide intervention, choices and professional conduct.
• Incumbent maintains a high level of knowledge of local practices, current rules, regulations, policies, procedures, and guidance provided from VHA, JCAHO, policies and procedures and current medical literature or has an awareness of how to access this information.
• Ensures adherence to policies and standards in an effective and timely manner.
• Collaborates on, develops, revises and enforces policies related to national and local suicide prevention efforts.
• Provide analysis and evaluation of clinical program and other data to identify system-wide trends and needs to enhance the quality of service.
• Responds to referrals from staff members, the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL), and other touch points to ensure that at-risk Veterans immediately receive care and services
• Collaborates with community organizations and partners to increase awareness of suicide prevention best practices and providing training to individuals who have contact with Veterans.
• Provides a full range of patient care interventions, including individual, family, and group therapy, as well as specialized interventions such as behavior management consultations and systems or environmental interventions.
• Presents informed reports or educates multi-disciplinary teams on the use of evidence bases interventions.

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday: 08:00 - 16:30 EST

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

Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not authorized

EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more

Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases

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)

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

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #: 14798F

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized

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.
• Must pass pre-employment physical evaluation/examination.
• 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

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:

• A. United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• B. Education
  
  • 1. 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
  • 2. 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.
    • NOTE: The applicant must provide an official transcript and/or certificate documenting the completion of the re-specialization program, which includes completion of an APA or CPA internship. [Psychologists who have successfully completed a re-specialization program as described above and who were employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs prior to the implementation of this standard are considered to have fully met the educational requirements of these qualification standards.] OR
  • 3. Have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally-accredited institution, with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature.] AND
  • 4. Internships
    
    • (a) Have successfully completed a professional psychology internship training program 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
    • b. 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
    • c. 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
    • d. 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
    • e. 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.
      
      • NOTE: Psychologists who meet the requirements of this revision and who were employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs prior to the implementation of this standard are considered to have fully met the requirements of this qualification standard.]
• C. 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.
• D. Board Certification and Loss of Credential
  
  • 1. Board Certification. Persons hired to psychology positions in the VHA who completed an internship that was not accredited at the time the program was completed must be 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. The board certificate must be current and the applicant must abide by the certifying body's requirement for continuing education.
  • 2. Loss of Credential. Once board certified, psychologist must maintain a full, valid and unrestricted board certification to remain qualified for employment. A psychologist who fails to maintain the required board certification must be removed from the occupation, which may result in termination of employment. At the discretion of the appointing official, an employee may be reassigned to another occupation if qualified and if a placement opportunity exists.
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