Senior Social Worker- General Mental Health

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:

***This is an OPEN CONTINUOUS ANNOUNCEMENT and will remain open until December 31, 2025. The initial cut-off date for referral of eligible applications will be August 19th, 20205 with subsequent cut-off dates on the 1st of each month. Eligible applications received after that date will be referred at regular intervals or as additional vacancies occur on an as-needed basis until positions are filled.***

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:

• 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 chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3g this part).
• 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 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.

GS-12, Senior Social Worker

• Experience/Education. 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.

AND

• 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.

AND

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 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.

References: VA HANDBOOK 5005/120 PART II APPENDIX G39

Preferred Experience: VA experience preferred. Understanding of Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Program (BHIP) within the VA.

Physical Requirements: Physical demands of the work are generally minor, as the position requires sitting, standing and walking. A high level of self awareness is essential. Work divided between office and clinical settings, is primary sedentary. May require prolonged standing, moderate walking, and manual dexterity. Requires carrying light items, such as books, files, or laptop computer.

Responsibilities:

VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU
Clinical Responsibilities:

• Uses the most appropriate psychotherapeutic techniques in providing quality care. Provides a full range of therapeutic interventions including individual, couples/family and/or group psychotherapy using empirically supported approaches (e.g., Motivational Interviewing, Behavioral Activation, CBT, DBT, ACT, Interpersonal Psychotherapy, Problem Solving Therapy, Integrative Behavioral Couples Therapy, CPT, PE, etc.).
• Provides a full range of psychodiagnostics services including psychological assessment. Performs evaluations for wide array of patients representing diverse diagnostic entities.
• Consults with medical center staff on a wide variety of patient care issues.
• Accountable for clinical practice including encountering patient visits, appropriately documenting clinical information and encounters, measuring outcomes to interventions, and meeting productivity standards.
• Completes biopsychosocial assessments, treatment plans, and other clinical documentation are completed timely.
• Educates Veterans and family members regarding relevant mental health and substance use concerns.
• Adheres to facility and national risk management policies for assessment, management, consultation, and documentation related to suicide/homicide risk.
• Complies with all Facility and Service Line documentation requirements including, but not limited to, use of prescribed templates when applicable, timely completion of documentation of assessment, treatment, risk evaluations, and other clinical contacts.
• Adheres to facility and service line policies and practices for delivering clinical care.
• Provides clinical supervision to social work interns and unlicensed social workers.
• Supports activities of training programs and participates in relevant educational seminars.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8am- 430pm
Compressed/Flexible:May be Authorized
Telework: Yes. This position is authorized for telework - situational (ad hoc) and has NOT been authorized as virtual or remote. Location negotiable may be discussed during the interview process to meet the Return To Office requirement.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 60860-O
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: May be Authorized
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.Contact the VHA.ELRSProgramSupport@va.gov, for questions/assistance. Learn more
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Salary : $95,556