The Suicide Prevention Coordinator (SPC) will serve to facilitate implementation of suicide prevention strategies at the Memphis VA Medical Center and VA Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs). Activities will include support for the identification of Veterans at high risk for suicide and coordinating enhanced care.
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: 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: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f). Education Requirement : You must have a master's or doctoral degree in: Clinical Mental Health Counseling; Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling; Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling; or a related field, from a program accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). Examples of related mental health counseling fields include, but are not limited to Addiction Counseling; Community Counseling; Gerontology Counseling; Marital, Couple, and Family Counseling. CACREP defines the date when graduates are considered to have graduated from a CACREP accredited program. Additional information may be obtained from http://www.cacrep.org/directory/. NOTE: Traditional Rehabilitation counseling programs that are accredited by CACREP do not meet the LPMHC qualification standards as Traditional Rehabilitation counseling differs from Clinical Rehabilitation counseling. Licensure: Candidates must hold a full, current, and unrestricted license to independently practice as a Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor, which includes diagnosis and treatment. NOTE: It is VHA policy that a LPMHC who does not yet have a license that allows independent practice must be supervised by a licensed independent practitioner of the same discipline who is a VA staff member and who has access to the electronic health record. Loss of Licensure: Once licensed, LPMHCs must maintain a full, valid, and unrestricted license to independently practice mental health counseling, which includes diagnosis and treatment. Loss of licensure will result in removal from the GS- 0101 LPMHC occupation and may result in termination of employment. Experience, Education, and Licensure. In addition to the basic requirements, candidates must have at least one year of progressively complex experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Experience must have been in a major specialty treatment program area such as, but not limited to, Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), mental health intensive case management (MHICM), or other areas of equivalent scope and complexity. Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment, demonstrating progressively more professional competency. Assignments: At this level, LPMHC Program Coordinators are administratively responsible for a clinical program and provide treatment to patients in a major specialty. They manage the daily operations of the program, develop policies and procedures, and prepare reports and statistics for facility, VISN, and national use. They may supervise unlicensed graduate LPMHCs and may administratively manage any employees assigned to their program. In addition to meeting the KSAs for the GS-11 grade level, the candidate must demonstrate all of the KSAs below: 1. In depth knowledge of the program coordinated, and demonstrated knowledge and ability to write policies procedures and or practice guidelines for the program. 2. Ability to make key decisions in the hiring and identification of top candidates. 3. Ability to provide leadership in facilitating the process of coordinating program consults, assessments, admissions, care assignments and discharges. 4. Ability to provide subject matter consultation to other colleagues and trainees within the field of counseling working on an interdisciplinary team. Reference: VA Regulations, specifically VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Appendix G0180 Psychologist Qualification Standard. This can be found in the local Human Resources Office. Physical Requirements: Light lifting, light carrying, use of fingers, hearing (aid permitted), operation of a motor vehicle may be required. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12.
Major duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to: The incumbent facilitates efficient and appropriate delivery of mental health services across episodes of care within the medical center and community. The incumbent assists with training all stakeholders on appropriate suicide risk evaluation and intervention for Veteran identified as at elevate risk for suicide. Incumbent serves as point of contact for suicide prevention training for the overall facility but is the main point of contact for CBOCs. provides ongoing site visits and consultations to ensure CBOC staff remain up to date with suicide prevention policies and procedures. The incumbent assist with coordination and provision of postvention services to next of kin and staff members who are impacted by deaths by suicide. The Suicide Prevention Coordinator ensures that outreach is conducted with community partners outside of the VA Medical Center in keeping with the public health model of early intervention and prevention of crisis by providing education and support to those outside of a healthcare environment. The Suicide Prevention Coordinator also ensures that Veteran Crisis Line (VCL) requests are acted upon in the appropriate time frames. The SPC facilitates enhanced care for those individuals who are seen for mental health concerns in the Emergency Department through the Safety Planning in the Emergency Department (SPED) intervention. Suicide Prevention Coordinator also assists with providing outreach to Veterans identified at increased risk for adverse outcomes through the REACH VET program. Provides clinical consultation regarding patients at high acute risk for suicide, reviews and assigns high risk flags and ensures connection to appropriate clinical care. Serves as the suicide prevention representative for committee across the continuum of care. The incumbent may also be assigned additional duties as needed within or outside of their specific program area of the Mental Health Service. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm Telework: ADHOC Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 000000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized