Staff Psychologist - neuropsychologist

Neuropsychological Assessment Specialist

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.

Responsibilities duties include but are not limited to the following:

• Provides comprehensive neuropsychological assessments to Veterans with a variety of psychiatric, medical, neurodegenerative, and cognitive disorders and conditions.
• Utilizes empirically supported, clinically evaluated methods of practice.
• Provides in-depth, comprehensive neuropsychological reports with recommendations based on the clinical interview, test results, and other data.
• Provides feedback, written and verbal, to the referral source and patient, when requested, and coordinates appropriate referrals for care within the medical center.
• Serves as a subject matter expert on cognitive and psychiatric conditions, and evidence based approaches to neuropsychological assessment.
• Consults accordingly with internal and external customers.
• Responsible for timely completion of all clinical charting and documentation required by the hospital.
• Clinical duties also include performance of psychodiagnostic evaluation and is familiar with, selects from, and administers a wide variety of psychological evaluation instruments to assess intellectual capacity, personality attributes and functioning, other aspects of mental health functioning, to determine the presence of psychiatric illness, and to document the results of such assessments and provide diagnostic information and recommendations for treatment and management.
• The incumbent should be able to conduct various forms of psychotherapy (i.e. group, individual, marital, and family). In providing these services, the employee utilizes high technical skills in appropriately recognizing and responding to nuances in verbal, motor, psychomotor, and psychophysiological manifestations of emotional conflicts.
• All clinical activities will be consistent with the incumbent's specific clinic privileges.
• The incumbent is knowledgeable about and willing to engage in Evidence Based Therapies.
• Ongoing evaluation and assessment of current therapeutic programs, analysis and integration of this information leading to program modification or development of new programs, and basic clinical psychological research pertinent to the psychological functioning and treatment of Veterans is essential to the institution.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm

Telework: Not Available

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #: 000000

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: May Be Authorized for Highly Qualified Candidates

EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.

Contact VHA.ELRSProgramSupport@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance.

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Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements 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 trial period.

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.

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).

Qualifications

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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 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.

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 psychologist who is licensed.

Failure to obtain licensure during that period is justification for termination of the temporary appointment.

Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.

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.

May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this