VA Mental Health Provider Venting / Problem-solving / Peer Support Thread

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ccpsych16 said:
Got the final numbers for the non-VA job and trying to decide if my sanity is worth a $40,000 pay cut. It’s not even a bad salary for a very early career psychologist. But it feels bad coming from an inflated salary.
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I have no idea about your personal situation but probably not. Especially since the non VA job is likely not going to be without its own headaches although doubtfully nothing like VA
 
psy.d. 2021 said:
I have no idea about your personal situation but probably not. Especially since the non VA job is likely not going to be without its own headaches although doubtfully nothing like VA
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I know you’re right, though the idea of an escape from this hell is strongly appealing. I’ve cold messaged about 6 different staff (some psychologists, some not) who currently or formerly worked there and they were very transparent about work life and salary. The biggest plus for me career wise is that they focus on a specific disorder/group of disorders that I want to specialize in and VA does not offer treatment for in a formalized way. And they are a well known and regarded organization within that niche.

I’ll give the weekend to think about whether I want to move forward with the final interview. And probably reach out to some former mentors for their advice.
 
ccpsych16 said:
I know you’re right, though the idea of an escape from this hell is strongly appealing. I’ve cold messaged about 6 different staff (some psychologists, some not) who currently or formerly worked there and they were very transparent about work life and salary. The biggest plus for me career wise is that they focus on a specific disorder/group of disorders that I want to specialize in and VA does not offer treatment for in a formalized way. And they are a well known and regarded organization within that niche.

I’ll give the weekend to think about whether I want to move forward with the final interview. And probably reach out to some former mentors for their advice.
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If you're hoping to gain skills on treatment for a specific disorder and pivot to PP after a year or so....could be worth it because you could make up the lost money. Highly dependent on that, if you can financially deal with a 40k pay cut and as we discussed how much you value your sanity.

Personally, I'm not going to leave VA until I find something that compensates me the same or more. I've received offers for similar salaries but counting benefits as well as Edrp (big amount for me) VA has them beat by a considerable margin. It'll be an easier decision for me if I'm still working at VA when EDRP is done for me.
 
ccpsych16 said:
Got the final numbers for the non-VA job and trying to decide if my sanity is worth a $40,000 pay cut. It’s not even a bad salary for a very early career psychologist. But it feels bad coming from an inflated salary.
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I struggled to leave the VA for a $40-50k pay increase tbh. I really loved working for the VA. Also, I’m curious about the salary numbers—could you PM me?
 
psy.d. 2021 said:
If you're hoping to gain skills on treatment for a specific disorder and pivot to PP after a year or so....could be worth it because you could make up the lost money. Highly dependent on that, if you can financially deal with a 40k pay cut and as we discussed how much you value your sanity.

Personally, I'm not going to leave VA until I find something that compensates me the same or more. I've received offers for similar salaries but counting benefits as well as Edrp (big amount for me) VA has them beat by a considerable margin. It'll be an easier decision for me if I'm still working at VA when EDRP is done for me.
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I make much more than I did while in the VA, but I would have still left with a pay cut. The flexibility and not having to deal with the bs there would have more than made up for any differences in pay for me.
 
WisNeuro said:
I make much more than I did while in the VA, but I would have still left with a pay cut. The flexibility and not having to deal with the bs there would have more than made up for any differences in pay for me.
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When you speak of flexibility, I assume you mean for solo PP. I did not find other employed positions to be that much less of a headache, to be frank. I loved the freedom as a contractor though.

Not sure working for private equity or other large hospital group is really any better than VA.
 
Sanman said:
When you speak of flexibility, I assume you mean for solo PP. I did not find other employed positions to be that much less of a headache, to be frank. I loved the freedom as a contractor though.

Not sure working for private equity or other large hospital group is really any better than VA.
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May definitely be difference sin assessment vs. therapy for flexibility. But, after I left the VA, I worked in another hospital setting, still much more preferable than my past VA positions.
 
