Summary

This Senior Psychologist Program Manager position is in Mental Health services at the VA Maine Healthcare Systems, located at the Portland, ME location. This is a Full-time position.

Duties

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Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

The Senior Psychologist Program Manager serves as the Psychology Chief and Deputy Associate Chief of Staff - Mental Health in the Mental Health Service Line to include the main Medical Center and CBOCs in Portland, Lewiston, Bangor, and Presque Isle. Services under the incumbent's operational oversight include BHIP, PCMHI, Neuropsychology, Research, and Psychology Training. The incumbent provides program oversight and coordination of the Psychology Predoctoral Internship Training Program, Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, and the Neuropsychology Postdoctoral Fellowship Program.

Duties may include, but are not limited to:

• Administers information and analytical systems to evaluate and enhance the quality of service provided to patients.
• Develops and implements information systems to track service activities including visits, referrals, consult completion, patient demographics, equipment utilization and patient satisfaction.
• Develops, implements and evaluates clinical guidelines and protocols to establish appropriate utilization of services.
• Conducts, evaluates, and coordinates the execution of the program.
• Expected to review program analysis and provide appropriate assessments of the outcomes and make recommendations to the Mental Health Service Line Chief and the VISN 1 Chief Mental Health Officer on the goals, objectives, and needs of the programs.
• Ensures Quality Performance and Improvement activities are developed and maintained following policy(s) and procurement/vendor/client/staff needs.
• Administers information and analytical systems to evaluate and enhance the quality of service provided to patients.
• Provides networking, communication, and marketing. This includes knowledge and expertise in a variety of communication modes such as telecommunication, listening equipment, customer relations, data collection, data organization, and setting up a variety of meetings with interdisciplinary and/or community agency staff and other marketing techniques.
• Supervises employees performing work at various levels and provides administrative, technical, and clinical supervision necessary for accomplishing the work of the service.
• Develops performance standards, affects disciplinary measures, and reviews and approves or disapproves leave requests for employees.
• Ensure organizational training objectives are met by assessing training needs for employees and ensuring that a mechanism for achieving the objectives is met.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:30am - 4:00pm or 8:00am - 4:30pm

Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized

Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized

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: May be authorized

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #:PDF08559

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required

NOTIFICATIONS:

• This position is in the Excepted Service.
• Narrative responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) will be required from the selectee in order to proceed with the appointment.
• This position is not a Bargaining Unit position.
• This position is covered by a locality-based comparability pay and/or special rate pay.
• Selectee may be required to work at any VA Maine Healthcare System campus, as needed.
• May be required to attend conference at other facilities or other VA sites on occasion.
• The incumbent may be required to travel to other VA campuses and CBOC's.

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.
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• May be subject to satisfactory completion of our credentialing process.
• 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: Be a citizen of the United States. Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3.g, this part.
• 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:
    
    • The re-specialization program must be completed in an APA or a CPA accredited doctoral program; and,
    • 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
  • Have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally-accredited institution, with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature.
• 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: 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 and Loss of Credential:
  
  • 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.
  • 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.
• 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.

Grade Determinations:

Senior Psychologist Program Manager, GS-15

Experience: At least four years of experience as a professional psychologist, with at least one year equivalent to the GS-14 grade level.

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

• Skill in managing and directing the work of large, complex organizational units and in applying effective management practices.
• Skill in persuasion, negotiation, and motivation to negotiate multiple program policies.
• Skill in interpersonal relationships in dealing with employees and other managers using advanced consultation and problem solving skills.
• Skill in the application and analysis of measurement too