Staff Psychologist-Primary Care Mental Health Integration; PCMHI

Summary

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) and 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 are ineligible to apply.

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.

• United States Citizenship:
  Non‑citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA policy.
• Education:
  
  Have a doctoral degree in psychology from an APA‑accredited program, the PCSAS, or the CPA at the time the program was completed.
• 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) that meets both of the following: the re‑specialization program must be completed in an APA or 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.
• OR Have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally‑accredited institution with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature.
• Internship:
  Have successfully completed a professional psychology internship training program that was accredited by APA or CPA at the time it 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 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 acceptable in fulfillment of the internship requirement.
• OR Applicants who completed an internship that was not accredited by APA or CPA at the time it 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.
• Once board certified, the employee is required to maintain board certification.
• 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 their 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 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.
• Exception:
  Non‑licensed applicants who otherwise meet the eligibility requirements may be given a temporary appointment as a "graduate psychologist" at the GS‑11 or GS‑12 grade under the authority of 38 U.S.C. 7405 (c)(2)(B) for a period not to exceed two years from the date of employment, on the condition that such a psychologist provide care only under the supervision of a licensed psychologist.
• Failure to obtain licensure during that period is justification for termination of the temporary appointment.
• English Language Proficiency:
  Psychologists must be proficient in spoken and written English per VA Handbook 5005,…