Veterans’ Hospital to Hire Mental Health Professionals

From the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital:

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 13 clinicians and 3 support personnel will be hired to support mental health operations at the after Secretary Eric K. Shinseki announced the department would add approximately 1,600 mental health clinicians as well as nearly 300 support staff to its existing national workforce.

Funding has been distributed to the hospital and recruitment is underway.

VA has an existing workforce of 20,696 mental health staff that includes nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers. Currently, 175 mental health clinicians and support staff work locally supporting 86,827 Unique and 1,134,046 Outpatient visits.

With each additional mental health care provider, a facility could potentially reach hundreds more veterans battling mental illness. New providers will join a team that is already actively treating veterans through individualized care, readjustment counseling, and immediate crisis services.

Additional staff members also afford opportunities to look long-term and expand into cutting edge Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) research and to explore alternative therapies.

Secretary Shinseki noted that “as the tide of war recedes, we have the opportunity, and the responsibility, to anticipate the needs of returning veterans.”

VA anticipates the majority of mental health clinicians and support staff will be hired locally within approximately six months and the most hard-to-fill positions filled by the end of the second quarter of 2013.

Interested mental health care providers can find additional information about VA careers online. Open positions will be announced online at USA Jobs.