Summary

The Suicide Prevention Program Manager oversees the Suicide Prevention Program at VA Long Beach Healthcare System. Suicide prevention is a priority at VHA and the psychologist in this role has advanced knowledge of the public health approach to suicide prevention in order to provide leadership, guidance, and consultation to professionals representing many disciplines.

Duties

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VA Careers - Mental Health Professionals: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOMintJXa3Y

This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific eligibility requirements per VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Program Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) & eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after review of the EDRP application. Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply. Contact [redacted] for questions/assistance.

Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Provides administrative, clinical, and professional supervision for assigned Suicide Prevention Program staff, including Suicide Prevention Coordinators and Suicide Prevention Case Managers.
• Oversees day-to-day operations of the Suicide Prevention Program, including workload distribution, staffing coverage, consult management, outreach processes, and continuity of services.
• Maintains programmatic responsibility for local suicide prevention operations, ensuring alignment with VA, VHA, VISN, and facility policies, procedures, and performance expectations.
• Provides leadership, consultation, and oversight for clinical activities related to suicide risk identification, risk assessment, safety planning, risk monitoring, and care coordination.
• Serves as a subject matter expert in suicide prevention and monitors facility adherence to suicide prevention requirements, performance measures, quality indicators, and documentation standards.
• Uses data to evaluate program effectiveness, identify gaps in care, monitor trends, and implement quality improvement initiatives related to suicide prevention.
• Coordinates implementation of national, VISN, and facility suicide prevention initiatives across VA Long Beach Healthcare System.
• Provides guidance and oversight for High Risk for Suicide Patient Record Flag management, suicide behavior reporting, case review processes, and related clinical follow-up procedures.
• Collaborates across service lines to support quality suicide prevention processes and ensure optimal coordinated care for Veterans at elevated risk for suicide.
• Provides oversight of the Suicide Postvention Team and ensures optimal coordination of postvention responses for Veterans, families, staff, and clinical areas impacted by suicide deaths.
• Supports external and internal reviews, surveys, audits, and regulatory activities related to suicide prevention, patient safety, and quality of care.
• Provides consultation, education, and training to clinical and administrative staff across the facility on suicide risk assessment, prevention practices, safety planning, lethal means safety, postvention, and related suicide prevention topics.
• Serves on Mental Health, facility, VISN, and other committees, workgroups, and task forces related to suicide prevention, patient safety, quality improvement, access, and care coordination as assigned.
• Completes community outreach and engagement activities to support a public health approach to suicide prevention.
• May provide a range of psychological assessment, evidence-based psychotherapy, crisis intervention, and consultation services for Veterans with complex suicide risk or other high-acuity mental health needs.
• Participates in psychology training activities, which may include didactics, seminars, consultation, and clinical supervision of predoctoral interns, postdoctoral fellows, or other trainees when appropriately credentialed and assigned.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00a-4:30p

Compressed/Flexible:May be authorized at Supervisory discretion.

Telework: Not authorized.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement Title/#: Psychology Program Manager/000000

EDRP Authorized: Yes

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:

Citizenship.

Citizen of the United States.

Education.

The individual must meet at least one of the requirements below:

• 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. 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.
• 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.
  
  • 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.
• OR
• Have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally-accredited institution, with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature.

AND

Internships.

• 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
• 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.
  
  • 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.

Licensure. Applicants must 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.

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.Grandfathering Provision. All persons employed in VHA as a psychologist on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series and grade held.

GRADE DETERMINATIONS:

GS-14 Psychology Program Manager

• Experience. In addition to the basic requirements, candidates must possess at least three years of experience as a professional (postdoctoral) psychologist, with at least one year equivalent to the GS-13 grade level AND can demonstrate the following Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
  
  • Ability to organize work, set priorities, delegate tasks, and meet multiple deadlines.
  • Knowledge of and ability to utilize evidence based practices and clinical practice guidelines appropriately and ability to guide staff in using these tools.
  • Ability to deal effectively with individuals or groups.
  • Skill in managing and directing the work of others to accomplish program goals and objectives.
  • Ability to translate management goals and objectives into well-coordinated and controlled work operations.
  • Ability to establish and monitor production and performance priorities and standards.
  • Ability to analyze organizational and operational problems and to develop and implement solutions that result in sound operation of the program.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit Psychologist Qualification Standard.

The full performance level of this position is 14.

Physical Requirements: Light lifting (under 15 pounds); light carrying (under 15 pounds); reaching above shoulder; hearing (aid permitted); emotional stability. The Staff Psychologist should be capable of prolonged movement and be physically capable of reading patient records/reports, documenting all clinical encounters in the patient computerized record system (CPRS); and to speak/communicate clearly and efficiently in English.

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript with the conferred date must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Additional information

Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military s