Science Trainee Jobs in Maine (NOW HIRING)

Summary
This Psychologist Clinician Investigator position is in Mental Health services at the VA Maine Healthcare Systems, located at the Augusta, ME location.
Learn more about this agency
Duties
Help
Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional
The Psychologist Clinician Investigator is embedded within the Mental Health Service Line (MHS) of the VA Maine Healthcare System (VAMHCS), and reports to the Lead Psychologist or designee. The incumbent will serve as a subject-matter expert with regard to the intersection of mental health and spirituality, including but not limited to Moral Injury and its sequela; and shall advance through research, training, and direct clinical services, best practices for moral injury response/intervention among Veterans, particularly in a rural health setting.
Duties for the position include but are not limited to:
Program Development / Administration:

• Develops and administers a robust applied clinical research program relevant to the missions of MHS and VAMHCS.
• Provides oversight for Mental Health research program staff.
• Provides leadership and cultivates a healthy and collaborative workplace for assigned staff, and also fosters ongoing growth and development for staff.
• Oversee program operations and evaluations, identifying areas for improvement, gathering relevant data, assessing the data, developing and implementing ideas for improvement, and evaluating efficacy of improvement efforts.
• Implements, monitors, tracks, and demonstrates adherence to all applicable guidelines and policies governing the conduct of research and/or pertinent to the duties listed herein.

Research / Program Evaluation:

• Publishes research results and related scientific, clinical, and policy implications in peer-reviewed journals, professional books, newsletters, and online outlets.
• Presents research results at VA and regional, national, or international scientific and professional meetings.
• Responsible for compliance with relevant VA and non-VA regulations applicable to research activities and personnel.
• Serves on VA and non-VA committees that are instrumental to the research enterprise (e.g., IRBs, grant review panels, journal editorial boards).

Clinical Responsibilities:

• Within the scope of privileges granted, provides a full range of patient care interventions, including individual, family, and group therapy, as well as specialized interventions such as behavior management consultations and systems or environmental interventions.
• Performs evaluations and provides interventions for Veterans presenting to MHS.
• Provides supervision of trainees who deliver direct clinical care.

Consultation:

• Serves as facility subject matter expert (SME) and point of contact (POC) for matters related to moral injury, including screening, intervention, education, and outreach.
• Provides general consultation to healthcare providers on available resources for moral injury.
• Collaborates with VA at-large to share best practices through multiple touch points.
• May serve on Medical Center or Healthcare System, VISN, and/or National VA workgroups, committees, or task forces.

Academic/Teaching/Training:

• Provides clinical training to various disciplines and levels of training.
• Provides leadership, guidance, and consultation to the staff of units to which assigned.
• Serves as a consultant on Moral Injury and traumatic stress to trainees, and assists in their formulation of psychological characteristics and appropriate treatment expectations regarding their patients.
• Provides mentorship to junior investigators.
• Other duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday; 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Recruitment/Relocation Incentives (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 #: PDF03842
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required
Requirements
Help
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.
• 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: 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. 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: (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: 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. AND
• 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 (pre1979) 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.
• 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. 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: Psychologist Clinician Investigator, GS-14:

• Experience: At least three years of experience as a professional psychologist, with at least one year equivalent to the GS-13 grade level.
• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:
  
  • Knowledge of, and ability to apply, appropriate scientific methods in the design and execution of basic and applied research.
  • Ability to coordinate work across multiple settings.
  • Ability to convey scientific concepts and methodological pri