Rehabilitation Counselor

Summary

This Rehabilitation Counselor position is located in the Mental Health Department at VA Boston Healthcare System located in Brockton, MA. This position is full time 40 hours per week.

Duties

Duties include but are not limited to:

• Serves as a journey level Rehabilitation Counselor providing personal adjustment counseling, therapeutic rehabilitation interventions, and case coordination services, and uses evidence-informed and evidence-based modalities to aid Veterans with severe disabilities, such as physical, psychosocial, psychological, or neurological barriers, integrate successfully into the community.
• Serves Veterans who have myriad barriers to overcome and achieve competitive employment, educational, and independent living goals.
• Conducts assessments using medical records, pertinent disability documentation, observation and interviews with Veterans and their support systems to generate personal, vocational, and educational histories.
• Selects, administers, and interprets vocational and other psychometric instruments to evaluate abilities, transferrable skills, functional capacity, labor market analyses, aptitudes, interests, values, preferences, and overall work resilience and synthesize into an interpretive data report.
• Customizes vocational exploration activities to identify self-determined rehabilitation needs and goals, and administers Measurement Based Care instruments to track progress throughout treatment and adjust goals and services as needed.
• Determines a clinical need for and capacity to benefit from therapeutic and rehabilitation services to include work restoration/resilience treatment, transitional work placement and/or competitive employment, assistive technology, financial benefits counseling and potential benefits protections.
• Develops patient-centered treatment plans utilizing Specific, Measurable, agreed upon, Realistic, and Time-based goals and provides ongoing assessment of Veteran’s progress.
• Provides a variety of professional rehabilitation counseling services such as personal adjustment counseling, therapeutic rehabilitation interventions and case coordination services, utilizing evidence-informed and evidence-based modalities and professional counseling practices to aid Veterans with severe disabilities in achieving competitive employment and educational and independent living goals.
• Uses effective counseling skills to promote self-awareness, adjustment to disability, enhanced job retention and successful integration to the community.
• Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: Not Available Telework: Ad-hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
• Functional Statement #: 523-F2603 and 523-F2604 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized EDRP Authorized: Not authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Available PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Available Financial Disclosure: Not required Notifications: This position is in the Excepted Service.
• This position is not a Bargaining Unit position.
• Veterans’ preference does not apply for internal or other current permanent Federal agency employees.
• This position is on the Boston locality pay table.
• Current and former Federal employees must submit copies of their most recent SF-50, (Notice of Personnel Action).
• The SF-50 must identify the position title, series, grade, step, tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted).
• In some cases, more than one SF-50 may be required to show a higher grade previously held.
• Narrative responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) may be required from the selectee in order to proceed with the appointment.
• IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Requirements

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• 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.
• 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 dentification 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.

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/.

If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

How You Will Be Evaluated

Area of Consideration – Eligible applications will be reviewed and referred in the following order: 1. Current permanent VA employees of the facility. 2. All other VA employees. 3. All other Federal Employees.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, resume, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully.

Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate’s abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position. It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment. Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.

Required Documents

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes:

• Resume SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action Transcript Résumé Reminder: Your résumé must include the following information each job listed: 1. Job title 2.
• Duties (be as detailed as possible) 3.
• Month & year start/end dates (e.g. June 2007 to April 2008) 4.
• Full-time or part-time status (include hours worked per week).
• Special Note for Applications: To complete your application, please use the following link https://vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Resume.docx to download the standard Clinical Resume Document.
• This one-page document does not need to be modified and must be uploaded into the two-page restricted ‘Resume’ document upload field.
• Your full resume/CV may be uploaded without page limitation into the ‘Other’ document upload field.
• The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position.
• Please ensure you have included all documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), SF-50’s (current/former Federal employees), etc.
• Cover Letter DD-214/ Statement of Service Disability Letter (Schedule A) Disability Letter (VA) License Other (1) PCS Orders Performance Appraisal Professional Certification
• Resume Separation Notice (RIF) SF-15 SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action Transcript Veterans’ preference does not apply for internal or other current permanent Federal agency employees.