Duties

Veterans receiving care from the Domiciliary program traditionally have complex health care and psychosocial problems and needs, requiring a high degree of clinical oversight and creative problem solving. The Senior Social Worker is licensed at the advanced level and has specialized knowledge of practice typically related to Mental Health and Substance Abuse diagnosis. The incumbent is licensed to independently practice Professional Social Work. Incumbent is viewed by social workers and interdisciplinary team members as a senior clinician with advanced practice skills and expertise.

Incumbent functions as the clinical substance use disorder evaluator for the Domiciliary team and has significant responsibility for evaluation and coordination of the referrals to the Domiciliary. Arranges referrals or services on behalf of the veteran to assure that necessary and timely clinical substance use disorder services are received. Interviews veterans and their family members/significant others, as well as appropriate clinical personnel, to establish facts about the veteran's situation, presenting problems and their causes, and the impact of such problems on the veteran's functioning as part of a comprehensive assessment process. Coordinates day-to-day functions of the admissions program that treats a variety of clinically challenging patients requiring residential placement into programming that provides support and services for substance abuse, mental health, vocational, and related psychiatric and medical conditions. May also assist Domiciliary staff with completing psychosocial assessments, treatment planning, case management, and discharge planning. Have an active involvement in Program development, Process improvement projects and Reporting and Data collection throughout MHRRTP.

Incumbent is also able to provide individual, group, and family counseling and advanced level case management interventions used in the treatment of veterans with mental health diagnoses, substance use disorders, traumatic brain injuries, poly-trauma injuries, visual impairment, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other serious disorders.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm. Will be required to work evening, weekends and holidays as needed. Subject to change based on the needs of the agency.
Telework: Not Available
Virtual: This is not a remote or virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 000000
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• 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.
• You may be required to serve a probationary period.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements
Citizenship. Be a citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Regulations.

Education. Have a master's degree in social work from a school of social work fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). Graduates of schools of social work that are in candidacy status do not meet this requirement until the School of Social Work is fully accredited. A doctoral degree in social work may not be substituted for the master's degree in social work. Verification of the degree can be made by going to http://www.cswe.org/Accreditation to verify that the social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a Master of Social Work.

Licensure. Persons hired or reassigned to social worker positions in the GS-0185 series in VHA must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level. Current state requirements may be found by going to http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/.

English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).

Grandfathering Provision. 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 occupation and meet the criteria).

Grade Requirements
Senior Social Worker, GS-12

Education and Experience. The candidate must have at least two years of experience post advanced practice clinical licensure and should be in a specialized area of social work practice of which, one year must be equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Senior social workers have experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment. Senior social workers are experts in their specialized area of practice. Senior social workers may have certification or other post-masters training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship or equivalent supervised professional experience in a specialty.

Licensure/Certification. Individuals assigned as Senior Social Workers must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level and must be able to provide supervision for licensure.

Assignment. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty), and variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Senior social workers are licensed or certified to independently practice social work at an advanced level. Senior social workers typically practice in a major program area such as but not limited to: Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center or Polytrauma Network Site; a Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Center, or a national VHA referral center, such as a national Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or a national Transplant Center, or other program areas of equivalent scope and complexity. The senior social worker may be assigned administrative responsibility for clinical program development and is accountable for clinical program effectiveness and modification of service patterns. Assignments include clinical settings where they have limited access to onsite supervision such as CBOCs or satellite outpatient clinics. The senior social worker collaborates with the other members of the treatment team in the provision of comprehensive health care services to Veterans, ensures equity of access, service, and benefits to this population, ensures the care provided is of the highest quality. The senior social worker provides leadership, direction, orientation, coaching, in-service training, staff development, and continuing education programs for assigned social work staff. They serve on committees, work groups, and task forces at the facility, VISN and national level, or in the community as deemed appropriate by the supervisor, Social Work Executive or Chief of Social Work Services. This assignment is to be relatively few in number based on the size of the facility/service and applying sound position management. This assignment must represent substantial additional responsibility over and above that required at the full performance grade level and cannot be used as the full performance level of this occupation.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:

Skill in a range of specialized interventions and treatment modalities used in specialty treatment programs or with special patient populations. This includes individual, group, and/or family counseling or psychotherapy and advanced level psychosocial and/or case management.

Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice.

Knowledge in developing and implementing methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in the specialty area, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services and to design system changes.

Ability to provide specialized consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients in the service delivery area, as well as role modeling effective social work practice skills.

Ability to expand clinical knowledge in the social work profession, and to write policies, procedures, and/or practice guidelines pertaining to the service delivery area.

Reference: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39, Social Worker Qualification Standard, September 10, 2019. Available in the Human Resources Office.

Physical Requirements: The physical demands of the work are generally minor. The work is primarily sedentary in nature and usually occurs within climate controlled clinical and administrative settings. There may be occasional light lifting/carrying (15 pounds or less) requirements to relocated boxed materials from one area to another, equipment and room set-up, and ambulation related to the physical inspections of the facilities. The incumbent will annually complete Prevention and Management of Disruptive Behavior Training (PMDB) training as assigned. The incumbent will be expected to successfully negotiate various functional requirements and environmental factors for the position.

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: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html .

Additional information

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status.

VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38, and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority.

Pursuant to VHA Directive 1193.01, VHA health care personnel (HCP) are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 subject to such accommodations as required by law (i.e., medical, religious or pregnancy). VHA HCPs do not include remote workers who only infrequently enter VHA locations. If selected, you will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before your start date. The agency will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation will be needed and how you can request a legally required accommodation from this requirement using the reasonable accommodation process.

If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application .