I wouldn’t want to go anywhere if we were better staffed (not as badly/urgently anyway). Even 3 years ago we were staffed much better, still nowhere near full, and things were great. IMO, VA is going to become even harder to hire for in the future, so I don’t see this issue getting any better. Especially not at a CBOC which can be even harder to hire for depending on how desirable the area is vs main campus in a larger city.

EDIT: typos
 
WisNeuro said:
May definitely be difference sin assessment vs. therapy for flexibility. But, after I left the VA, I worked in another hospital setting, still much more preferable than my past VA positions.
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It may be that or just individual employers/ hospitals with different attitudes. The only problem that really annoys me about VA vs private is the leave and time card processes. I have always found the private sector to be much more rvu focused and much less forgiving about things like commuting in bad weather.
 
ccpsych16 said:
I wouldn’t want to go anywhere if we were better staffed (not as badly/urgently anyway). Even 3 years ago we were staffed much better, still nowhere near full, and things were great. IMO, VA is going to become even harder to hire for in the future, so I don’t see this issue getting any better. Especially not at a CBOC which can be even harder to hire for depending on how desirable the area is vs main campus in a larger city.

EDIT: typos
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Depends on the CBOC. Sometimes it can be its own island while the main hospital is on fire. Less staffed but sometimes less busy or scrutinized.
 
Sanman said:
It may be that or just individual employers/ hospitals with different attitudes. The only problem that really annoys me about VA vs private is the leave and time card processes. I have always found the private sector to be much more rvu focused and much less forgiving about things like commuting in bad weather.
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I imagine it varies quite a bit. I was still in the hospital system when we had our first. No problems whatsoever with calling in the morning of when I had to attend to a sick infant. In PP the flexibility makes that easier, though I only cancel legal work as a last resort, but I also don't schedule it for when I don't have backups in case something goes wrong at school/daycare.
 
WisNeuro said:
I imagine it varies quite a bit. I was still in the hospital system when we had our first. No problems whatsoever with calling in the morning of when I had to attend to a sick infant. In PP the flexibility makes that easier, though I only cancel legal work as a last resort, but I also don't schedule it for when I don't have backups in case something goes wrong at school/daycare.
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Same for me with the VA and I have over 300 hrs of sick leave stacked up. I also got 3 mths paid paternity leave, which is not an option that I have seen elsewhere.
 
Sanman said:
Same for me with the VA and I have over 300 hrs of sick leave stacked up. I also got 3 mths paid paternity leave, which is not an option that I have seen elsewhere.
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I'll give you that one, that's hard to find in the good ol US of A, though I also expect to see these things go away in the near future as they try to make the VA as dysfunctional as possible to push privatization.
 
WisNeuro said:
I'll give you that one, that's hard to find in the good ol US of A, though I also expect to see these things go away in the near future as they try to make the VA as dysfunctional as possible to push privatization.
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Unfortunately, you are most likely correct. I had planned my departure for no later than 2027 due to the PACT Act expiring. I am still hanging on for the moment, we will see how it goes.
 
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Sanman said:
Depends on the CBOC. Sometimes it can be its own island while the main hospital is on fire. Less staffed but sometimes less busy or scrutinized.
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Based on what I've heard about our main hospital's OPMH, I think that I am far better off being in one of our CBOCs.
 
Chrome must have felt left out bc in the past week or so Alexa, our of the blue, keeps trying me to switch over to the new voice of Alexa and my TV keeps forcing Google Voice onto me. These tech companies are like a horny conservative legislator, they are constantly forcing themselves on unwilling people.
 
Therapist4Chnge said:
Chrome must have felt left out bc in the past week or so Alexa, our of the blue, keeps trying me to switch over to the new voice of Alexa and my TV keeps forcing Google Voice onto me. These tech companies are like a horny conservative legislator, they are constantly forcing themselves on unwilling people.
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I just heard it in the voice of Foghorn Leghorn as the 'horny conservative legislator' and about spat out my coffee.
 
cara susanna said:
Disabling Chrome notifications, right? I just did that because I had like ten notifications on my lock screen when I got to work this morning. Yeah, no thanks.
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At this point I have a serious case of 'notification fatigue' at work. Call me a Luddite, but I miss practicing as a psychologist in the paper-and-pencil era. I think the quality of clinical practice has actually deteriorated since that time, personally.
 
Oh no, it's not letting me disable notifications. The setting shows up but I can't select it. And the notifications keep coming...

Edit: Nm, found it!
 
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Did everyone else just get the email about the decision to just cancel the 2025 All Employee Survey (AES)?

I do believe that it is the most openly tone deaf / psychopathic / bald-faced Orwellian document that I've ever read coming from VA admin. And that's saying a LOT.
 
Fan_of_Meehl said:
Did everyone else just get the email about the decision to just cancel the 2025 All Employee Survey (AES)?

I do believe that it is the most openly tone deaf / psychopathic / bald-faced Orwellian document that I've ever read coming from VA admin. And that's saying a LOT.
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Not that I saw. Something to look forward to, I guess!
 
Fan_of_Meehl said:
Did everyone else just get the email about the decision to just cancel the 2025 All Employee Survey (AES)?

I do believe that it is the most openly tone deaf / psychopathic / bald-faced Orwellian document that I've ever read coming from VA admin. And that's saying a LOT.
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So, are they stopping even pretending to give a **** about employee morale now?
 
WisNeuro said:
Just waiting for when y'all are mandated to sign your emails with the signature "We have always been at war with Oceania"
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I mean, the actual email they just sent announcing it is a genuine psychopathic work of art, akin to the coveted "bone white' business card that the main character in the movie "American Psycho" was showing off around the office.

Here is a web link to a story about it, but the actual email is just...jaw-dropping.

www.fedmanager.com

OPM Cancels Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey for 2025, Retooling for 2026 — FEDmanager

The Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) is officially scrapped for 2025. The cancellation from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) comes after months of delays in launching the survey. The survey is considered the flagship federal survey measuring job satisfaction and workplac
www.fedmanager.com www.fedmanager.com

They could have at least implemented a slider rating from 0 to 10 for the employee to provide a quick rating of how sore their bunghole is at this point lol. Something.
 
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Fan_of_Meehl said:
I mean, the actual email they just sent announcing it is a genuine psychopathic work of art, akin to the coveted "bone white' business card that the main character in the movie "American Psycho" was showing off around the office.

Here is a web link to a story about it, but the actual email is just...jaw-dropping.

www.fedmanager.com

OPM Cancels Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey for 2025, Retooling for 2026 — FEDmanager

The Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) is officially scrapped for 2025. The cancellation from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) comes after months of delays in launching the survey. The survey is considered the flagship federal survey measuring job satisfaction and workplac
www.fedmanager.com www.fedmanager.com

They could have at least implemented a slider rating from 0 to 10 for the employee to provide a quick rating of how sore their bunghole is at this point lol. Something.
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I didn't get the email can you PM me it please? I need a laugh
 
Big RIF coming Sept 30? God's speed. It's still around 60 thousand??? Good Lord, what a mess.
 
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Sanman said:
DOGE initially said 80k months ago. They since walked that back to 30k folks. Most of that will be central office, some VISN leadership, HR, and support staff.

Not sure where you got 60k from.
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And, I thought most of that figure was from people who took early retirement/resignment, not backfilling certain positions, and freezes?
 
WisNeuro said:
And, I thought most of that figure was from people who took early retirement/resignment, not backfilling certain positions, and freezes?
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A good chunk of it is that. The DRP is why they walked back the mass layoff number. They said that there would still be some targeted layoffs. Seems like they are centralizing HR and restructuring VISNs possibly so that there are fewer of them.
 
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