Summary

This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP) - a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific individual eligibility requirements in accordance with VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Program Approval - award amount (up to $200 -000) and eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after complete review of the EDRP application.

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Basic Requirements:

• The basic requirements for employment as a VHA social worker are prescribed by statute in 38 U.S.C. § 7402(b)(9) - as amended by section 205 of Public Law 106-419 - enacted November 1 - 2000
• To qualify for appointment as a social worker in VHA - all applicants must meet the following: United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy
• English Language Proficiency
• Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f)
• Education: Must 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 masters 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/
• VHA Health Professions Trainee (HPT): VHA Health Professional Trainees (HPT) pending the completion of education or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met
• NOTE: This applies to current/past/upcoming VHA HPTs only
• An HPT is an individual appointed to a temporary position in one or more VHA medical facilities performing clinical or research training experiences to satisfy program or degree requirements or receiving VA Health Professional Scholarship Program
• HPTs can be either VA-paid or Without Compensation (WOC)
• Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment - the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates
• Senior Social Worker - GS-0185-12: Education/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 judgement
• 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: Senior social workers must be licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level which included an 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) and they must be able to provide supervision for licensure
• Demonstrated Knowledge - Skills - and Abilities: In addition to the experience above - candidates 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
• Assignments: 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 service 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
• Reference: For more information on this qualification standard - please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/
• The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12
• Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.

Duties

• Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional Duties may include but are not limited to: Assigned duties in the ER as well as Acute Wards
• Provides direct services such as discharge planning - risk assessments and psychosocial assessments of patient/family - interdisciplinary treatment planning and service delivery - individual - group and family sessions and casework services
• Interviews for suicidal/homicidal risk
• Elicits pertinent information to establish facts about the patients psychosocial - safety and situational needs and identifies that patients risk of hurting self or others
• Gives independent clinical impressions from a bio-psycho-social prospective and makes recommendations for patient services to physicians - psychiatrists and nurses
• Provides clinical social work input to interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary teams in the hospital
• Provides clinical guidance to patient/family and teams regarding patients who present with complex social - physical and affective issues and concerns
• Identifies and assesses patients/family needs regarding discharge planning - advance directives - warning signs and risk factors of suicide - mental health diagnoses - substance abuse and addiction issues - community and VA resources etc
• Provides resources and education on the previously mentioned issues to patient - family or significant other and makes appropriate referrals as needed
• Coordinates clinical and psychosocial services with multiple programs and is accountable for the overall effectiveness of the services provided
• Adapts the treatment to meet the individual needs of Veterans
• Serves as mentor to other social workers and other members of treatment teams
• Supervises social work interns and provides training experience in their practicum
• Completes other tasks/duties as assigned
• Work Schedule: Full time
• Monday - Friday 3:00pm - 11:30pm
• Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not authorized
• Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not authorized
• EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive
• Contact Keele.Adams@va.gov - the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance
• Learn more Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases
• Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave - 13 days of sick leave - 11 paid Federal holidays per year) Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual - based on prior [work experience] or military service experience
• Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment - up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth - adoption - or foster care placement of a child
• Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment - full time employees with a total family income below $144 -000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66
• Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA
• Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)
• Telework: Not available
• Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Functional Statement #: 000000
• Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized.