The incumbent serves as the Women Veterans Program Manager (WVPM) at the VA Western New York Healthcare System (VAWNYHCS). This role would provide services to both the Buffalo and Batavia campuses, as well as seven CBOCs and additional ancillary programs (e.g., the Health Care for Homeless Veterans and the various Community Day programs). The WVPM provides independent clinical administration of the health care system's Women's Health Program (WHP). Basic Requirements A. Citizenship- Be a citizen of the United States. 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: 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 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: 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. 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. The full performance level of this occupational series is a GS-13. The actual grade which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-11, GS-12 or GS-13. Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019. English Language Proficiency. Must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3j. a. Creditable Experience(1) Current Professional Psychology Practice. To be creditable, psychological work experience can be obtained through paid or non-paid employment providing psychological work or through participating in a supervised postdoctoral psychology training program (i.e., fellowship or residency). Psychological work experience must have occurred after the doctoral degree was obtained and must have required the use of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics associated with current professional psychology practice. "Professional psychology practice" includes but is not limited to the following psychology-oriented job duties: providing professional clinical services, conducting research, carrying out education and training activities, carrying out program evaluation activities, clinical consultation, supervision and administration. (2) Quality of Experience. Experience is only creditable if it is post-doctoral experience as a professional psychologist directly related to the duties to be performed. Qualifying experience must also be at a level comparable to or exceeding professional psychology experience at the next lower level. (3) Part-time Experience. Part-time experience is creditable according to its relationship to a full-time workweek. For example, a psychologist employed 20 hours per week, or on a half time basis, would receive one full-time workweek of credit for each two weeks of service. (4) Post-Doctoral Degree Fellowships. Postdoctoral fellowships or residencies are training programs in an advanced area of clinical practice. Training as a fellow or resident is considered to be creditable experience on a year-for-year basis. Grade Determinations Experience. At least two years of experience as a professional psychologist, with at least one year equivalent to the next lower grade level. The full performance level of this vacancy is 13. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of 11 to 13. ["Administrative Responsibilities (80%) Identifies developmental and training needs of affected facility employees, providing for and arranging for needed development and training as it relates to Women's Health Assures that VAWNYHCS staff are trained and fully comply with the provisions of safety regulations Formulates, interprets, and implements policies and procedures pertaining to quality women's health care across the healthcare system to assure compliance with internal and external performance standards Develops effective programs that are gender specific and culturally sensitive such as Maternity Care, Breast Care, Infertility, etc. Directs and guides various disciplines within the Women Veteran's program to assure efficiency, including the scheduling of activities, the redesign of workloads, daily monitoring of the operations of the program, and feedback to other managers about staff performance within the context of program evaluation and measuring outcome of services provided Evaluates current program services in a systematic manner, including the collection, tabulation, and presentation of program statistics, trends, and outcome measures Advises the Chief of Staff and Medical Center Director on relevant programmatic issues with recommendations for improvement in service delivery - Prepares and implements grant and contract proposals. These may be for Veteran or non-veteran populations Responsible for complete, independent program and fiscal oversight Maintains liaison with local, state, and national organizations related to content field of program Serves as the facility's representative regarding this program during external site visits or reviews (e.g. JCAHO, VISN, OIG) Oversees the development of technical data, estimates, statistics, suggestions, and other information useful to higher level managers in determining goals and objectives, and other management strategies Improves access to and continuity of comprehensive care through ongoing facility self-assessment, strategic planning, and implementation of programs Integrates targeted VA initiatives for coordination of primary care, mental health, gender-specific, and gender-sensitive care through collaboration with facility leadership, VISN, and VA Women's Health Services Assesses and actively facilitates the implementation of preventive care and health promotion, targeting gender-disparity gaps with staff, provider, and Veteran educational initiatives Responds to the Voice of the Women Veterans by conducting needs assessment, developing and facilitating targeted outreach activities, and systematically evaluating Veteran outcomes annually Provides expert input in the strategic planning, mission, operational planning and policy development for facility efforts. Represents VA and collaborates with community agencies to design, develop, and implement outreach activities Initiates or leads quality improvement teams to collect data, analyze results, and design practice changes to enhance and evaluate health care outcomes Clinical Responsibilities (10%) Clinical responsibility as defined in approved delineated clinical privileges Provides a full range of psychological assessments and diagnoses of mental disorders for female-identified Veterans requesting gender-specific services Provides disposition regarding treatment modalities that are best suitable for patients. These may include PCMHI (Primary Care Mental Health Integration), short-term psychotherapy, long-term psychotherapy, and/or group therapy. Provides gender-specific evidence-based psychotherapeutic treatment for trauma (PTSD, MST, relational trauma), and other diagnoses Is familiar with (and ideally certified in provision of) Evidence Based Psychotherapies (EBP) Provides clinical services and develops programming and clinical offerings relevant to the specific developmental and diversity needs of the transgender veteran population Education and Training: (10%) Ability to provide clinical guidance in areas related to female-identified veterans' behavioral health. Clinical supervision of assessments, consults, didactic training and ongoing psychotherapy cases (individual short and long term-psychotherapy), administrative supervision and coordination of services provided by psychology trainees in women's health that governs all aspects of women's issues to include LGBTIQ issues, trans women issues, diversity (i.e. sexual/gender orientation, race, military culture, ethnicity) and gender specific therapies. Coordination of services may include but is not limited to Mental Health, PCMHI, and specialty clinics.. Engages in advocacy efforts, informs local policy, and offers guidance for local providers working with female identified Veterans with mental health concerns within the local healthcare system. Performs other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday | 8 AM - 4:30 AM Virtual: This is not a virtual position."]
Providing Health Care for Veterans: The Veterans Health Administration is America’s largest integrated health care system, providing care at 1,255 health care facilities, including 170 medical centers and 1,074 outpatient sites of care of varying complexity (VHA outpatient clinics), serving 9 million enrolled Veterans each year.