Senior Social Worker (HUD-VASH and GPD)

01Basic Requirements

United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.

02Education

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.

03Licensure

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/. Loss of Licensure or Certification: Once licensed or certified, social workers must maintain a full, valid, and unrestricted independent license or certification to remain qualified for employment.

Loss of licensure or certification will result in removal from the GS-0185 social worker series and may result in termination of employment. English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).

04Grade Determinations

Senior Social Worker, GS-12 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.

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.

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. 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.

05Physical Requirements

This work requires light lifting (under 15lbs), moderate carrying (15-44lbs), walking, standing, operation of motor vehicle, near vision correctable at 13" to 16" to Jaeger 1 to 4, and far vision correctable in one eye to 20/20 and to 20/40 in the other. Environmental factors are working outside and inside and in dry atmospheric conditions.

This is a Senior Social Worker whose duel responsibilities are to provide psychosocial assessments, case management services, continuous quality improvement activities, evaluation/consultation, placement services, and referral and linkage to various community agencies for Veterans. Administratively responsible for clinical programming and daily operation of the HUD-V ASH and GPD programs in Anchorage, as well as the management of program data. Responsible for providing HUD-VASH case management.

Case management is defined as the provision of services by VA clinical staff to homeless Veterans and includes all activities to provide appropriate treatment and maintain Veterans in HUD approved stable housing. Coordinates care including service delivery, and linkage and referring Veterans to the Community Based Outpatient Centers, VA Medical Center, and VA Regional Offices, and/or community agencies.

Works with the Alaska VA Healthcare System multi-disciplinary teams and community agencies to strive for developing more effective and efficient ways of delivering healthcare services to HUD-VASH Program Veterans. Functions Conduct psychosocial assessments. Participate in the treatment planning process with other disciplines. Participate in discharge planning with other disciplines and will be responsible for ensuring that discharge plans are executed.

Provide consultation, education to Veterans and families on community resources, advance directives, and VA benefits. Act as a liaison between VA and community resources throughout continuum of care. Provide a full range of social work services. Provide wellness/prevention education and facilitate Patient/family support groups as appropriate. As appropriate, supervise the practice of social work students, or a less experienced social worker.

Coordinate treatment and community with the care lines to facility continuity of care for Veterans. Participate in committee assignments. Actively participates in the HUD-VASH Program conference calls and attends training. Participates in program planning and development, advising the Chief of HCHV of shifting trends with caseloads and identifying the need for and making recommendations on program procure or policy changes.

Takes responsibility for improving professional projects, attending seminars, and institutes, and participating in training programs of other disciplines. GPD Responsible for the oversight and management of assigned GPD programs, including contract administration, enrollment processes, accurate billing, timely payments, and community outreach with a focus on developing strong partnerships, including in rural areas.

Coordinates community-based services for Veterans, serving as an advocate to ensure comprehensive service delivery and linking them to VA Medical Centers, Regional Offices, and community agencies. This includes participation in VJP and GPD program conference calls, training for homeless programs, and ensuring adherence to local policies, documentation standards, and data submission requirements such as HOMES.

Provides a full range of advanced social work services, including case work, counseling, discharge planning, case management, and continuity-of-care coordination with interdisciplinary teams. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8am-4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: Available Telework: AD-HOC Virtual: This is not a virtual position Functional Statement #: 000000 Recruitment Incentive: May be authorized EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.

Contact [email protected] for questions/assistance. Learn more Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized