Duties

Summary

The Senior Social Worker provides case-management and coordination of care to the extent that is appropriate for Veterans needs and level of functioning. Supports and encourages patients to follow up with health care and provides concrete assistance with doing so. Is a subject matter expert in the assessment of Outpatient Mental Health population.
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Responsibilities

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• The Senior Social Worker provides individual and group psychotherapy using evidenced based psychotherapeutic interventions at the independent practice level, treating patients with a wide variety of mental health disorders.
• The Senior Social Worker completes a psychodiagnostic assessment and makes mental health and substance-related diagnosis.
• The Senior Social Worker maintains a large caseload within the program, and facilitates individual, group and family work to a broad population of veterans with a variety of mental health disorders.
• The Senior Social Worker completes suicidal risk screens and assessments, psychosocial assessments, clinical reminders, advance directives, patient education notes, and clinical documentation from sessions.
• Develops treatment plans in collaboration with the veteran/family and with the interdisciplinary treatment team.
• The Senior Social Worker will network both internally and externally to the facility and coordinate community-based services as may be necessary; this may include information and referral for additional services from other VA programs, other government programs and community agency programs.
• The Senior Social Worker may provide crisis intervention services, seeking to address the cause as well as the presenting complaint, coordinates family conferences and serves as liaison to family members.
• The Senior Social Worker may provide case management services.

Work Schedule: Monday thru Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Travel Required

Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position. Travel to other VAMHCS facilities for trainings.

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
None

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Designated and/or random drug testing may be required
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• Subject to a background/security investigation
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process

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 master's degree in social work (MSW) 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.
• Licensure: Persons hired or reassigned to social worker positions in the GS-185 series in VHA must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level. For this grade level, applicants must be licensed at the advanced practice level.
• English Language Proficiency: Social workers must be proficient in spoke and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3j.

Grade Determinations: Senior Social Workers have experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment. At least two years should be in an area of specialized social work practice. Senior social workers must be licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level which included an ASWB advanced generalist or clinical examination, unless they are grandfathered by the state in which they are licensed to practice at the advanced practice level (except for licenses issued in California, which administers its own clinical examination for advanced 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.

In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the professional KSAs listed below:
1. 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.
2. Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.

References: VA Handbook 5005/23, Part II, Appendix G39

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12.

Physical Requirements: Use of fingers; Near vision correctable at 13" to 16" to Jaeger 1 to 4; Hearing (aid permitted); Clear Speech. The environment involves everyday risks and discomforts which require normal safety precautions typical of offices, patient rooms, and in general, the medical center. It also involves normal risks associated with a medical center, including exposure to contagious diseases and disturbed patients.

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application. Must clearly show it is an *official copy. *Can be a personal copy, if selected you will be required to provide official sealed copy from school to credentialing office.

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.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

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.

If you are unable to apply online view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application .

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE CANNOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, résumé, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

NOTE: The selected candidate's education and experience will be reviewed to determine the grade and salary at which the candidate will be placed. For internal selectees eligible for promotion, HR will determine step in accordance with policy.

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.

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Other

Drug test required
No

Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk

Trust determination process

Required Documents

All applicants are required to submit the following supporting document type(s):

• Resume which must include : Details of duties performed, Month & year start/end dates (e.g. June 2007 to April 2008), Hours worked per week; and Salary for each job. This information is necessary to determine level and length of Specialized Experience. We cannot make assumptions regarding your experience.
• SF-50 Notice of Personnel Action with an effective date in 2020 and items 15, 17, 18, 19, 24, and 34 complete .
• License. All applicants must submit a copy/verification of licensure for the advanced practice level.
• Other-VA Form 10-2850c - Application for Associated Health Occupations (REQUIRED FOR ALL APPLICANTS, FAILURE TO SUBMIT WILL RESULT IN REMOVAL FROM CONSIDERATION). Available at the VA Forms website: http://www.va.gov/vaforms/search_action.asp?FormNo=10-2850&tkey=&Action=Search.
• Transcript - Personal copy showing conferred Master's in Social Work (MSW) degree.

Applicants may also submit the following supporting document type(s),which may not be required for all applicants:

• Cover Letter
• Professional Certification

Basic Life Support (BLS) Certification - this is a requirement that the selecting official must verify before applicant is selected for vacancy.

Please use this checklist to 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. You will not be contacted for additional information.